Most visited museums in Italy 2019-2020, by number of visitors

What are the most visited museums in Italy? The archaeological park of the Colosseum – also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre – was the most visited museum in 2019, with roughly 7.6 million visitors overall. However, due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, attendance decreased sharply across all most popular Italian museums in 2020. In that year, the Colosseum welcomed roughly 1.1 million people and ranked second in the list of the most visited museums in Italy. In 2020, the Uffizi Galleries in Florence reported the highest figure, with roughly 1.2 million visitors overall. Finally, the archaeological park of Pompeii placed third in both 2019 and 2020. Attendance to this renowned archaeological area dropped from 3.9 million to around 597 thousand over the period considered.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on museums in Italy

As in March 2020 the number of COVID-19 infections in Italy rose significantly, the Italian government imposed a national lockdown, which was eventually eased in May. During this period, the income of State museums and similar facilities decreased dramatically, as all cultural institutions had to stay close to the public. Overall, the Colosseum was the tourist attraction with the highest income in Italy in 2020, though revenues dropped from over 57 million euros in 2019 to approximately 8.8 million euros in 2020.

Museums in the digital era

As museums had to remain closed during the lockdown, they focused on intensifying their digital presence. According to a May 2020 study, the average number of posts published on social media by museums and similar cultural institutions in Italy roughly doubled in March and April 2020 over the previous months. Meanwhile, the share of Italian museums having a social media account increased gradually from 2017 to 2020. As of July 2020, 45 percent of the surveyed institutions claimed to have an Instagram account, while three-quarters of the survey sample had a Facebook profile.