MeVe – Memoriale Veneto della Grande Guerra is a place where the past dialogues with the present, revealing connections you might never have imagined.
An enquiring mind is all that is asked of you. Only in this way will you be able to absorb the stimuli of the exhibition route and learn to observe the world through the eyes of a historian.
The First World War was not just a global event: for many Venetian families it is an integral part of their history, made up of relics chanced upon while tidying the attic or of events discovered in letters, diaries and stories passed down over time. In the belief that no memory is more important than another and that every life is precious, it is with this in mind that MeVe puts the narration of major events on the same level as the testimonies of local history.
Opened in Montebelluna in 2018, the memorial clearly states its mission also through its setting: the Montello, a land known for its natural beauty and gastronomic delights whose charm nonetheless preserves the echo of bloody clashes, such as the Battle of the Solstice of June 1918.
MeVe has a dual identity, consisting on one hand of the refined elegance of a 17th century Venetian villa, Villa Correr Pisani, with its splendid park, and on the other hand of its strongly multimedia-influenced exhibition displays. With its array of documentaries, immersive installations and carefully crafted sound design, the exhibition will take you on a journey of discovery through the twentieth century. It has a circular route which will see you symbolically leave the present before returning to it with new questions.
In fact, the First World War marked the beginning of the contemporary world, redefining geopolitical balances and creating conflict dynamics which, in different forms, still exist day. The journey begins in the Belle Époque, with its extraordinary artistic, literary and technological ferment, and culminates with the outbreak of the Great War. The narrative does not focus solely on the experience of soldiers at the front, but also on the numerous legacies left by the conflict: industrial innovations, the development of photography, the birth of psychiatry and cosmetic medicine, the new role of women, the emergence of mass society and the systematic use of propaganda.
Summer opening hours:
from Tuesday to Friday: 14:30-18:00
Saturday and Sunday: 11:00-19:00
Winter opening hours:
from Tuesday to Friday: 14:30-18:00
Saturday and Sunday: 10:00-18:00
