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And now, the Hermitage announces a branch location -- in Italy

FERRARA, Italy -- The Hermitage in St Petersburg, struggling to display or even catalogue its vast collection of art treasures, is to establish a satellite branch in Italy as its “window on the West”.

The treasures will be housed in the 14th-century Castello Estense, the “jewel” at the heart of Ferrara. A palazzo and park will also be restored to provide a residential study centre for Italian and Russian art experts.

“The Hermitage has three million items and even the Russians don’t know exactly what they’ve got,” said Gaetano Sateriale, the Mayor of Ferrara. “When I went to St Petersburg recently I was stunned to see whole rooms of Etruscan antiquities, far more than Italy itself has. They need our cataloguing skills.”

The move to set up Hermitage Italy confirms a trend, with some of the world’s great museums opening profitable branches abroad.
Read entire article at Times (of London)