Audiovisual Museum of the Resistance

Inaugurated in 2000, the Audiovisual Museum of Resistance (MAR) is located between the provinces of Massa Carrara and La Spezia, which were both awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour for their contribution to the liberation struggle. The building that houses the Museum was built by local partisans. Later donated to the Municipality of Sarzana, it was used as a summer camp from 1948 until the 1970s and then transformed into a Peace Monument.

The aim of the Museum is to revive and help others understand the events of these crucial years marking birth of a democratic Italy and its Republican Constitution. Combining oral tradition with audiovisual technology, the exhibition offers narration of the events from several key witnesses, including partisans, women, farmers, deportees, and internees. The testimonies are organised by theme: from the rise of Fascism to Liberation; the struggle of survival during war; civil and armed resistance; the reality of deportation; the devastation caused by war; and the massacres of civilians that characterised the German occupation.

The MAR is an avant-garde example of a more modern way of communicating history with the use of audiovisual media and interactive areas which are designed emotionally involve visitors, even the youngest ones.