11 Kid-Friendly Museums in Florence

Jana Mascioni
May 3, 2019
7 min read

Updated: Jan 17, 2020

Find a kid-friendly museum to fit your child's interest.

Florence is famous for its Renaissance art and architecture. To truly dive into its culture of art and history, you will surely be visiting a few museums while there. When planning your itinerary with children consider their interest. Do they enjoy; science, history, costumes, armory, art? Include them in the planning and give them some options. Below you will find museums by interest; many have organized tours or activities, especially for families with children.

The Leonardo Da Vinci Museum

Recommended for the kid who loves Science & Hands-on Exploration.

Located in the center of Florence, just down a street off from the Duomo lies The Leonardo da Vinci Museum. An entire museum dedicated to the inventions and Paintings of Leonard da Vinci, the Genius of the Renaissance. Highlights include:

Reproductions of Leonardo’s main pictorial works from the Mona Lisa to the Last Supper and the Annunciation to the Lady with the Ermine.
Forty working machines including the life-size “war machines”, “civil engineering machines” and “flying machines” with interactive features from Leonardo da Vinci’s codices.
Hands-on activities reconstructing some of Leonardo’s inventions in the workshop.

Visit the website for visiting information.

The Galileo Museum

Recommended for the kid who loves History & Science.

Just behind the Uffizi Gallery along the Arno housed in an old palace, you will find the Galileo Museum. This science museum boasts an extraordinary collection of scientific instruments dating from the 13th century. Highlights include:

The only surviving instruments designed & built by Galileo himself. Two original telescopes and the lens of a telescope with which he discovered Jupiter’s moons.
Scientific collections of two important historic Italian families that once ruled Florence, the Medici and the House of Lorraine. More than 1,000 instruments and devices of major scientific importance telling the story of the history of Science activity in Florence. Items like telescopes, microscopes, sundials, military equipment, compasses, clocks, globes, etc.
Tours through the museum can be reserved based on your interests. The tours available include Life and Works of Galileo, History of Medicine, Materials of Science, Learning English through Science, General Guided Visit and Experiential Visit – Thematic Visit.

Visit the website for more information.

Palazzo Vecchio Museum

Recommended to introduce the history of Florence in a fun, interactive way.

Overlooking the Piazza della Signoria where there is a copy of Michelangelo’s David statue lies the Palazzo Vecchio. An iconic building that is the working Town Hall of Florence houses an elaborate museum that takes you back in time. Built-in 1299 to house the government leaders of Medieval Florence, Palazzo Vecchio became a real palace during the Renaissance when the Medici family moved in. Highlights include:

A fantastic tower that overlooks the city with views of the Duomo and river.
Discover an unexpected path beyond a door hidden by a painting and move around the palace through hidden corridors with the “Tour of the Secret Passages”, a tour open only for small groups of visitors.
What truly makes this museum special for families are the interactive guided tours and stories developed especially for families with children. View here to see tours recommended by age.
Rent a “Kit for Families” for children six years and above for a self-guided visit.

Visit the website for more information.

Palazzo Davanzati Museum

Recommended for a peek into what it would be like to live as a noble during the medieval to Renaissance times.

A fourteenth-century palazzo originally home to the Davizzi, a wealthy family of merchants and bankers. Step into an old Florentine home and imagine how you may have lived as a noble family while surrounded by furniture and household tools from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries. Highlights include:

The Kitchen exhibits furniture, a wooden bread-kneading machine, a metal butter churn and ordinary household items from the period.
The Parrot Room (Sala dei Pappagalli), the most beautiful of the rooms, with wall paintings designed to look like patchwork with motifs of parrots painted on the blocks.
Furnished bedrooms complete with details like a chest full of linens, a cradle, and an attached bathroom, a rarity in elegant houses of the period.

Visit the website for more information.

Palazzo Strozzi

Recommended for kids who love art and creativity.

In the heart of Florence lies the Palazzo Strozzi, a terrific example of Renaissance architecture. Commissioned by a Florentine merchant Filippo Strozzi in 1489, the Palace remained in the Strozzi family until 1937. This temporary exhibition space holds exhibitions ranging from ancient art and the Renaissance all the way to modern contemporary art. The unconventional educational programs make the Palazzo Strozzi a fun engaging place for families and kids. Highlights include:

Workshops for kids and their families to experiment with new ways of relating to art with activities and events. Check website for the current activities.
A visit kit designed for kids to tour a current exhibition often including paper to draw, take notes and explore a current exhibit. This kit changes as exhibits in the museum changes, so check the website.

For more information and to explore current exhibits visit the website.

Novecento Museum

Recommended for kids who need a break from touring Churches and serious Renaissance art and would appreciate Modern Art.

Dedicated to the Italian art of 20th and 21st Century. Museum provides a change from the Renaissance Art you will find elsewhere throughout Florence.

For Children 8 – 12 years book a journey through the “Time Machine” to examine languages, techniques, and principles of the Twentieth century’s arts. Become acquainted with artists such as Emilio Vedova, Lucio Fontana, Bruno Munari, and Giorgio De Chirico.
The cinema room shows all the film scenes shot in Florence, including Tea with Mussolini and Room with a View.

Visit the website for more information.

Horne Museum

Recommended for kids who want to avoid crowds while viewing Renaissance Art.

A Renaissance home (the Palazzo Corsi) was purchased in 1911 by an architect and art historian Herbert Percy Horne to store his early Renaissance collections. He willed the home and collection to the state with the agreement that it would be made into a museum and foundation. This hidden gem of a museum is filled with Renaissance paintings, sculptures, furniture, decorative arts, drawings, and prints. The museum is small but mighty including works from Giotto, Masaccio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippo Lippi and others. Highlights include :

Fun, interactive events for families with kids designed to involve all participants in an astonishing game of knowledge that is played in the museum. These animated tours are followed by a creative workshop. Check the website, under “Activities” then “Families” for dates & times.

Visit the website for more information.

Innocenti Museum

Recommended for kids who are curious to learn about social history.

A former orphanage for abandoned children is now a museum dedicated to children’s well-being. It was designed to be child-friendly with descriptions and audio guides written by children’s book authors. In addition to the history of the orphanage, the museum also highlights the architecture of the building and art collection.

Kids receive a free kit to learn about the museum through play, including maps, games, and cards.
Workshops for kids between the ages of 3 – 11, inspired by the philosophy of learning by doing in the style of Renaissance workshops.
Art installations such as “La storia nella matita” a large open book where kids can leave a message or drawing.
Through videos and interactive screens learn about the daily life of the children and nannies that lived in the orphanage.
Visit the rooftop café with a fantastic view of Florence.

Visit the website for more information.

Stibbert Museum

Recommended for kids who are interested in Armory and Costume.

Located outside of the historical center the Stibbert Museum is located inside the Villa Montughi. This villa turned museum was once home to the nineteenth-century English collector Frederick Stibbert, who donated his collection to the city of Florence. The collection includes rare pieces of armor, weaponry, paintings, ceramics, and costumes from around the world. Highlights include:

“The Ride” room which shows a group of horses and riders in real size adorned in armor.
An extensive collection of European, Islamic and Japanese Armory.
Historic costume collection including a costume made for the coronation of Napoleon as King of Italy in 1805.

Available by tour only. View website for more information.

National Archaeological Museum

Recommended for kids who are interested in ancient Roman, Greek, and Egyptian Artifacts.

Explore the ancient past of Florence and beyond in one of the oldest museums in Italy. The museum houses Etruscan, Greek and Roman antiquities as well as the second-largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in Italy. Highlights include:

An Egyptian war chariot made from bone and wood.
Egyptian mummies

You can visit the website for more information, but at the time of this post it wasn’t very helpful, you may get more useful information out of the Trip Advisor listing.

Museum of Natural History

Recommended for kids who are interested in prehistoric animals.

This University of Florence museum is located in six different locations. The section dedicated to Geology and Paleontology is located at Via Giorgio La Pira 4 – 50121 Firenze. This is a great museum for young kids, children under 6 get in free. Highlights include:

View the skeletons of animals that lived in Tuscany millions of years ago, cavern lion, a leopard, and a saber-toothed tiger
The Whale Room (Sala della balena), a large space where you can “walk” on the bottom of the sea next to a ten-meter-long skeleton of a Balenopteridae that lived three million years ago.

View website for more information.

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