Churches, museums, monuments, squares and crowded restaurants: at first glance, Florence may not seem like a child-friendly city. However, take a closer look and you’ll find numerous opportunities to make art and culture accessible even to the youngest children through tailor-made initiatives. The guided tours for children in the Florentine museums are an perfect example of how museum visits can be both educational and fun, and how interactive tours and workshops can turn a museum visit into an exciting adventure.
Birth of Venus by Botticelli
A journey through time at the Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery offers special guided tours for children. The themed tours help them discover the museum’s masterpieces through story-telling and games. Specialised guides tell the intriguing tales of the people and myths portrayed in the paintings and the stories of the artists who created them. It is an experience designed to capture the imagination, find out more on the Monsters at the Uffizi page of the Museum’s website: download the PDF with instructions for a museum ‘treasure hunt’ designed for children where they become an art detective in search of fantastical and monstrous creatures painted in the masterpieces hanging in the Uffizi.
Living History at the Palazzo Vecchio
Life at Court is the Palazzo Vecchio’s experience for children, during which, your children will get to explore the rooms of the palazzo dressing up as Medici princes and princesses to discover what life was like for people in the Renaissance. The tour includes practical activities such as writing with quills, creating heraldic coats of arms, discovering the mysteries of the frescoes and, to top it off, an exciting visit to the building’s secret passages.
Science and fun at the Museo Galileo
At the Museo Galileo science and fun are wrapped up together: children dress up as scientists to try out experiments using replicas of historical scientific instruments aimed at helping them understand the great discoveries. The museum also organises workshops where children can build simple optical and mechanical instruments to explore the basic principles of physics and astronomy.
Museo Galileo
Museo degli Innocenti: where welcoming is an art
Guided tours organised by the Museo degli Innocenti are enriched by creative activities that allow children to express their emotions through art. They can learn about the lives of children through the centuries along different educational pathways and can literally get their hands dirty by diving into a ceramics or painting workshop inspired by Renaissance techniques.
Raising the World Cup at the Football Museum
If your children dream of wearing the Azzurri jersey of the Italian national team, the Museo del Calcio in Coverciano, located in the technical headquarters of the Italian national team, is a must.
The museum houses historical memorabilia, such as the pipes belonging to Sandro Pertini and Enzo Bearzot, the muddied uniform worn by Fabio Cannavaro during the victorious 2006 World Cup final, and Franco Baresi's jersey with traces of tears shed after the penalty miss in the 1994 World Cup. There is also a vast collection of footballs that follow the evolution of the game from the early 20th century to the present day, and a multimedia section dedicated to the Euro2020 victory (in anticipation of future successes).
Young visitors can also realise their dream of lifting the World Cup (replicas), and if it’s always been your dream, adults can do it too!
Discovering Leonardo Da Vinci’s genius
Treasure hunts, informative workshops, animated visits: book a visit to the Museo Leonardiano in Vinci is a great way to introduce your children to the great man of invention. They will get a chance to see through the eyes of Leonardo in a series of experiences that will stimulate a curiosity and a spirit of observation typical of the Renaissance. Puzzles and riddles, gears and mechanisms, studies of flight and movement in air and water are enough to fascinate any child.
A shot of adrenaline a the Vincigliata Adventure Park
Eight adventure courses with tree-top platforms, from one to fifteen metres in height, fifteen-metre jumps, rope bridges, vines, nets with inflatable balloons and pulleys: the Vincigliata Adventure Park offers fun and adrenaline in complete safety. Kids can also have fun on the Net Experience, a pathway through the forest on suspended nets, where they can move between corridors and wooden houses, jumping between trees, descending at the end via exhilarating slides.
