Museum routes in Italy in 2022

We submit the update to 2022 of the experimental statistics Museum Routes published on these same pages in 2019 and updated for the first time in 2020. Routes and maps are updated with the latest data and the annexed cards are easier to read. The indicators are slightly different: there are a few more describing the measurement of routes, the  access with particular attention to the possibilities for disabled people and children, more details on activities in agreement with other institutions, presence of theatres and libraries. The reader will not find the older, more generic indicators on ownership and access.

Road routes connecting the museums and similar institutions surveyed by the Istat 2023 survey form the museum routes here presented. Statistical information on cultural and tourism sites from official statistics or institutional sources enrich the routes

The adopted methodology was already tested on the data of the survey on Museums and similar institutions 2015 and 2018, and disseminated in the form of experimental statistics. A GIS procedure connects, the 107 starting museums, chosen as structures with the largest number of visitors in each Province/ UTS, to all other museums within a 30-minute drive. The road stretches through a set of municipal territories in which are located, in addition to other typical places of culture such as libraries and theaters, villages, protected natural areas, UNESCO sites. These territories are also characterized from the point of view of the tourists who visit them and the population that lives there, all potential users of museums and their natural and cultural heritage.

The proposed update also confirms that the routes are very different from each other: some are particularly rich in museums and other types of cultural assets, some concentrate in a single center, others are spread over many kilometers in the territory, beyond the boundaries of the Provinces/UTS and the reference regions. In some cases the paths overlap, in others they are isolated. Local public administrators, decision-makers, cultural, tourism entrepreneurs, and economic operators will find this integrated geographical vision a useful support for their work.

For each route, an attached summary card presents a number of indicators on the context, the type of museum and the tourist vocation of the route. In the technical note, there are useful information to read the attached cards. Annexes include a printing of the map of each route, including cultural and natural facilities on the territory. Routes are also downloadable as a geographical interchange file (shape file).