43 Best Sights in Italy

Adjacent to San Giorgio Maggiore is a complex that now houses the Cini Foundation, established in 1951 as a cultural center dedicated to humanist research. It contains a beautiful cloister designed by Palladio in 1560, his refectory, a library designed by Longhena, and various archives. In a woodland area you can wander amid 10 "Vatican Chapels" created for the 2018 Architecture Biennale by renowned architects, including Norman Foster. Another stunning feature is the Borges Labyrinth, a 1-km (½-mile) path through a boxwood hedge that allows visitors to take a 45-minute contemplative walk. It was designed by Randoll Coate and inspired by the Jorge Luis Borges short story "The Garden of Forking Paths." An evocative audio guide, composed by Antonio Fresa and performed by Teatro La Fenice's orchestra, may accompany your pensive stroll. Guided tours are given daily (except Wednesday), and reservations are required.

A few minutes beyond the French-speaking village of Pont St. Martin, you pass through the narrow Gorge de Bard to reach the fortress that has stood guarding the valley entrance for more than eight centuries. Take a series of funiculars up the mountain to see the fort's five fascinating museums: Museo delle Alpi, dedicated to the history and culture of the Valle d'Aosta region; Le Prigioni, an interactive walk through the former prisons; Museo delli Fortificazioni, which looks at defense techniques (fortifications) over the centuries; Museo delle Frontiere, which examines the political, economic, and cultural meaning of borders; and a children's museum, Le Alpi dei Ragazzi. The fort also hosts regularly changing exhibitions featuring contemporary Italian artists. There's also a restaurant with well-prepared local foods, and a hotel if you want to extend your stay.

Taranto's outstanding National Archaeological Museum (MArTA) occupies the historic premises of the ex-monastery of San Pasquale. The museum dates from 1887, and its collection of Greek and Roman antiquities is considered to be one of the most important in Italy. Admire the rich cache of tomb goods, including magnificent gold jewelry, objects in ivory and bone, and rare colored glass. A display of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim funeral epitaphs, dating from the 4th century, demonstrate the peaceful coexistence of the three religions in this multicultural Mediterranean hub from the Byzantine era to the Middle Ages.

High atop the Mountain Station Kronplatz–Plan de Corones, almost 7,500 feet above Brunico, the newest museum from mountaineer Reinhold Messner displays climbing equipment and other Alpine paraphernalia from the 1800s until now. It also examines all facets of mountaineering through painting, sculpture, and other media. Equally interesting is the museum's Zaha Hadid–designed concrete building: its sloped roof makes it seem like a miniature mountain, and its outdoor lookout point affords magnificent vistas. Note that the museum closes at 4 pm (last admission at 3:30), so that you won't miss the last cable car back down.

Usually visited along with the neighboring Cappella degli Scrovegni, this former monastery houses a rich array of exhibits and has wonderful cloister gardens with a mix of ancient architectural fragments and modern sculpture. The Pinacoteca displays works of medieval and modern masters, including some by Tintoretto, Veronese, and Tiepolo. Standouts are the Giotto Crucifix, which once hung in the Cappella degli Scrovegni, and the Portrait of a Young Senator, by Giovanni Bellini (1430–1516).

At this lovely and informative museum dedicated to all things violin, even those not already enamored by the instrument will find something to appreciate. Historic violins made in Cremona by masters, including Stradivari, are presented as works of art; be sure to get the audio guide included with admission to listen to recordings as you stroll. An audio chamber lets you hear a musical performance in "3D audio"—and if you're lucky, there will be a live concert going on at the innovative on-site auditorium, where the seats wrap around the stage and musicians for an immersive experience.

No visit to this motor city would be complete without a pilgrimage to see the perfectly preserved Bugattis, Ferraris, and Isotta Fraschinis at this museum. Here you can get an idea of the importance of Fiat—and cars in general—to Turin's economy. There's a collection of antique cars from as early as 1896, and displays show how the city has changed over the years as a result of the auto industry.

A natural salt deposit that was once one of the largest salt mines in Europe has been converted into the town's Museum of Contemporary Art. Aside from browsing the artwork, you can also visit the underground mining caves and see how the salt has been carved into a kind of underground cathedral filled with sculptures. The museum is open sporadically and mainly during the summer months, so be sure to check the website for upcoming dates and book your tickets in advance to ensure your spot.

In the courtyard of the 16th-century Palazzo Marigliano is this world-famous hospital for dolls, which has a small museum dedicated to its poignant mission. Doll limbs, eyes and well-cuddled, antique characters of all shapes and descriptions spill from packed shelves. In business since 1895, it's a wonderful place to take kids (and their injured toys) and for anyone who retains a childhood sense of wonder with a penchant for the uncanny.

Head here to learn how local wine has historically been made, stored, served, and worshipped, through a series of entertaining exhibits.

The impressive boat collection here includes scale models, such as the doges' ceremonial Bucintoro, and full-size boats, such as Peggy Guggenheim's private gondola complete with romantic felze (cabin). There's a range of old galley and military pieces, a section dedicated to Admiral Morosini (who plundered the Arsenale's Porta Magna lions nearby), and a large collection of seashells. A visit to the Paglione delle Nave, a part of the museum, allows you to see a portion of the interior of the Arsenale otherwise closed to visitors.

More than 350 of the most renowned Italian industrial design objects are showcased in this former Enel electricity plant. The items in the permanent collection were selected during biennial judging for Compasso d'Oro (Golden Compass) awards from 1954 until today. Some of the exhibits are grouped by category, like cars (1960 Abarth-Fiat Monza Zagato, 1959 Fiat 500, and 2014 Ferrari F12berlinetta) and coffeemakers (Alessi's 9090 from 1979 and Napoletana from 1981).

About 600 pieces, from about 1980 to the present, by famed Milanese fashion designer Giorgio Armani are displayed on four floors of this airy 48,000-square-foot museum, housed in a 1950s building that was formerly a Nestlé cereal storage facility. The collection includes many of Armani’s famous suits and clothes worn to the Oscars and other celebrity-studded events. A digital archive lets you explore Armani's full body of work, and a café lets you stop for a restorative espresso. Temporary exhibitions explore photography, architecture, and other themes related to design.

In Classe, a short distance outside Ravenna, this museum dazzlingly illustrates the history of Ravenna and its environs from the pre-Roman era to the Lombard conquest in AD 751. The museum occupies a refurbished sugar refinery, and with the help of multimedia presentations and panels in Italian and English, it chronicles the Roman, Ostrogoth, and Byzantine periods. Displays include bronze statuettes, stone sculptures, glassware, and mosaic fragments. A separate room summarizes the building's more recent history. It's an easy walk from Sant'Apollinare in Classe.  To get here from Ravenna, take Bus No. 4 from the station or the local train to Classe, or use the cycle path from the city center.

Devoted to the city's seafaring history, this museum is probably the best way, at least on dry land, to get an idea of the changing shape of Genoa's busy port. Highlighting the displays is a full-size replica of a 17th-century Genoan galley.

This museum has all the class and elegance associated with the Gucci name. The story of Florentine Guccio Gucci—from selling imported luggage in his hometown in 1921 to helming one of Italy's best-known fashion labels—is screened in a theater with purple velvet couches. Tasteful displays of the design house's famous leather accessories, shoes, and sporting goods (including snorkels and flippers) also fill the 14th-century Palazzo del Tribunale di Mercatanzia, that is now known as Gucci Palazzo, or Gucci Garden. Centuries ago, this building heard and tried cases by disgruntled guildsmen; in its new incarnation, it houses not only the Gucci Visions museum, but also a boutique and bookstore, the Gucci Giordina 25 café, and the Gucci Osteria Florence. Expect to see some interesting juxtapositions of past and present, including an early 15th-century fresco of Christ crucified in a room that's filled with displays of 20th-century jewelry.

This contemporary photography and visual languages exhibition space, developed in partnership with Fondazione Prada, is spread over two floors in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Exhibitions, which rotate several times a year, explore the cultural and social implications of expression. The space itself, bombed after World War II and then fully restored, is worth visiting just for the unique view of the Galleria dome through the large windows. You can reach the gallery via the elevator next to the Prada store.

The Castle of Baia, which commands a 360-degree view eastward across the Bay of Pozzuoli and westward across the open Tyrrhenian, provides a fittingly dramatic setting for the Archaeological Museum of Campi Flegrei. Though the castle's foundation dates to the late 15th century, when Naples was ruled by the House of Aragon and an invasion by Charles VIII of France looked imminent, the structure was radically transformed under the Spanish viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo after the nearby eruption of Monte Nuovo in 1538. Indeed, its bastions bear a striking resemblance to the imposing Castel Sant'Elmo in Naples.

The museum has been reorganized to describe in detail the history of Cumae, Puteoli, Baiae, Misenum, and Liternum. Sculptures, architectural remains, pottery, glass, jewelry, and coins are displayed in the ex-dormitories of the soldiers. Of the various exhibitions, the first on the suggested itinerary consists of plaster casts from the Roman period found at the Baia archaeological site. This gives valuable insights into the techniques used by the Romans to make copies from Greek originals in bronze from the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Pride of place goes to the sacellum, or small sanctuary, transported from nearby Misenum and tastefully displayed inside the Aragonese tower, the Torre Tenaglia. Standing about 20 feet high, the sacellum has been reconstructed, with two of its original six columns (the rest in steel) and a marble architrave with its dedicatory inscription to the husband-and-wife team who commissioned the sanctuary's restoration in the 2nd century AD. The beneficent couple is depicted above this. Another highlight is the marble splendor of the Ninfeo Imperiale di Punta Epitaffio, or Nymphaeum of Emperor Claudius, which was discovered in 1969 some 23 feet below the waters of the Bay of Pozzuoli. Note that although this museum is poorly maintained and staffed, it's well worth visiting, given that it's not often that you find yourself alone among such fascinating ancient artifacts.

The museum's wealth of material from Roman times includes portrait busts from the Republican era, semiprecious gems, amber—including preserved flies—and goldwork, and a fine glass collection. Beautiful pre-Christian mosaics are from the floors of Roman houses and palaces.

The 18th-century Palazzo Pomaranci Santomasi houses an assorted collection of the celebrated Sorrentine decorative art of intarsia, or intarsi (inlays), comprising mainly 19th-century furniture and some modern artistic creations. Also on view are 19th-century paintings, prints, and photographs of the Sorrentine Peninsula.

For lovers of ceramics, this local museum is the best place to learn about the ancient art that has been practiced here since the Greeks colonized Sicily. It has a fantastic, if rather eccentrically curated, collection of ceramics from throughout this history as well as original pieces from local artisans. The museum is housed in the sadly decaying Palazzo Trabia, an aristocratic palace acquired by the local government and converted especially to house these extensive ceramic exhibitions.

Entered via a courtyard to the right of the Duomo, this museum contains two interesting, important, and surprisingly beautiful monuments of Lombard art: the Altar of Duke Ratchis (737–744) and the Baptistry of Patriarch Callisto (731–776). Both were found under the floor of the present Duomo in the early 20th century. The museum also has two fine paintings by Veronese, one by Il Pordenone, and a small collection of medieval and Renaissance vestments.

Housed in the 16th-century former convent of Sant'Agostino, the small but intriguing Papyrus Museum uses informative exhibits and videos to demonstrate how papyri are prepared from reeds and then painted—an ancient tradition in the city. Siracusa, it seems, has the only climate outside the Nile Valley in which the papyrus plant—from which the word "paper" comes—thrives.

The trademark crumbly cheese is the focus of this museum, which is part of the collective known as Musei del Cibo whose goal is to showcase the region's most famous foods. There's a video that demonstrates the process of making Parmigiano-Reggiano and exhibits that explore the history of the cheese. Tastings are also offered, and cheese is available to purchase.

Part of the collective known as Musei del Cibo, which works to showcase the region's most famous foods, this museum offers an in-depth look at Italy's most famous cured pork product. It offers tastings, a bit of history on prosciutto, and a tour through the process of making it. A gift shop ensures that you can take some of this marvelous product home.

Preserved in the Museo del Tessuto is what made this city a Renaissance economic powerhouse. The collection includes clothing, fabric fragments, and the machines used to make them—all dating from the 14th to the 20th century. Check out the 15th-century fabrics with pomegranate prints, a virtuoso display of Renaissance textile wizardry. The well-designed museum (objects are clearly labeled in English) is within the medieval walls of the city in the old Cimatoria, a 19th-century factory that finished raw fabrics.

Imperia is king when it comes to olive oil, and the story of the olive is the theme of this small museum. Displays of the history of the olive tree, farm implements, presses, and utensils show how olive oil has been made in many countries throughout history. A multilingual audio guide is also available.

Caltagirone was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site for its ceramics as well as for its numerous Baroque churches. Although the museum offers little information in English about the beautiful items displayed in its many glass cases, you can still see one of Sicily's most extensive ceramics collections, ranging from Neolithic finds to red-figure pottery from 5th-century-BC Athens and 18th-century terra-cotta Nativity figures.