Giuseppe Beccari Historical Museum

The "Giuseppe Beccari" Historical Museum preserves relics, documents, weapons, medals, and military uniforms, from the Napoleonic era to the present. It also houses the 9mm Beretta pistol with which Benito Mussolini and Claretta Petacci were killed on April 28, 1945, and the A112 car in which General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa and his wife Emanuela Setti Carraro were murdered in a mafia ambush on September 3, 1982.

Italian and foreign military uniforms, along with hundreds of firearms and bladed weapons, both light and heavy, are preserved and largely on display. The military history library holds a collection of thousands of volumes, diaries, and unique editions from military units. The archive of paper documents contains letters from soldiers and officers on the front, diaries, memories of combatants, and thousands of military and civilian postcards. Many postcards still have their postage, adding a philatelic value to the collection.

Visually striking are the military calendars and hundreds of prints and posters. Unique is the archive of photographs documenting moments and protagonists of Italy’s military history. Also unique is the collection of original tempera paintings by Tino Vescovo, one of the most prestigious names in military graphics, alongside a gallery of local painters of national importance, with Mario Maserati standing out. Additionally, the museum holds an exceptional collection of medals, including a rare set of military insignia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The museum’s heritage is completed by thousands of items of various nature: prints, paintings, artifacts, tools, equipment, and objects of civil and military value, all linked to the history of Voghera, the Oltrepò, and Italy as a whole.