page_title: Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics
section_title: From the 1990s on
hierarchical_section_title: Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics / History / From the 1990s on
caption_attribution_description: English: Panoramic view of the main exhibition hall of the Museo dell'aeronautica Gianni Caproni in Trento, Italy.Italiano: Vista complessiva dell'hangar principale che ospita la collezione del Museo dell'aeronautica Gianni Caproni di Trento.
context_page_description: The Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics is Italy's oldest aviation museum, as well as the country's oldest corporate museum. It was established in 1927 as the Caproni Museum by Italian aviation pioneer and aeronautical engineer, Giovanni Battista "Gianni" Caproni and his wife, Timina Guasti Caproni.
  The museum was originally located in Taliedo, in the suburbs of Milan. The aircraft in the collection were moved to Venegono Superiore during World War II, and the exhibition was reopened in Vizzola Ticino in the 1960s. At the end of the 1980s, the museum moved to its present location. The current museum building, 5 kilometres south of Trento and adjacent to the Trento Airport, was opened on 3 October 1992.
context_section_description: In April 1989, aircraft restoration began under the supervision of the Masterfly company of Rovereto. On 2 December of the same year, the construction of the museum's central exhibition building was started. The new exhibition pavilion featured a 1,400 square metres (15,069 sq ft) hall that initially housed 17 aircraft in controlled environmental humidity and temperature conditions. The main building of the new facility was opened on 3 October 1992.
  In spring 1999, the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics became a territorial section (sezione territoriale) of the Tridentine Museum of Natural Sciences (Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali), thereby becoming a part of a network of 18 scientific and historical museums which are ultimately overseen by the province of Trento. Among others, the museums in the Tridentine Museum of Natural Sciences group include the Alpine Botanical Garden at Viote on Mount Bondone, Lake Dwelling Museum at Molina di Ledro, Arboretum of Arco Climatology Observatory at Roncafort and "Julius Payer" Glaciology Centre at Mandron (Adamello).
  In April 2011, a new hangar, adjacent to the northern wall of the main exhibition hall, was opened. The display of the aircraft that were already housed in the museum was reorganized and some additional aircraft, previously stored in the museum's warehouse, could be put on display.
  The opening of the new northern hangar occurred during an event called "The Challenge of Flight" (La sfida del volo). An Ansaldo A.1 Balilla, the Caproni Ca.53 and the surviving components of the Caproni Ca.60 were moved from the warehouse north of Trento to the main hall of the museum, thus becoming a part of the permanent exhibition. An Agusta Bell AB 47G, Minzolini Libellula II and North American T-6 Texan were added to the collection and located in the new hangar, along with a Bücker Bü 131, Caproni Ca.193, Macchi MB.308 and Saiman 202M that had previously been on display in the museum's main hangar. The new hangar, the opening of which was the first expansion of the museum since 1992, was a temporary solution – as a sort of preview of a further, permanent and more consistent enlarging of the exhibits, due to the construction of a larger hangar with more suitable accommodation for the preservation of aircraft. In autumn 2011, the northern hangar was closed to allow the start of the new revitalization project.
  In summer 2011, the following aircraft were on display in the museum's main hall and secondary hangar:
  An Agusta Bell AB 47G
  The unassembled fuselage and wings of an Ansaldo A.1
  An Ansaldo S.V.A. 5
  An Avia FL.3
  A Breda Ba.19
  A Bücker Bü 131
  A Caproni Bristol
  The Caproni Ca.6
  A Caproni Ca.9
  A Caproni Ca.100 floatplane
  The Caproni Ca.163
  The Caproni Ca.193
  The Caproni Trento F.5
  A Caproni Vizzola C-22J
  The unassembled fuselage and wings of the Caproni Ca.53
  Some parts of the Caproni Ca.60 Transaereo
  The fuselage of the Fokker D.VIII
  A Gabardini G.51bis
  A Macchi M.20
  A Macchi MB.308
  Some parts of a Macchi M.C.200
  A Manzolini Libellula II
  A North American T-6 Texan
  Some parts of a Reggiane Re.2005
  A Saiman 202M
  A Savoia-Marchetti S.79
  Just outside the museum and airport, a Lockheed F-104G Starfighter is pointed to the sky, and stands as a gate guardian. Its presence is dedicated to the memory of Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) general Licio Giorgieri.
  Since the beginning of the 1990s, when the museum moved to its ultimate location, more attention has been placed at identifying the cultural heritage and importance of artifacts on display. The most recent phases of the restoration programme and the enrichment of the exhibition by means of recovering some aircraft from the warehouse and moving them to the new hangar, involved the collaboration and supervision by several cultural institutions of the province of Trento, including the Assessorato alla cultura, the Soprintendenza per i beni storico-artistici and the Soprintendenza per i beni librari, archivistici ed archeologici.  Great importance was given to the philologic and authentic restoration of the aircraft's original ap
caption: A panoramic view of the main exhibition hall of the museum.
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