Museo Civico Archeologico Bologna

We came to visit on a Wednesday afternoon around 4pm and there wasn’t a wait. Ticket prices weren’t bad, and we were excited to visit the museum because of all the Egyptian artifacts that they have (one of the largest collections in Italy), and was impressed with the amount of items they had overall. During our visit coincided with the heat wave in July. Considering they only had fans to keep it cool, and no AC, it was quite hot inside. We appreciated going to the ground floor for some of the Egyptian artifacts as that was the coldest area of the entire museum. There was about 20 people in total that were there during our visit, which made this the best time to go in our opinion. They also have a very large collection of metals, plasters, and currency. While this is not as large of a museum as other places, and considerably is overlooked by most tourists and tour groups, it makes for a great place to stop in if you have the time. We enjoy the less busyness of this museum compared to other places we visited. I wish there was an audio guide as you go along the museum, or translated signage, which would improve the understand understanding a bit more of what you’re looking at. Unlike other museums, there was no audio guide or pamphlet to articulate the collections.

The museum has a plethora of amazing Egyptian and Etruscan artifacts. I always prioritize museums that are “artifact-heavy” vs. fancy signage/videos/pictures and this one did not disappoint in that regard. The upstairs area with the Etruscan and Roman exhibits didn’t have any a/c, so it was quite warm walking around there on a hot afternoon, but the displays were thoughtfully laid out and curated. Even the display cabinets themselves are beautiful pieces of art. Definitely worth the €6 entrance fee to get a break from the food around town.

We (as English-speaking tourists) visited the beautiful Museo Civico Archeologico. I was surprised at the friendliness and the kindness that I received by the lady at the reception, who greeted us with such enthusiasm. She gladly spoke to us in English and quickly described to us the sections of the museum. Entry is free for students, €6 for normal visitors. Great museum with awesome displays of Egyptian and Greek artifacts. However, I would’ve appreciated more English descriptions of the displayed objects.

Entrance ticket is only 6 euros Museum is full of Etruscan art, Roman art pieces and sculptures, and Egyptian section is also interesting

Huge Roman and Etruscan artifact collection, really loved the Egyptian section. Worth a visit 👌🏻

Very nice museum. Some artifacts are missing English description, but overall exhibition is made with great love and care about history! Thank you.

A beautiful building with a respectable collection of artifacts from ancient civilizations. It has, however, varied levels of appeal to the non-Italian speaking visitor. In the courtyard of the ground floor, the impressive lapidarium with Latin inscriptions has no explanatory text whatsoever. A pamphlet is available at the reception desk, but only in Italian. In the Ancient Egypt room downstairs, there are detailed panels that explains the findings' periods, also only available in Italian. There's an old brochure in English that you'd have to carry around the room to get more context. In the upper floor, the beautiful and vast collection of Neolithic, Etruscan, Greek and Roman artifacts has panels both in Italian and English, with detailed bilingual pamphlets that help us understand a bit of the history of human occupation in Bologna. The walls are exquisitely decorated with Etruscan-inspired illustrations. There were two videos, one showing a sculpting technique from the Neolithic age, and another showing the history of a hoard from an Etruscan foundry preserved through the ages and displayed at the museum. There was also a game where you can guide a character through an ancient Roman town while getting information about how it felt to live in such a place. We were received there by a kind and enthusiastic lady who volunteered as monitor out of love for the museum's mission of spreading knowledge. I wouldn't mind paying more for the visit if it meant all the museum spaces followed the upper floor's standard, which enhances the visitor's enthusiasm.

Possibly the most problematic and uninteresting public museum I've seen in a long time. The section on the ancient history of Bologna could have been interesting if any effort was made to connect the Etruscan, Greek, Roman cultures that influenced life in the city. Rather, they placed a bunch of artefacts with no English (and little Italian) explanation. But the museum prides itself with its Egyptian collection, made up of 3500 objects (seemingly stolen) from ancient Egypt. Not only there is no reflection about how these artefacts ended up here (and what, if any, compensation was paid to their rightful owners), but the curatorial language is dripping with colonial imperialist tones: Arabs and Turks impoverish Eygpt, the 10th century revival happens out of the blue, and Napoleon's army was made of artists and resulted in liberal attitudes. 😱 (two stars: because the building is nice.)