Difficult years

At the end of a long and complex campaign of works, Armando Brasini finally completed construction on the new Imperial Forums Wing in 1935. From that moment on, the building followed the complicated circumstances of the Central Museum of the Risorgimento. Various problems of an economic nature and then the outbreak of the Second World War postponed its inauguration and opening to the public.

After World War II, the Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento organised various temporary exhibitions in the wing on Via dei Fori Imperiali. Of particular importance, not least for its undoubtedly ideal location, was the exhibition that opened in 1949, on the occasion of the centenary of the Roman Republic.

On 2 October 1970, the building officially opened its doors to visitors for the inauguration of the Central Museum of the Risorgimento: it housed the first four of the five sections of the permanent exhibition. This short-lived period came to an end in 1980, with the closure of the museum: the previous year, a leak in the water pipes and the consequent damage to the electrical system had made the premises unusable.

From 1980, the Imperial Forums Wing, known generally as the Brasini Wing, after its architect, only opened for temporary exhibitions. This period of exhibitions intensified in 2000, on the occasion of the Jubilee, following the initiative of Giuseppe Talamo (1925-2010), President of the Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento.