If you hold or plan to buy a Milan Expo ticket, you’ll be happy to know that you’ll get free access to 17 museums and archeological sites of “exceptional value” across Italy for the duration of the world’s fair, ending October 31, 2015.
The initiative comes from Italy’s Culture Ministry, MIBACT, which describes it as “a unique opportunity to discover the extraordinary heritage of art, culture and beauty that Italy offers, from North to South, even outside of the most popular tourist itineraries.”
Sites include:
Castello Ducale di Agliè, near Turin, an imposing castle with more than 300 rooms, a frescoed ballroom, plus an extensive park, fountains and gardens;
Genoa's National Gallery at Palazzo Spinola, a Renaissance palace with original furniture and paintings by Antonello da Messina, Orazio Gentileschi, Guido Reni, Rubens, and Anton van Dyck;
Venice's National Museum at Palazzo Grimani, an elegant palace blending elements of Tuscan and Roman architecture with a Venetian ambiance;
Farnese theater in Parma, a Baroque-style theatre destroyed by bombs in 1944 and later rebuilt following the original 17th-century architecture;
National Museum of San Matteo in Pisa, considered one of the most important Medieval art museums in Europe;
Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia in Rome, the most representative museum dedicated to the Etruscan world.
The other sites are as follows:
Polo Nazionale della Preistoria e Protostoria – MUPRE, Capo di Ponte in the province of Brescia (Lombardy)
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Cividale del Friuli (Udine)
Museo Nazionale del Ducato di Spoleto
Museo Archeologico Nazionale delle Marche, Ancona
Museo archeologico nazionale d'Abruzzo, Villa Frigerj di Chieti
Archeological area of Altilia, Sepino (Campobasso)
Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
MARTA – Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto
Museo Archeologico della Basilicata “Dinu Adamesteanu”, Potenza
Museo Archeologico di Sibari
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Cagliari
For more information, click here.
