Museo Civico di Manduria

The Museo Civico di Manduria presents the town’s history through the two world wars. Its collections include material about the American airmen based at the local airfield during the Second World War, Trentino refugees welcomed in Manduria during the First World War, and the military service of local residents.

Why it matters

The museum preserves local memories of war, displacement and contact between Manduria’s residents and people arriving from elsewhere. Its focus on twentieth-century history adds a civic and social dimension to the town’s archaeological heritage.

What to notice

One section documents the American presence at the airfield, including photographs of life there and objects from the war years. Other displays concern Manduria’s First World War soldiers and Cosimo Moccia, who received a medal for military valour. A photographic exhibition donated by the local ANSI section records the Trentino refugees who lived in Manduria during the Great War.

Context and history

The museum occupies the former Monastery of the Servite Fathers, an eighteenth-century palace. The building’s two permanent rooms opened as a municipal museum in 2018; a third space is used for meetings and temporary exhibitions. The local airfield operated as a base for United States Army Air Forces units between 1943 and 1945, including the 450th Bombardment Group. The museum’s displays also record earlier wartime experiences, including the arrival of refugees from Trentino during the First World War.