Bologna Museo della Memoria di Ustica
Museo della Memoria di Ustica Photos
About Museo della Memoria di Ustica
In 1880 this building used to be part of the stables of the horses that drew the first trams around Bologna. The architect responsible was Gian Paolo Mazzucato.
The museum inside was inaugurated in 2007 as a memorial to the Ustica tragedy. On the 27th June 1980, Itavia flight 870 was on a scheduled flight from Bologna to Palermo when it suffered an in-flight catastrophe which brought it down near the island of Ustica. All 81 people on board were killed including 2 flight crew members, 2 flight attendants and 77 passengers.
Fragments of the DC-9 aircraft were eventually brought back here and resembled. This installation was inspired by a Polish artist Christian Boltanski who hung 81 pulsing lamps over the plane. On the walls are 81 black mirrors concealing loudspeakers behind them. Thoughts and anxious words such as ‘when I will arrive I will go to the sea’ emanate from them in whispered tones creating an eerie atmosphere that seems to recall the voices of the dead. The huge black boxes around the plane contain all the personal items recovered from the scene.
Years of investigations failed to provide concrete proof of the cause of this tragedy. The official version stated at the time an act of war but failed to conclude by whom or for what reason. Many conspiracy theories emerged such as a missile strike that pointed the finger at Libyan, US, French and Italian Air Forces; quite a few Italian Air Force personnel connected to this event died in curious circumstances over the years further adding fuel to the fire that this tragic event will never fully be understood.
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