Things to do in Italy, Italy: The Best History Museums

January 22, 2022 Dorsey Hagwood

Coordinates: 43°N 12°E / 43°N 12°E / 43; 12
Restaurants in Italy

1. Museo Nazionale d'Abruzzo - MUNDA

Loc. 99 Cannelle Località Borgo Rivera, 67100, L'Aquila Italy +39 0862 28420 http://www.musei.abruzzo.beniculturali.it/
Excellent
80%
Good
18%
Satisfactory
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5.0 based on 273 reviews

Museo Nazionale d'Abruzzo - MUNDA

Reviewed By anthonybT8926ZJ

This museum is a treasure, with a large collection of art from the Middle Ages to modern times, in it's beautifully-displayed rooms. This structure is not the permanent housing for these hundreds of paintings, sculptures and jewelry, all of which were brought from the 16th-century Castle of L’Aquila that was heavily damaged in the 2009 earthquake. Few visitors were in this large, modern museum when we arrived. After my wife and I had spent 2 hours enjoying every piece we saw, a guide (Carmine Santorelli) came to us after seeing how interested we were and he led us on a guided tour. He explained the history and culture of the region and how the artwork differed from other locations and times; the breast-feeding Virgin Mary's; the hidden figures in many religious paintings that symbolized the distrust the artists (an others) felt for powerful religious figures of the times. His 40+ years of museum experience were truly evident in his passionate explanations of what we saw.

2. Ex Stabilimento Florio delle Tonnare di Favignana e Formica

Via Giovanni Amendola 29, 91023, Sicily Italy +39 338 536 5899 [email protected] http://www.visitsicily.info/ex-stabilimento-florio-tonnara-favignana/
Excellent
83%
Good
15%
Satisfactory
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5.0 based on 5,277 reviews

Ex Stabilimento Florio delle Tonnare di Favignana e Formica

Reviewed By jamespF355 - Carshalton, United Kingdom

We’d been looking the the Stabilimento for a couple of evenings before we visited. Very informative about the history of the way that Tuna has traditionally been caught and processed.

3. Galleria Borbonica

Vico del Grottone 4 Zona Piazza Plebiscito, 80132, Naples Italy +39 081 764 5808 [email protected] http://www.galleriaborbonica.com/it/home/
Excellent
84%
Good
13%
Satisfactory
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5.0 based on 8,535 reviews

Galleria Borbonica

Enchanting scenery that unfolds to the eyes of visitors, a secret place full of history and magic atmosphere.An emotional journey that conducts visitors in the new section of the underground of Naples. It is situated in Vico del Grottone 4, from to 150 mt. to Plebiscito Square. Until a few years ago it wasa veterinary laboratory, now is the entrance of the Bourbon Tunnel. A staircase with 8 ramps, 33 yards deep descending into the belly of Chiaia. The second entry is in Via Domenico Morelli,40, through the crosswalk of “Quick parking”.The Tunnel was built in 1853 by Ferdinand II of Bourbon, who, concerned about the outbreak of rebellion, he asked for an escape from the Royal Palace to the barrack in Via della Pace, now Via Morelli. The work was uncompleted and, during the second World War, was used by residents of the area as a military hospital, later becoming the Hall Judicial Deposit.The war left its mark even in the subsoil. That’s way there are handwrite, folding beds, messages of wish and desolation of those who lived it and still maintains its memory. Along the tunnel thereare also the evidences, 530 meters, where visitors can discover the history of real life. Through the spacious streets, it’s easy reachable the network of tunnels and cisterns of seventeenth-century,large buildings, where worked the "pozzari", the only connoisseur of Naples underground.The show is stunning, but that's not finished. On Via Morelli appear statues dating back to fascist period and many cars and motorcycles, abandoned for years, freed from piles of rubbish, arranged and illuminated ad hoc for the route.Nothing is left to chance, even lighting, perfectly integrated with the path of the visitors.Since today everything is possible to visit. Five years ago the scenery was completely different.Rubbish, degradation, wastes of all kinds covered the reliquaries.

Reviewed By 924silvioc

Excellent tour, an amazing place to visit and a snapshot of life in Naples during WWII Lots of thanks to Lorena for the excellent explanation

4. Masseria Brancati

Contrada Brancati Si consiglia la prenotazione, 72017, Ostuni Italy +39 330 822 910 [email protected] http://www.masseriabrancati.com
Excellent
91%
Good
7%
Satisfactory
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5.0 based on 655 reviews

Masseria Brancati

Mandatory booking by phone or email at least 1 day before. Check in time is 9.30 / 11.30 and 15.00 / 17.30. You will visit the monumental olive grove, the hypogeum crusher, some historic rooms and end with a tasting of extra virgin olive oil. The duration is about 60/70 minutes and the cost is 12.00 Euros, pp., 6.oo Euros for the children and is free under 6 years.We only speak Italian and English language

Reviewed By Gillmac73 - Virginia Water, United Kingdom

Excellent tour but must email in advance to check your times. Only 12€ for the tour with 4 different olive oils to taste. Very informative tour and we learnt a lot about olive trees dating back to the Roman times and olive oil making. There is a cave where the original olive presses live. This is a family run olive farm and they have A lot of passion about their olives and trees. Fantastic must see place.

5. Museo Fratelli Cozzi Alfa Romeo

Viale Pietro Toselli 46, 20025 Legnano Italy +39 0331 427923 [email protected] http://www.museofratellicozzi.it
Excellent
88%
Good
10%
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5.0 based on 171 reviews

Museo Fratelli Cozzi Alfa Romeo

Fratelli Cozzi Museum stemmed from the passion of Pietro Cozzi for Alfa Romeo cars, after he decided to collect one sample of each model produced by "Casa del Biscione". Beginning with 1950s' designs, it was decided to identify the quintessential models, special series, top-performance engines, and more than 50 cars were assembled, including some that are unique worldwide. Nor does the museum lack for original documents, books, drawings, films, signs, trophies, photographs, and objects that, as much as the cars, bear witness to the history of Fratelli Cozzi's strong and enduring partnership with Alfa Romeo. The collection is constantly updated with new models and is an important legacy for 20th-century history of Italian cars, as well as playing a key role in understanding the industrial growth of this outstanding brand, born in Milan in 1910.

6. Creazioni Artistiche Il Faro

Via Pietro Ruffo di Calabria, 9, 89861 Tropea Italy +39 338 945 7304 [email protected] http://www.ilfaropresepi.it/
Excellent
86%
Good
11%
Satisfactory
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5.0 based on 418 reviews

Creazioni Artistiche Il Faro

Animated representation of Tropea in Miniature. free admission for all. Do not miss the beautiful attraction that reminds us of the ancient crafts lost.

7. National Archaeological Museum

Patision 44, Athens 106 82 Greece +30 21 3214 4800 [email protected] http://www.namuseum.gr
Excellent
69%
Good
22%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
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Terrible
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4.5 based on 7,806 reviews

National Archaeological Museum

Reviewed By tashak574

An extensive and fascinating museum with many unimaginable finds. It can be an overwhelming experience even with several wings closed. The collection shed a great deal of insight on the various movements in design during Greek history and shared really fascinating and well kept artifacts from points we learn about in history class. We’re talking arrow heads from the battle of Marathon. It’s a good time.

8. Museo Egizio

Via Accademia delle Scienze, 6 Aperto Anche il Lunedi Mattina, 10123 Turin Italy +39 011 561 7776 [email protected] http://www.museoegizio.it/
Excellent
72%
Good
21%
Satisfactory
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4.5 based on 24,213 reviews

Museo Egizio

The Museo delle Antichità Egizie is the only museum other than the Cairo Museum that is dedicated solely to Egyptian art and culture. Many international scholars, since the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs Jean-François Champollion, who came to Turin in 1824, spend much time pouring over the collections. It was Champollion who famously wrote, “The road to Memphis and Thebes passes through Turin”.The collections that make up today’s Museum, were enlarged by the excavations conducted in Egypt by the Museum’s archaeological mission between 1900 and 1935 (a period when finds were divided between the excavators and Egypt).The Egyptian Museum in Turin has begun 2009 an important project which wants to widen spaces in order to enhance the collections through modern museographical and museological criteria. The Museum will be open all over the period of restoration and the New Egyptian Museum inauguration is scheduled for the year 2015.

Reviewed By 183syllac - Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Renovated three or four years ago, contains an astonishing array of Egyptian artifacts of the highest quality, most of them "acquired" by at times dubious means, at the beginning of the 19th century and offering a fascinating vision of Ancient Egypt. A treasure house of precious objects and cultural treasures.

9. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

Via Museo 43, 39100 Bolzano Italy +39 0471 320100 [email protected] http://www.iceman.it
Excellent
63%
Good
28%
Satisfactory
7%
Poor
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4.5 based on 2,494 reviews

South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

Meet here the world’s famous chalcolithic ice mummy called "Ötzi, the Iceman" who was found with all his belongings on the Similaun glacier in 1991. Situated in the city center of Bolzano (pedestrian area), the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology displays the oldest wet mummy in a sophisticated ice cell and shows Neolithic craftmanship in his equipment: the world’s most antique clothes and the hunting equipment with the world's oldest fully preserved copper axe.

Reviewed By ANGELOV230 - Milan, Italy

The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology is centered on the iceman "Ötzi" that was discovered in the Alps some decades ago. The mummy itself is visible through a window, in the refrigerated cell where the 5000 year old man is kept. All artifacts found with the mummy are here too (clothings, shoes, hat, ax, pouch, knife, bow, quiver and arrows, baskets...) and very good explanations are provided in Italian, German and English of each item. Every artifact or any discovery about Ötzi are put into contest of the people life at that time, so the entire museum tells a fascinating history of 3400 years BC. You cannot take pictures of the mummy, but everything else can be photographed. At the end of the tour, you find a museum shop, with good books about Ötzi.

10. Museo di Palazzo Reale

Via Balbi 10, 16126, Genoa Italy +39 010 271 0236 http://www.palazzorealegenova.beniculturali.it/
Excellent
61%
Good
31%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
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4.5 based on 1,104 reviews

Museo di Palazzo Reale

Reviewed By backpacker31 - Boynton Beach, United States

Dating back to the early 1600’s when it was built for the Balbi family (subsequently owned and expanded by a succession of families), this massive home contains countless original items such as paintings, tapestries, furniture, sculptures, etc. The numerous rooms are decorated and arranged as if the homeowners will be returning shortly. The inner courtyard and garden provide a luxurious and tranquil environment. The top floor terrace offers sweeping city and port views. Each room has very informative literature (in several languages). A visit here was a step back to the golden era of Genoa’s seafaring history.

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