Militia Museum

Traditional Militia of Calasca founded in 1641. It houses a remarkable collection of weapons, friezes and uniforms from the seventeenth century, chosen from among those still supplied to the traditional Militia. The traditional militia of Calasca, founded in 1641, is, like that of nearby Bannio, one of the oldest Italian military institutions, still active, albeit in a folkloristic guise. The constitutive and maintenance events over the centuries have meant that the movable property of the body was enriched with numerous objects, military clothing and armament, in fact unrelated to standard equipment, often coming from other bodies and from extranational armies ( French and Austrians in particular). Add to this that, often receiving the uniform adjustments and embellishments of local manufacture, we are sometimes in the presence of notable examples of textile craftsmanship. The museum collection, which boasts an innovative layout that contrasts with the environment that hosts it and has been curated, for the historical part, by a well-known Novara scholar, presents unique pieces of great value for Italian military history. Next to the room dedicated to the exhibition, a second room tells the origins and historical events of the Militia with extensive photographic and archival documentation.