The Best Museums in Italy

The Touring Club Italiano recently released its list of the 30 most visited museums in Italy of 2008. The top 30 museums saw a total of 23 million visitors in 2008, and the top 3 accounted for more than a third (8.2m) of those. 

Below is a summary of the 3 most visited museums in: all of Italy, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, and finally, the 3 museums in Italy with the largest increase of visitors compared to 2007. All information is taken directly from the Touring Club document, but I included links to each museum.

The 3 Most Visited Museums in Italy

1. Vatican Museums (4.4m visitors)

2. Archaeological Site of Pompeii (2.3m visitors)

3. Uffizi Gallery/Vasari Corridor in Florence (1.6m visitors)

The 3 Most Visited Museums in Rome / Vatican City

1. Vatican Museums (4.4m visitors)

2. Museo Centrale del Risorgimento (810k visitors)

3. Bioparco (780k visitors)

The 3 Most Visited Museums in Florence

1.. Uffizi Gallery/Vasari Corridor (1.6m visitors)

2. Galleria dell'Accademia (1.2m visitors)

3. Opera di Santa Croce (837k visitors)

The 3 Most Visted Museums in Venice

1. Palazzo Ducale/Doge's Palace (1.4m visitors)

2. St. Mark's museum (510k visitors)

3. Galleria dell'Accademia (356k visitors)

The 3 Most Visited Museums in Milan

1. Museo Civico di Storia Naturale / Natural History Museum (350k visitors)

2. The Last Supper / Cenacolo Vinciano (335k visitors)

3. Da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology (329k visitors)

The 3 Museums in Italy with the Largest Increase in Visitors

1. Citta' della Scienza / City of Science (link in Italian) in Naples

2. Citta' dei Bambini e Ragazzi / City of Kids (link in Italian) in Genova

3. Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali / Natural Science Museum (link in Italian) in Bergamo

Photo of the Laocoon Group, in the Vatican Museums, by Joao Maximo