Immersive bunker-museum opens in Veneto with figurants dressed as Wehrmacht soldiers

A World War II bunker-museum that you visit -- accompanied by figurants disguised as Wehrmacht soldiers. The idea, bound to cause discussion, was implemented at the Regie Fonti complex in Recoaro Terme (Vicenza), which in the spring of 1944 was chosen as the headquarters of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commanding general of German forces in Italy. In Regie Fonti the Great Command Bunker was opened, from where Kesselring controlled the German armies on the Gothic Line.

The Great Command Bunker had three entrance galleries and a large central hall 61 meters wide, as well as a long corridor connecting 13 offices, inside which officers and control officers worked. All of this was covered by a concrete vault that was meant to protect the bunker from bombardment (and succeeded in its intent even on April 20, 1945, when a heavy bombardment destroyed the entire Royal Sources area.

The site has been open since 2004, thanks to the efforts of theRecoaro 1945 Bunker Association, which has activated promotional activities with the organization of guided tours and the creation of an initial museum display. This summer, however, the redevelopment of the site was completed, and the Great Command Bunker was opened to the public. “In 2021, thanks to the will of the company Terme di Recoaro Spa, which is determined to promote local tourism in collaboration with the Association,” reads the official website of the Regie Fonti, “a new tour route with a highly innovative connotation has been designed. The purpose of the redevelopment is to bring visitors, including younger ones, closer to this place so crucial in the history of our nation during World War II, where the foundations for peace were laid.”

What has been prepared this year is a “3D Virtual Experience” (as it is called by the official presentation) which, allows, we still read in the material provided by the Royal Sources, to explore “environments and scenarios inside the headquarters of the German Armed Forces in Northern Italy using virtual reality.” So there are multimedia stations, viewers to find themselves immersed in the environments of the time (in particular in front of a check point with German soldiers in uniform on military vehicles, before an allied bombing), and a virtual narrator guides the visit by telling the story of the structure and the events that affected it.

“The redevelopment of the bunker, completed in early summer,” wrote the president of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, “allows visitors to stop time for an innovative historical and cultural experience. The bunker’s environments are explored through multimedia viewers using virtual reality, exhibition panels. The visit is by reservation only and you are accompanied by guides in period Wehrmacht uniforms. A German access checkpoint is also present.” Just below President Zaia’s post, some commentators have turned their noses up at the idea of being on a tour led by guides in Nazi Germany’s army uniforms: an “aberrant” initiative, as some write, or a way to really make the visit more engaging and to give a better understanding of those events? There is material for debate.

Photo: Roberto Rizzotto

Immersive bunker-museum opens in Veneto with figurants dressed as Wehrmacht soldiers

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