Mostra permanente '1976. Frammenti di memoria'

Gemona's permanent exhibition '1976. Fragments of Memory' presents photographs, texts, testimonies and films about the earthquake of 6 May 1976 and the reconstruction that followed.

Why it matters

The exhibition's stated purpose is remembrance. It presents archival photographs alongside texts, testimonies and films, documenting the earthquake and the Modello Friuli reconstruction. The display forms part of Gemona's broader public commemoration of the disaster.

What to notice

The exhibition documents the destruction caused by the earthquake and the reconstruction that followed. Photographs from local and national archives show damaged churches and houses, displaced residents, recovered artworks and the rebuilding of the cathedral and palaces. Their varied viewpoints record both individual experience and the broader recovery.

Context and history

The earthquake struck on 6 May 1976, razing the medieval heart of Gemona and its neighbour Venzone and breaking the social and economic fabric of the entire crater, as the official Modello Friuli page recounts; the reconstruction driven by citizen participation and institutional action became known worldwide as the Modello Friuli. Memory-work followed the physical rebuilding: Gemona progressively assembled its stations of memory — the remains of the church of the Beata Vergine delle Grazie kept as a stone park, the bronze Porta della Memoria of 2006, the Museo della Rinascita in Palazzo Elti — and the permanent photographic exhibition near Piazzetta Portuzza.