Rome's Sacrario delle Bandiere is a shrine in every sense, marked by silence, history, a tomb and even scheduled prayers.
The vast redbrick halls and underground chambers of the military museum are beneath the Vittoriano, the monument dedicated to Victor Emmanuel II in the historic centre of the Italian capital.
Together with the Sacellum of the Unknown Soldier and the Central Museum of the Risorgimento, the Shrine of the Flags of the Armed Forces preserves the flags of all Italian military corps throughout history.
“This is a sacred place,” a museum manager said while accompanying The National on a rare tour of the museum and underground chambers that were recently renovated, before reopening to the public.
On a sweltering June day, as a heatwave gripped Rome and much of Europe, crowds kept streaming towards the Vittoriano, one of the Italian capital's most magnificent landmarks.
Visitors climbed the monument's broad marble staircases, pausing for photos before continuing to the panoramic terrace overlooking Rome. Others descended into its quieter spaces, exploring the Shrine of the Flags, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the monument's network of museums and memorials tracing Italy's history.
Large Italian flags on the Vittoriano's facade, standing out against a blue sky, offer a glimpse of the military heritage preserved within.
“You can see the whole of Italy's history here,” said the manager, a military officer. “But you can also feel its sadness,” he added, speaking to The National on condition of anonymity because he had not yet received authorisation to speak publicly.
The Shrine of the Flags traces its origins to the aftermath of the First World War, when Italy sought to honour its unknown war dead. Military theorist Giulio Douhet proposed creating a tomb for an unidentified soldier as a symbol of all those who died without recognition.
In 1921, one of 11 unidentified soldiers was selected by Maria Bergamas, the mother of a missing Italian soldier, and buried beneath the Altar of the Fatherland at the Vittoriano in a ceremony that united the country in mourning.
The shrine's present form was largely shaped by architect Armando Brasini who, in the 1930s, transformed the space beneath the monument into a crypt connected to the Gallery of the Flags. Rather than creating only a state monument, Brasini added a chapel and an altar, allowing the site to serve as both a national memorial and a place of worship.
Materials used throughout the chapel were taken from First World War battlefields, while the gate protecting the tomb was cast from melted Austrian cannons captured during the war.
The Armed Forces Flags Memorial was established in 1935, when Italy transferred its war flags from Castel Sant'Angelo to the Vittoriano. The exhibition galleries themselves opened to the public later, in November 1968.
The two main galleries display about 200 war flags, banners, standards and related military memorabilia. They include the flags of the Army, Air Force, Carabinieri, Engineers, Artillery, Bersaglieri, Infantry, Tax Police and Public Safety departments, as well as decommissioned naval units.
Beyond the flags, the museum displays some of Italy's most significant military relics, including the MAS 15 torpedo boat that sank the Austro-Hungarian battleship Szent Istvan in 1918, part of the submarine Scire, the famous human-guided torpedo known as the Maiale, and a Bleriot XI-2, one of the world's pioneering aircraft that became the first to cross the English Channel and was later used for reconnaissance and bombing missions.
In the chambers below, the smell of fresh paint still lingers after the recent renovation, as the museum hopes to attract more visitors interested in Italy's military history and national identity.
