Best national archaeological museum in Italy: Florence, Naples and more

With more than six hundred archaeological museums in Italy, to which we can add several dozen outdoor areas such as Pompeii, the choice is truly immense. From north to south, in large cities as in smaller towns, travellers who love ancient history will never lack the opportunity to dive into the most remote and fascinating past.

From the world of the ancient Greeks, to the even more mysterious Etruscans' one, without forgetting the fabulous civilization of the pharaohs, a visit to one of the best national archaeological museums in Italy is always an unforgettable emotion. Let's go and find out which are the most important.

If you think about the archaeological heritage in Italy, you'll probably think of the Colosseum, or Pompeii, two sites of inestimable value, beauty and charm. However, Italy is a land where many other civilizations flourished before the Roman Empire.

Visiting archaeological museums in Italy is therefore an ever-changing experience, thanks to which you can get to know up close the richness and diversity of many civilizations, all equally important.

Each museum is the guardian of a distant past, rich in beauty and culture. For example, you will learn about the Etruscans, who dominated central Italy, laying important foundations for the development of Roman culture, as well as the Samnites and the Sabines. The south, on the other hand, was for centuries the home of the magnificent Greek civilization, which, by founding its colonies, left on Italian territory a very long series of extraordinary traditions, works of art and of thought. Further north, you will meet the Celts, whose presence in the Po Valley area has helped shape the history and culture of these regions.

No archaeological museum in Italy will therefore be the same as the previous one, but each of them will become an irreplaceable stop on an unparalleled journey into the past.

Let's begin our journey through the best national archaeological museums in Italy at the MAF, the Archaeological Museum of Florence. The rich collection of more than fourteen thousand finds is largely due to the interest of the Medici, for centuries  the city patrons, for antiquity in general, and for Etruscan antiquity in particular.

In the museum's rooms, in fact, there is an important nucleus of finds of Etruscan origin, enriched by several important finds from the Greek and Roman ages.

Among the most famous pieces there is a bronze chimera, particularly loved by Cosimo I because it symbolized power, and a horse's head from the Hellenistic age from which Donatello and Verrocchio probably took inspiration; but this museum also owes its importance to a section dedicated to ancient Egypt so rich that it is second, in Italy, only to that of the famous Egyptian Museum of Turin.

The MAF also has a garden that is in turn an open-air museum. Here there are some Etruscan tombs brought from the original necropolises.

The Archaeological Museum of Florence is located in Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, less than ten minutes walk from the Duomo. It is open every day except Sunday.

Another museum that is definitely worth a visit is the MANN in Naples. It is not only one of the largest national archaeological museums in Italy, but it is considered one of the most important in the world, with a collection that ranges from prehistory to the Roman age.

The main core of the exhibition is the Farnese collection which includes a large number of statues from archaeological sites of great importance, such as Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia. The sections dedicated to epigraphs and coins are incredibly rich, while the one dedicated to ancient Egypt has the distinction of being the first of its kind in Italy.

The MANN is also famous because here you can find extraordinary mosaics and frescoes from the Vesuvius' villas and in particular from Pompeii, plus a section called the Secret Cabinet which contains erotic works also from Pompeii. The section owes its name to the fact that for a long time it was accessible only with a special permit, and only to males.

The MANN is located right in the center, in Piazza Museo, easily reachable thanks to the metro Line 1, Museo stop.

In Reggio Calabria there is another one of the major national archaeological museums in Italy, also known as the Museum of Magna Graecia for the extraordinary quality and quantity of the finds discovered in the ancient Greek colonies of southern Italy.

With its five levels this museum, which is one of the few in Italy to be located inside a building specifically designed for this funcion, offers a great variety of artifacts starting from prehistory. The most consistent and fascinating core of the exhibition, however, concerns the theaters, sanctuaries and Greek necropolises, such as those of Sibari, Crotone and Locri.

Reggio Calabria's archeological museum is also the home of two of the most famous ancient statues of all time: the Riace Bronzes. The two magnificent 5th century bronze warriors, found in the sea in the 1970s, off the coast of Calabria, are preserved here and continue to attract scholars and enthusiasts from all over the world.

The museum is located in Piazza de Nava, not far from the sea, a few minutes from the Reggio Calabria Lido station.

If choosing the best national archaeological museums in Italy is difficult, excluding some is almost impossible.

In any case, if we really need to make a selection, among those not to be missed there is certainly the MAV of Ercolano, the Virtual Archaeological Museum that is located near the excavations that brought to light a site no less important than Pompeii, the ancient city of Ercolano. It is an innovative museum where you can live an immersive experience among 3D models and holograms.

In Taranto, instead, once among the largest colonies of Magna Graecia, there is the MARTA. In this museum you can admire statues, vases, jewels and coins.

Let's move north, now, to visit the national archaeological museum of Aquileia, in Friuli. The city, among the largest of the Roman Empire, hosts a museum where you can admire a wide range of finds such as wonderful mosaics, sculptures and inscriptions.

Last but not least, and a practically obligatory stop, the Egyptian Museum of Turin is unmissable because it is the second most important in the world after the one in Cairo and the most important outside of Egypt. Here mummies, sarcophagi, papyrus and much more, give life to a vast collection of unparalleled charm.