Museum Venice: M9 Mestre, Italy

I am not a huge fan of museums but I discovered that I really enjoy visiting interactive museums so I couldn't miss the M9. 

Museum near me... M9

M9 is a museum in Mestre. If you don't know Mestre is a city near Venice. It takes around 15 minutes by train, by bus or tram from Venice and it's the perfect location if you are looking to spend the night close to Venice but not on the island. Mestre has also many restaurants, shops and some attractions that you can visit. ​

Back to the M9. In 2018 was opened in the city centre of Mestre, in an old but regenerated location where now you can see a combination of the historic palace and beautiful and modern building, this beautiful museum. More than just a museum! this polo in the heart of the city offers much more, it offers a place where you can enjoy a meal, a coffee or some shopping with its café, restaurants and shops. 

As you can read from the website another important fact about the M9 is sustainability; indeed it has been built with low environmental impact materials and technologies for energy production. Fondazione di Venezia intends also to make M9 the largest Italian museum with zero impact. ​

M9 explains the Italian history of 900 in a funny and interesting way. The entrance cost 8euro, they give you a map, the instructions, now with Covid some protection device and you can go and explore the two floors of this amazing museum and with all the activity available you can spend a lot of time inside. ​

What does it mean interactive?

It is interactive because it is a museum where it is prohibited not to touch.

You can:

• touch screens and decide what to learn;
  
• listen to audios about stories; 
  
• ​use 3D reality;
  
• play fun games that are related to the historical moment you are in; ​
  
• press buttons around all the museum and see what happen. 
  

The M9 extends over 2 floors and on the third, you can find temporary exhibitions. The first floor is all about daily life; you can learn how society changed from body image to the new technologies that changed everyday life to new jobs opportunity with a particular eye about the immigrations of Italians in other parts of the world. 

The second floor instead explains how Italy has changed so you can find the political history of the country, the growth of public service as electricity, the railway... and how general culture has changed from religion, music, movies, to songs throughout the century.

I really liked M9 because it gives us an idea of how Italy changed over the years in all the aspect of the life moreover every section have different activity from each other so it is never boring and you learn with fun.

Some activity to try...

• ​On the first floor, almost at the beginning of the visit, you can see how people have changed their appearance and the way they dress over the years. Why do I like it so much? Well, the activity is called mirror gallery, you are standing in front of a screen that will take a picture and by commanding the screen with your hands you can see your face in a body, which changes clothing and physiognomy as the years change.

• 3D reality. We are always on the first floor after learning how the medicines have changed we arrived at a table with a couple of visors and some joysticks. Each visor shows several years. Start from the first and move until you see each of them. The 3D reality will show you how the kitchens of the Italian house have changed over the years and not only the change of furniture but also the electronics and food for example the arrival of coca-cola.
  

• Games. On the second floor, we can find many different games and at least you should try one. ​

• Dance floor. Almost at the end of the visit, on the second floor, there is the dance floor. It is a room with big buttons and a huge screen. Every button plays the music and video that was in vogue that specific year that you pressed. ​

I also really liked, on the second floor, all the history part beginning with the war and arriving at the more recent history and I also really enjoyed the part showing how Italy progressed with the rail, the electricity, the motorway because it shows how much this country developed in things that nowadays seem normal to have.

After three hours, my visit is over. I think I could stay there much longer because there are a lot of things to do, but I really liked it and I know that I can come back whenever I want and discover new things that may be the first time I lost. I absolutely recommend visiting the M9 because you will learn with fun and activities that you can not do anywhere. ​

I will leave you here the website of the M9 where you can find additional information such as opening times, cost and contact. https://www.m9museum.it/en/​ 

 
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