Italian museums: the most important and visited – The ranking

Italian museums: the most important and visited – The ranking – By Black Platinum Gold

Italy is a great open-air museum, and by itself, it attracts millions of visitors from all over the world to its territory. And it can easily be said that any museum in our country-from the Uffizi to the tiny museum of rural civilization—is always worth a visit. If they could, tourists would tour them all, but some are more desirable destinations than others. Here are the top 10 Italian museums in our guide below:

Colosseum Archaeological Museum

With more than 7.5 million visitors in one year, the Colosseum Archaeological Museum Park in Rome surpasses the Vatican Museums in world fame. In fact, the two institutions are often on the same level, taking turns chasing a record that changes from time to time.

The charm of Ancient Rome, so tangible in the majestic theater, is a vivid physical emotion that engages everyone.

Impossible to resist a walk through the arena where lions once roared and gladiators fought. A majestic arena that has been the talk of the town for millennia.

Vatican Museums

The large museum complex that brings together all of the Vatican’s art collections, from the various donations, as well as some of the Vatican rooms themselves (the Sistine Chapel, the Tombs of the Popes, and so on…) is a city within a city. Visiting all the Vatican Museums in their entirety takes about 24 hours, and not surprisingly, the institution also provides catering to its visitors.

The number of annual visitors is between 4.5 and 5 million.

Uffizi Museum

With 4,391,000 people choosing it each year, this museum is definitely one of Italy’s most beloved museums.

And how to think otherwise?

The most beautiful works of the great Renaissance artists are housed here: the masterpieces of Leonardo Da Vinci, the wonderful canvases of Caravaggio, the luminous Flemish paintings. Here you can breathe in the scent of Medici Florence, and it doesn’t cost effort to stand in the long line outside the gate if you get so much beauty in return. Among the most important and famous Italian museums ever, the Uffizi Museum deserves special mention.

Archaeological excavations of Pompeii

The enchanted city, the petrified city, the mute witness to the apocalypse and a distant era is Pompeii. She is recognized for this value by the 3.9 million visitors who each year stroll through the streets, houses, and stores of the ancient ruins, resurfaced from the thousand-year ash of Vesuvius. A veritable open-air museum is in fact what tourists find themselves greeting once they enter the gates. Pompeii can be considered, together with Herculaneum as well, something unique.

Florence Academy Gallery

The museum that houses the largest number of Michelangelo’s sculptures in the world, including the famous “David,” and is an annual destination for 1.7 million fascinated people. The Florentine genius still lives within these walls, its power palpable.

Other sections are also housed within the Florentine Gallery, including also the world’s largest and most important collection of gold-backed paintings, and finally the Museum of Musical Instruments, where many artifacts belonging to the historical collection of the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory are displayed.

Doge’s Palace

The wonderful civic museums of Venice are located in the spectacular setting of the Doge’s Palace overlooking the backdrop of the world’s most beautiful lagoon. This was once the residence of the Doge, and is one of the symbols of Venice that set it apart in the world. It is a work in Venetian Gothic style that stands in the famous Piazza San Marco.

Inside you can admire, among others, the works of an extensive picture gallery, which includes works created by the most famous Venetian masters, including Jacopo and Domenico Tintoretto, Titian Vecellio, Francesco Bassano, Paolo Veronese, Giambattista Zelotti, Jacopo Palma il Giovane, Andrea Vicentino and Antonio Vassilacchi.

Unmissable attraction for 1.4 million people a year.

Castel Sant’Angelo

The beautiful manor house on the Tiber, also called Hadrian’s Mausoleum, which over the years was also a papal residence and prison for centuries, is now a museum that tells the story of the Middle Ages and the age of the popes. Castel Sant’Angelo is located on the right bank of the Tiber, opposite the pons Aelius and a short distance from the Vatican, between the Borgo and Prati districts. It is also connected to the Vatican State through the fortified corridor called the “passetto.”

Every year it is visited by 1,197,000 tourists.

Royal Venaria Museum

In Turin, more than 960,000 people each year visit the beautiful royal palace-museum, which not only tells the story and lives of kings and queens, but also displays priceless works of art from all times. The site has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997.

The palace of Venaria was designed by architect Amedeo di Castellamonte. It was commissioned by Duke Charles Emmanuel II, who intended to make it a base for hunting parties in the hilly moors of Turin.

In 2019 it was named Italy’s most beautiful public park. An old Turin proverb says, “Chi a ved Turin e nen la Venerìa, a ved la mare e nen la fija,” which translated means those who see Turin but do not see the Reggia are like seeing their mother but not their daughter.

Egyptian Museum

If you cannot go to Egypt, find its wonders at the Egyptian Museum in Turin. Along with 853,000 other visitors who admire it each year. This is the oldest museum in the world dedicated to Nilotic culture, and inside it holds as many as 37,000 artifacts from different eras ranging from Paleolithic to Coptic.

Royal Palace of Caserta

It is called the little Italian Versailles and is the pride of the city of Caserta. This palace belonged to the Bourbons and briefly to the Murats. It is the largest royal residence in the world by volume and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, along with Vanvitelli’s aqueduct and the San Leucio complex.

The palace is seen by 845,000 people each year.