History of Italian Museums

"People ... trust museums, implicitly granting them tremendous authority to guide us through unfamiliar places and eras, to tell us the truth about our world and ourselves." [4]

Overview

In Italy in 2011, there were a total of 4,588 museum-like institutions. This can refer to museums, dig sites, galleries or collections, monument sites, and archaeological parks [16]. Admissions to museum-like institutions has increased 18.5% between 2013-2016 [19], leaving visitor rates over 50 million [11]. There is a clear variety of museums present in Italy and the sheer abundance of museum-like institutions makes me wonder the importance of museums within Italian History, especially as a result of the Italian Renaissance.

Information on Historical Italian Museums

Although the Italian Renaissance was a period of growth in art and literature - most of which could fill hundreds of museums - three-quarters of modern museums were established post-1945 [4]. Many modern mission statements for art museums are focused on the acquisition, preservation, and exhibition of pieces as well as the education of those viewing them [12]. This suggests that the impact of a cultural and artistic revolution such as the Italian Renaissance still impacts us through the preservation and education work that museums provide. However, museums have not always been seen as a tool for education.

The history of museums as an institution has a curious start - named cabinets of curiosity, wonder rooms, or theaters of nature, early museums began with the collection of a dragon in Italy [7]. Cabinets of Curiosities are widely regarded as early forms of museums, meant as symbols of wealth and knowledge [12]. A larger cabinet implies a more renowned world-traveler. With Pope Julius II starting the tradition of a Pope's collection and the wealthy elite trying to show off their wonder rooms, Renaissance cabinets were mostly used to satisfy questions about the natural world whereas in the Baroque period, these wonder rooms were more aimed toward the marvels and mutations that lived among them [7].

The Dragon collected in Italy by Ulisse Aldrovandi

A painting depicting a Cabinet of Curiosities seemingly more in Renaissance style

A drawing depicting a Cabinet of Curiosities seemingly more in Baroque style

Specific Italian Museums

Italy is home to a large variety of museums, with many different styles and purposes. Below, we explore five different museums, which each align with a possible stop on our trip.

This is a picture of a statue that reads "Vatican Museums"

The Vatican Museums

Located in The Vatican City in Rome
The Museums of the Vatican started as a result of popes' "extensive collections of art, archaeology, and ethno-anthropology" [9]
1506 - Pope Julius II bought the statue of the Laocoön group and put it in a room with a few other statues, starting the tradition of the Vatican Museums [22]

The Carpigiani Gelato Museum

Located in Bologna, the Gelato Museum began in 2012 [5]
The Gelato Museum is run by a gelato company called Carpigiani and was built in order to teach three things: "the evolution of gelato over time, the history of production technology, and the places and ways it is consumed." [10]
The Gelato Museum has over 10,000 historical photos on display [8]
Carpigiani was founded in 1946 and has become a leader in producing gelato machines [5]

This is a picture of the front of the Carpigiani Gelato University, which houses the Gelato Museum

This is a picture of the modern day Medical School of Piza, inside of which the Museum of Human Anatomy lies

The Museum of Human Anatomy

Tommaso Biancini opened the Anatomical Cabinet in 1832, which is the start of this museum [3]
The Museum of Human Anatomy is located next to Pathological Anatomy Museum and nearby to the Veterinarian Anatomy Museum [15]
The museum is located on the second floor of the Medical School of Pisa and is available by appointment [3]
Pisa's University is among the oldest in the world after being founded in 1343 [3]

This is a sketch of the Medical School of Piza done off of a photograph on Valentine's Day 1875 [18]

This is a picture of one of the exhibits housed within the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum

The Leonardo Da Vinci Museum

Located in Florence
This museum has been dedicated to all things Leonardo Da Vinci and is broken up into several sections [13]
The Leonardo Da Vinci museum focuses on his Inventions, Art, and Anatomical work [13]

The Naval Technical Museum

Located in La Spezia in La Lingua
The Naval Technical Museum is full of exhibits that tell the history of the navy and the naval achievements of La Spezia [20]
The Naval Technical Museum contains many artifacts used by the Italian Navy [14]

This is a picture of the outside of the Naval Technical Museum

Video Supplements

a tour of the Vatican Museums

a recommendation for seven museums to visit while in Rome

an antique company advertising a 17th Century Cabinet of Curiosities, speaking about the history while also trying to sell the product

Impact

Italian culture is rich and surprising; their past full of magnificent people, creations, and ideas. Although many pieces of the past have been lost to time, museums strive to preserve the remnants of history and human ability. Italy has a wide variety of successes and impacts on history, which explains the wide variety of museums all over the country. However, when visiting a museum, one must not take everything displayed at face value. Although modern museums have come a long way from the days of curiosity cabinets, the root of museums as a way to display knowledge along with wealth and to satisfy human need for entertainment is still present in some ways.