I first visited to the Museo Storico Navale on the last day of a holiday in Venice, and arrived shortly before closing. The main thing I got from that visit was a copy of the official Italian history of interwar naval arms control - and some very quickly taken photographs of as many exhibits as I could run around in 15 minutes!So in 2025 I went back with more time. It isn't the easiest place to get to - it is right down the far end of the island. The museum is effectively split into three locations - one ticket covers all three, or you can get a slightly cheaper ticket that doesn't include the sub tour.The main museum is a four-storey building with galleries on each floor tracing Italian and Venetian naval history, however the focus is heavily on the Venetian phase. They also have an entire gallery devoted to the relationship between the Swedish and Italian navies - unfortunately all in Italian, so it will take me some time to work through the photographed information boards with ChatGPT. They also advertised a "shell exhibition" which I was looking forward to - until I discovered it was sea-shells, rather than rounds of ammunition!About a five minute walk from the main building is the 'ship hall' which contains a lot of boats and other large artifacts - again mainly from the galley period.And then you can get a ticket for the 'submarine tour', which takes you into the Venice Arsenale itself. This is still an active military establishment (or allegedly so - I didn't see a soul there - although it was a Sunday), so photography is banned except in the immediate vicinity of the submarine itself, however you do get to see the historic arsenal, which is an odd mixture of medieval fortifications interspersed with WW2 bunkers!There are a total of 7 preserved naval vessels across the three sites:The submarine Enrico Dandalo is the main attraction. This is one of the first post-war Italian submarines, and it has been hauled up onto one of the slipways that was used in the interwar period to build submarines. They have cut access ways into the bow and stern compartments, so you go in at the stern, and out at the bow. It is an escorted group tour (they go once an hour), and you are given an audio guide (that comes in 6 languages), which the guide triggers at various points in the tour. The audio guide is reasonably interesting and is narrated by an Admiral who was one of the COs of the boat. The guide also seemed reasonably knowledgeable and was able to answer all the questions thrown at her - in either Italian or English. The main problem with group tours is that you are stuck with a bunch of other tourists, so it is hard getting decent photos of the boat without lots of them in the way. The sub-tour takes an hour, so you need to factor that into your planning. You can book it online - or else buy tickets at either of the other two locations. You can't get near the sub or see it at all other than by the tour - the Arsenale has very high walls!Also in the Arsenale is the WW2 MFP-type landing craft MZ-737 - believed to be the only one of these still in existence. It was built for the attack on Malta which didn't happen but was actively involved in the evacuation of Sicily. She is in a covered shed, and you walk past her stern, but can't get a closer look.The third preserved ship in the Arsenal is the Nibbio class PHM Grifone. She looks to be in good condition, and I thought she might have still been operational, but apparently she is part of the museum collection. She still has her 3-in gun, which looks absurdly large on a ship so small, but the missiles are gone. Unfortunately, she is Mediterranean Moored in the main basin of the Arsenale, so you aren't allowed to photograph her because of what you might get in the background.In the Ship hall, amongst the galleys, is MS-473. This was a WW2 MTB, which was retained post-war and served in the Italian Navy through to the 1970s. They actually removed one of the building walls to get her into the building, and then rebuilt the wall, so she isn't going anywhere now! Biggest downside with her, is that she is sitting up on blocks, so she is quite high, but there is nowhere you can get an elevated view of her - so you end up largely just looking at her hull from below (although they have cut an viewing hole in the hull so you can see her engines.In the main building, there is an Explosive Motor Boat from WW2 – of the type that were used to sink HMS York. They carried a depth charge in the bow – when they impacted a target, the bow was designed to break off, and the depth charge would sink and then detonate underwater for maximum damage.And finally they have two Maile in the main building, one of which is partially in a stowage cylinder, which appears to be one of the cylinders they used to use to carry them on the decks of submarines.Apart from the vessels, they had all the normal exhibits you would expect to see in a naval museum - torpedoes, mines, photographs, models, uniforms etc. Two artefacts I found interesting were a complete fire-control console from an interwar cruiser (I couldn't work out which one), and a damage control console from the post-war cruiser Caio Duilio.Signage was mainly just in Italian, with bits and pieces in English. There was a gift shop there - lots of books on galleys - not a single one on 20th century warships!It’s a good museum and definitely worth a visit - but one that needs at least half a day - I was racing, and it still took me 4 hrs from when I left the mainland to when I returned.
