The museum stands on via Guglielmo Marconi, in the centre of Boves, and it grows out of one precise fact: on 19 September 1943, the day after the armistice, the first SS armoured division struck the town from the surrounding hills, set fire to more than 350 houses and left dozens dead. It was the first act of reprisal against unarmed civilians carried out by the Germans in Italy.
What to see
The core of the display is permanent and consists of the drawings of the artist Adriana Filippi, who put the scenes of partisan life on paper. They are not photographic documents and do not claim to be: they are drawn testimony, and for that reason they work differently from an archive, because they give back the daily routine of the war rather than its spectacular moments.
Visiting
Boves is one of the ten network centres in the province of Cuneo within the Sentieri della Libertà project, which links the places of the Resistance: the museum is where it makes sense to begin in order to understand the rest of the area. It does not keep the continuous hours of a city museum, so it is better to check openings before setting out.
Our editors' tip
It is worth knowing, as you go in, what the town received afterwards: on 16 January 1961 the gold medal for civil merit and on 22 July 1963 the gold medal for military valour, for its part in the partisan struggle. These are the two dates that close the circle opened in September 1943, and they explain why in Boves this museum is not an addition but the centre.