The gaps in the supply of museums in Italy

The number of is growing visitors to Italian museums. After the collapse of the pandemic phase, in 2022 we returned above the threshold of 100 million visitors. Almost 3 times the minimum reached in the pandemic, although still far from the 130 million reached in 2019.

The 108 million visitors to museums and similar institutions recorded in the last available year are in fact still 17% less than those recorded in the last year before the Covid emergency.

There pandemic has led to a real collapse in access to museums, due to the need for social distancing and the resulting closures. A phenomenon that – in the same way – it also involved other cultural activities that require physical presence.

A crisis which, although in the process of being re-established, does not yet seem completely over in 2022. But How is it impacting, coming out of the pandemic, access to culture for children and young people? As we have said, this is the age group that was most affected in this sense. How educational institutions, from schools to museums themselves, have equipped themselves to bring young people together after the emergency is over?

Analyzing the data from the Istat census of museums and similar institutions active in Italy, it emerges how most of the structures – in a fairly general way throughout the national territory – has organized guided tours for school groups during 2022. However, there remain differences, even rather large ones, in the offer of museums themselves, especially when compared with minors residing in the area.

The synergy between schools and museums to bring young people together

On average, in 2022 guided tours for school groups were held in almost 3 out of 4 museums. We are talking about over three thousand structures out of the 4,416 registered by Istat as active in that year.

A lower share of structures (44.8%) instead held educational workshops dedicated to school groups. While around 30% of museums have activated real partnerships with the world of schools.

A gap in the offer of structures, even before the activities carried out

It deals with evidently of activities with increasing commitment: therefore it is not surprising that the share of museums that have organized guided tours is higher than that of structures that have held workshops. And which, predictably, is in turn superior to the establishment of formal collaboration projects with educational institutions.

With this premise, there is a territorial gap in the activation of these projects, although less marked than one might expect. Guided tours they were organized in over 70% of the museums in all areas of the country: from 75.8% in the north-west to 71.1% in the islands, although the picture is much more differentiated between the regions: 80.5% in Lombardy, less than 60% in Molise (54.3%) and Valle d'Aosta (47.9%).

In the organization of workshops dedicated to school groupsthe 40% share is exceeded in almost all areas of the country (with the exception of the islands, 35%): 48.5% in central Italy, 47.6% in the north-west, 43.5% in the south , 43.2% in the Northeast.

In the'activation of partnerships with schools, the continental south stands out, for example. Here 33.7% of museums declare they have activated them, more than the national average (30.1%), with internal differences however between 40.4% in Campania and 14.3% in Molise.

Much larger gaps are recorded especially between larger cities and inland areas: in peripheral and ultra-peripheral municipalities the share of museums that have activated these educational paths is systematically lower.

The gap that remains in the offer of museums

In addition to the differences compared to the activities carried out by museums, the availability in the area itself varies greatly, especially when compared with minors residing in the country.

On average, there are 4.8 museums in Italy for every 10 thousand residents under 18 years of age. A figure that varies between areas of the country: from 7 museums per 10,000 minors in central Italy to 2.9 in the southern continent.

But this distance, already very large, emerges even clearer as the data from a territorial perspective is explored in greater depth. In Puglia and Campania there are approximately two museums for every 10 thousand minors, less than half the national average.

This fact, of course, in itself it is not sufficient to signal a critical situation: the presence of structures alone is not a sufficient indicator, if additional services and educational paths for the use of educational materials are lacking. However, it still provides a picture of the diffusion of these structures across the national territory.

Compared to the 4.8 museums per 10 thousand residents aged 0-17, the distances between cities are large. Among the capitals, they range from 41.2 museums for every 10 thousand minors to Sienawhile a Ragusa And Messina they are 0.9. It is especially in the southern municipalities that a lesser diffusion of museums emerges. The 10 capitals with the least number of museums are located in 7 cases in the south.

In addition to Ragusa and Messina, already mentioned, they stand out Foggia And Teramo (1.3 museums for every 10 thousand minors each). Just above, in terms of offer, Taranto And Latin (both at 1.4), Frosinone (1.5), Monza (1.6), Andria (1.8) e Bari (2.0).

In reverse, with the exception of Carbonia, all the top 10 cities with a greater offer of museums than fewer residents are located in the centre-north. In addition to the aforementioned Siena, Carbonia (with 17 museums for every 10 thousand residents under 18), Mantua (14.5), Ascoli Piceno (13.7), Imperia (13.6), Pistoia (12.4), Aosta (12.4), Florence (12.3), Pisa (11.9) and Trieste (11.8).

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The contents of the #conibambini educational poverty observatory are created by openpolis with the social enterprise Con i Bambini as part of the fund to combat child educational poverty. We make the data used in the article available in an open format. We collected and processed them so that we could analyze them in relation to other public source datasets, with the aim of creating a single territorial database on services. They can be freely reused for analysis, initiatives data journalism or even for simple consultation. The data sources used are Istat, permanent census and microdata on museums.

Photo: Turi Kammer (Pixabay) – License