Number of State museum visitors in Italy 2019-2021, by region

Lazio was the Italian region recording the highest number of museum visitors in Italy between 2019 and 2021. That said, the attendance during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was significantly lower compared to 2019. While State museums and similar cultural institutions in Lazio recorded around 5.4 million visitors in 2021, they reported roughly 25.6 million visits in 2019. Meanwhile, Campania, Tuscany, and Piedmont followed in the ranking in 2021.

Most visited museums in Italy

A similar scenario was found in the list of the most visited museums in Italy in 2021. The Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Tuscany, topped the list in this case, while the Colosseum in Rome (Lazio), and the archaeological site of Pompeii in Campania followed behind. Overall, while all the most visited museums in Italy experienced a slight annual increase in attendance in 2021, figures remained below pre-pandemic levels.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the museums' income

As the museum attendance dropped due to the emergency closures, the income of State museums in Italy also declined sharply. In 2021, the total income of State museums and similar cultural institutions in Italy amounted to roughly 88.6 million euros, accounting for just 37 percent of the figure recorded in 2019. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the Colosseum, which topped the list of the Italian tourist attractions with the highest income, recorded a 71 percent decline in earnings in 2021 compared to 2019.