Apart from the early examples of the Vatican museums and the Capitolino Museum in Rome, as well as Cardinal Grimani's bequest of antiques to the Venetian Republic, the art collections regularly open to the public like those of today began during the Enlightenment and were created for public enjoyment, enabling everybody to share the artistic patrimony During the French Revolution this became a political choice which generated the framework of the present system of the Italian State museums, particularly with the opening of instructive collections in the Fine Art Museums such as those in the Galleries of Venice, Florence, Milan, Bergamo, Bologna and Parma. These were created as an inventory of models for students to copy with the rich contribution of the works of art confiscated from the religious congregations suppressed by Napoleon's government. 

In these museums the works were not exhibited in any particular form or theme, nor were they exhibited to give a decorative effect to the rooms. They were organised for educational purposes which reflected the teaching of the history of art in the Academies: they were put in chronological order and were categorised according to their artistic schools and identified by the region or nation (in the case of foreign artists) to which they belonged or to a definite cultural area. 

The Italians and foreigners who visited these museums had a decidedly high level of education and were attracted by the tours through the main art cities (especially the Italian cities) or were drawn to the most famous archaeological sites because they considered a visit to them a necessity for completion of their education. In the Romanticism era in the nineteenth century the educational visits to the art and archaeological galleries were occasion for great emotion before the sheer size of these artistic testimonials: the Museum was therefore identified as a shrine for the remembrance of a city or region.

The link that exists between the Galleries of the Accademia and the city of Venice is strong. The Galleries in fact contain many works of art which came from churches and schools and from public offices of authority. A visit to the city is therefore a necessary extension to that of the art collections, or vice versa, for only in this way can the visitor fully understand how and why the painters adopted certain solutions based on the destination of a painting and its meaning. In some cases the works exhibited in the Galleries are the only evidence which remains from churches demolished during Napoleon's dominion, and some of the most famous paintings from illustrious private Venetian collections arrived at the museum thanks to bequests and donations. Examples of these are Piero della Francesca's Saint Jerome, many Virgin and Child paintings by Giovanni Bellini and the Venetian sketches by Pietro Longhi. 

Despite the necessary changes to the configurations carried out since the end of the war, the traditional aspect of the museums has been maintained. During the last ten years tourism to art galleries has greatly increased and has educated the public to a kind of museum, common in America and Europe, but radically different from the Italian Museum. With Act N° 4 of 1993 passed during the Ronchey Ministry, there has been radical reform in the Italian museums - the Museum offers not only the traditional visit to its collections and temporary exhibitions, but also varied services to enable him to become familiar with the works of art in a deeper and more scientific way. It proposes guided tours suitable to all cultural levels and instructive programmes for schools. There is the pedagogical museum with workshops for scholastic programmes and extra curricular activities, there are lectures and meetings, publications, concerts and painting courses. There is also the art bookshop, the cafeteria and restaurant, the internal shop which sells exclusive items inspired by the works contained in the museum. There is a government policy which has reduced the price of all tickets to enter museums, and made exempt from payment those under the age of 18 and over the age of 65, linked with season tickets or a single combined ticket for entrance to all the museums in a city and the Museum, as a centre of services, allows the art collection to merge into the everyday social life of the residents and invites the tourist to repeat his visit in a different way each time. In other countries this solution has favoured the formation of many new museums not necessarily dedicated to art.

Both the State and civic museums in Italy are striving to adapt to this European model but it has required time to raise the necessary funds and above all to organise and equip the spaces in a way which does not spoil historical buildings which are national monuments in themselves. This is the case of the Galleries of the Accademia of Venice situated in the group of buildings of the Carità (formed by the Santa Maria della Carità church, the school attached to it and the Palladian convent of the Lateran canons built between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries). In the Accademia there is an enlargement project to the Grandi Gallerie in progress so that the exhibition rooms will be doubled in size and all the services which a culturally active city such as Venice requires will be available. We hope to see you here soon!