Musei civici di Imola.

Musei civici di Imola - Civic museum of Imola, Imola, Città metropolitana di Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Repubblica Italiana.

   The weapons collection, consisting of approximately six hundred items, including weapons, defensive weapons, and firearms, is only minimally related to the building's history. Of the weapons that originally formed part of the fortress's armory, only a collection of stone cannonballs remains (some of which are on display in the ticket office), along with remnants of fourteenth-century arms and armor found during excavations and now on display in the fortress. The collection is largely the result of a private purchase shortly before the fortress was opened to the public as a museum. The poles, mounted on racks along the walls, as in the armories of yesteryear, include pikes, halberds, corkscrews, and sword staves. The lower floors house the artillery, and the Great Hall houses the armor collection, particularly the Lombardy-made armor dating from the second half of the 16th century. The Captain's Room displays the largest portion of the collection. There are steel weapons (swords, broadswords, rapiers, dresswords, sabres, staves and daggers), crossbows, oriental weapons and, finally, long and short firearms; note the two pistols signed by Cassiano Zanotti and dated 1804.