Three of the best Italian museums to visit

As you can well imagine, Italy is a very touristic country. Usually tourists come to Italy for its food, or to spend their holidays at the sea, in Sardinia, for example, to relax on the Tuscan hills, or to visit cultural and historical buildings.

However, some tourists also decide to visit the best Italian museums. So, in this article I’ve decided to list three of the best Italian museums you can visit if you spend your holidays in Italy.

GALLERIA DEGLI UFFIZI

Galleria degli Uffizi is surely one of the best Italian museums. It’s located in Florence, in a XVI century building.

The building was commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici and built by Parigi, Buontalenti and Vasari to house the offices of magistrates – that’s where its name Uffizi (offices) comes from.

Cosimo de’ Medici decided to display some paintings from the Medici collections on the piano nobile. As the time passed by, the number of paintings increased and more areas of the Uffizi were used to display them.

When the last de’ Medici’s heir passed away, the Uffizi was full of art works and worked as a museum opened to visitors by request.

Then, in 1765, the museum was officially opened to the public.

Nowadays, the museum hosts paintings by Cimabue, Giotto, Lorenzetti, Fabriano, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Caravaggio and many other artists.

For information about opening days and prices, please to visit the official website of Galleria degli Uffizi. 

MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE

Another very popular Italian museum is the Naples National archeological museum, that is obviously in Naples. The building was built in the XVI century to house a cavalry barracks.

Then in 1612, the building became the headquarters of the University of Naples.

Finally, in 1777 Ferdinando VI decided to move the university of Naples in another location and to open a museum in the building.

Nowadays the museum hosts different an Egyptian collection and several important artifacts from Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum, the Farnese marbles, Roman bronzes, and mosaics.

For information about opening days and prices, please to visit the official website of Museo Archeologico Nazionale. 

MUSEI VATICANI

Among the best Italian museums obviously there are also Vatican museums.

These museums were founded by Pope Julius II in 1506 but they were opened to the public only in 1771.

With their 54 galleries, Vatican museums are among the largest in the world. They display artifacts and works of art coming directly from the collections the different Popes have built throughout the centuries.

There you can find Egyptian and Etruscan artifacts, paintings by Giotto, Da Vinci, Raphael, Caravaggio, etc, ceramics, many Chaples, among wich the Sistine Chapel is surely the most known, and many other works of art and important objects.

For information about opening days and prices, please to visit the official website of Musei Vaticani.

 

Did you know these three important Italian museums? Have you already visited one of these best Italian museums? Did you like them?

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Credits

Original image by Wikilmages