"The New Museology", book edited by Peter Vergo and published in 1989 launched a series of discussions around the cultural institutions and a long-lasting process of transformation that aimed to reform them. The texts collected in the study included, among others, theories of the subject and strategy of its issuing, the subject of the recipients of the museum, as well as the contexts of the functioning of the institution and the relationships affecting its program. These articles together created an appeal for a museum which is supposed to be a socially relevant place, addressing issues important for the community, directed at people who have been excluded so far.

Comparisons between Genoa and Venice have been drawn primarily from the perspective of the discipline of history, if at all. Both similarities and differences have been noted, but it has also been questioned whether a comparative approach is useful at all, describing the two sea powers as „incomparable”.