A new study has revealed a great deal about the typical visitor to the Basilica di Santa Croce, including nationality, age, and reasons for visiting.
The findings revealed that 40.4 percent of the visitors surveyed were male and 59.6 percent female, that about 33 percent was aged 41–60 but that the majority was aged 20–30. Most visitors were from Italy (40.5 percent), with those from the United Kingdom and North America at 31.1 percent, followed by other Europeans (21.8 percent) and South and Central Americans (3.8 percent).
Most of those surveyed were in Florence for leisure or to see the city’s art, while only a small number of visitors were in the city for business or study. Of those surveyed, 55.9 percent were on their first visit to Florence, 62.7 percent were also visiting other cities and 25.7 percent had visited Santa Croce before. More than 75 percent of the visitors had earned or were studying for a postsecondary degree.
The International Association for Art and Psychology, the Psychology Department of the University of Florence, the Auxology Study Centre of Florence and the Opera di Santa Croce conducted the study during two three-week periods in 2010 and 2011, covering both high and low tourism seasons, and involved 814 people who agreed to be surveyed.
