A journey through culture and history, to discover the precious Italian heritage: the domenicalmuseo returns again this year, an unmissable event to visit museums and state archaeological parks for free. The initiative, organized by the Ministry of Culture, provides for opening for 12 Sundays a year, to which two further days are added on the occasion of the spring long weekends. We’re talking about 25 April he was born in June 2, 2024, when multiple institutions will open their doors free to the public. Let’s find out something more.
Museums open for free
“This year too we are renewing the initiative, to associate highly symbolic anniversaries for the nation with visits to places of culture” – stated the minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, recalling the free opening of state museums and archaeological parks on the occasion of two special dates. But what are the places that absolutely cannot be missed? Let’s start with the museums: the first is D’Annunzio House, the house where the great writer Gabriele D’Annunzio was born. Located in Pescara, in the heart of the ancient city at the time enclosed by military walls, it was declared a national monument and later transformed into a museum, which collects relics of the Italian man of letters.
Instead, it is in Ferrara that the Casa Romei Museum, located inside an ancient noble residence built in the 15th century: the institution collects artistic works from other Ferrara palaces and from deconsecrated churches and convents. You can also admire some precious paintings by Donatello. Among the many sites to visit in Rome, the Museum of Civilizations, established in 2016 to bring together four different museums: the National Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum, the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions, the National Museum of the Early Middle Ages and the National Museum of Oriental Art. Today it also houses the collections that belonged to the African Museum and the National Geological Museum.
In Milan, the Brera ‘s picture gallery opens free to the public: it is one of the most important national galleries of ancient and modern art in Italy, with many works belonging to Venetian and Lombard painting, as well as a rich collection that ranges from prehistoric to contemporary art. The Bargello National Museumlocated in Florence, is instead dedicated to Renaissance sculpture: it houses masterpieces by Michelangelo, Donatello, Cellini and many other artists, but also a large collection of applied arts.
Archaeological parks open for free
As regards the state archaeological parks that open free to the public, we certainly include that of Metaponto: it is located in the province of Matera and hosts the remains of an ancient Greek colony founded around the 7th century BC by navigators from the Peloponnese. A short distance away is also the National Archaeological Museum of Metaponto, which houses numerous artefacts found at the site. Let’s then move towards the archaeological park of Sibari, in the province of Cosenza: it is also a splendid testimony of one of the most important city of Magna Graecia.
In Monasterace Marina (province of Reggio Calabria), you can visit the Ancient Kaulon archaeological park, with the remains of the Greek colony founded in the second half of the 7th century BC and the numerous finds found here. Finally, this is the right opportunity to explore the Archaeological parks of Herculaneum and Pompeiithe two Roman cities that were buried by ash and boiling lava during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD: they are an important testimony of a historical period crystallized by layers of lapilli that have now cooled for centuries.
