Dongo

Museum of the End of the War

Dongo's museum of the last days of April 1945, in Palazzo Manzi, where Mussolini was taken after his capture.

Today
Visit duration: 1 h – 1 h 30
Booking: In some periods only
Area: Upper Lake

Torsade de Pointes · CC0

Witch of the west · Public domain

Why go

The Museum of the End of the War occupies seven rooms on the ground floor of Palazzo Manzi, Dongo's town hall, on the lakefront square.

On 27 April 1945 partisans of the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade searched a retreating German column on the square and recognised Mussolini on a lorry. He was taken into the palace, where his arrest was formalised. The leaders of the Italian Social Republic were held in the Sala d'Oro; the following day fifteen of them were shot on the lakefront. The museum reconstructs those days and the Resistance on the lake through objects, documents, witness accounts and period film.

You are where it happened: the square of the search and the lakefront railing, still marked by the bullets, are outside the door.
It tells of the partisans and the people of the lake, not only of the regime's end.

Highlights

The dark room of the Dongo events, with period film
The stories told around the fireplace
The lakefront railing, never replaced

Getting there

C110 bus along the Statale Regina, from Como or Colico.
Boat to Dongo: the pier is on the lakefront, a few steps from the square.

Accessibility

The museum is on the ground floor of Palazzo Manzi, reached from the courtyard by a ramp and a wrought-iron gate. A wide staircase leads to the upper floor and the Sala d'Oro.