War museum 1914-1945 of Montecchio Maggiore

For some time now my son has had a toy tank and he likes it, so I thought about how I could let him see a real one, so after some research I found a couple of museums in the region where you can see them up close. The first one we went to is the Museo 1914-1945 of Montecchio Maggiore, which from the website seemed promising. As soon as you enter the garden you come across the artillery park, there are many types and from different years, there is an Austro Hungarian train from the First World War and a couple of airplanes, as well as bombs recovered from various Second World War scenarios, standing near them was impressive because they are much bigger than a person and imagining them being dropped and exploding has a certain effect.

Then you go inside the building, rich in collections of weapons and uniforms, the classic Lugers, rifles, bayonets, clubs used for hand to hand combat. There are also small vehicles, like motorcycles or ammunition transport carts

A really beautiful part is the reconstructed trench of the First World War, a mountain environment of the Alps. Going inside makes you feel the tragedy experienced by attackers and defenders, among traps, barbed wire, machine guns... how those territories easily became zones of massacre, real meat grinders, I think many would not last long today in such a place

There was also a primary school report card from the fascist era, there was a subject that read today is almost funny “women’s work” for the girls, but also a subject that perhaps today would be good for kids, “respect for hygiene and personal cleanliness”

But the highlight is the garage with the armored vehicles tanks, jeeps, armored vehicles, anti aircraft pieces... the first Italian tank made by Fiat, where you could also climb inside... all the vehicles were placed there without barriers or separators, you could get close as you liked, touch them, personally I threw a few punches around to feel the hardness and the armor

There was the possibility of a free guided tour, we could not do it because clearly a small child is not interested, and it is a pity because it was very interesting, but we will return when he is older. It is a museum that I really appreciated, very concrete, that lets you touch things with your hand, with many well kept pieces, it makes you appreciate peace and remember those who lived through difficult times making you realize that in war it really takes nothing to kill you. An experience that is worth having