10 Activities for Kids in Florence

The Galileo Museum holds one of Europe's finest collections of scientific instruments, including two original telescopes that Galileo himself used to observe Jupiter's moons in 1610. But the real draw for families is the interactive ground floor: children spin armillary spheres, experiment with lenses, and watch a working pendulum trace patterns in sand. Weekend workshops (book online at least a week ahead) let kids aged 6–12 build simple machines under a guide's supervision.

The museum sits inside the 11th-century Palazzo Castellani on the Arno embankment, a five-minute walk from the Uffizi. Allow 90 minutes for a family visit — longer if your children latch onto the optics room, which tends to happen. The ground-floor café sells decent sandwiches, saving you from hunting for lunch with tired kids.

Sprawling behind Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens cover 45,000 square metres of sculpted hedges, fountains, and shaded avenues that have been open to the public since 1766. For children, the appeal is visceral: gravel paths wide enough for sprinting, a grotto where stone figures seem to move in the half-light, and an amphitheatre ringed by Roman statues that doubles as the world's grandest game of hide-and-seek.

The Buontalenti Grotto near the entrance is the highlight — dripping stalactites, painted walls, and copies of Michelangelo's Prisoners that fascinate even toddlers. Bring a picnic (there is no café inside) and claim a bench on the upper terrace, where the view stretches across Florence's rooftops to the hills beyond. Enter from Piazza Pitti or the rear gate on Via Romana to dodge the longer queue.

Tucked into a medieval building on Via dei Servi, this compact museum contains over 50 full-size reconstructions of Leonardo's inventions — built from his original Codex drawings with the same materials he specified. Children crank a working aerial screw (the proto-helicopter), pedal a self-propelled cart, and test a wooden bridge that holds weight without nails or rope.

Everything is touchable by design, which sets it apart from most Florentine museums. Multilingual panels pitched at 8–12-year-olds explain the engineering, while younger kids simply enjoy the cause-and-effect of each machine. A visit takes roughly 60 minutes. The museum opens early and rarely has a queue, making it a smart first stop before crowds descend on the nearby Duomo, which is a two-minute walk away.

Vivoli has been making gelato on Via dell'Isola delle Stinche since 1930, and the fourth generation still uses the same base recipe — fresh Tuscan milk, seasonal fruit, and no artificial colours. The pistachio is dense and savoury, the crema (egg custard) is their signature, and the dark chocolate is intense enough to satisfy adults while kids gravitate toward stracciatella or fragola.

There are no cones here — only cups, which the staff fills with a generous hand. A medium cup (€4) is more than enough for one child. Seating is limited to a handful of tables inside, but the Basilica di Santa Croce and its piazza are a three-minute walk away: buy your cups and let the children eat on the church steps while watching street performers. Vivoli closes on Mondays and in August for a brief holiday — check before you go.

Parco delle Cascine is Florence's largest green space — 160 hectares of elm-lined avenues, lawns, and playgrounds stretching west along the Arno from Ponte alla Vittoria. The Medici originally used it as a dairy farm in the 1500s, and that pastoral scale survives: it takes a good 40 minutes to walk from one end to the other.

For families, the eastern section near the amphitheatre has two fenced playgrounds with climbing frames and swings suitable for ages 2–10. Older children can rent bicycles from the stand near the main entrance (€5/hour) and ride the flat, car-free paths. Every Tuesday morning the park hosts Florence's biggest open-air market — 300+ stalls selling everything from shoes to roast porchetta. It is noisy, colourful, and a genuine slice of local life that most tourists never see.

Palazzo Vecchio runs dedicated family programmes that rank among the best museum experiences we have tested anywhere in Italy. The "Secret Passages" tour takes children through hidden staircases, a spy room with peepholes, and the timber structure above the Salone dei Cinquecento's painted ceiling — an engineering marvel they can walk through at eye level.

For ages 4–7, the "At Court with Donna Isabella" workshop dresses children in Renaissance costumes and guides them through the Medici apartments with storytelling and games. Both programmes last 75 minutes and must be booked in advance through the MUS.E website. After the tour, climb the Arnolfo Tower (95 metres, 233 steps) for a panorama that stretches from Fiesole to the Chianti hills — children under 6 are not admitted to the tower for safety reasons.

Several studios in the Oltrarno neighbourhood run family art workshops, but Clet Abraham's studio on Via dell'Olmo is the one children remember longest. Clet is the French-born artist responsible for Florence's modified street signs — the stickered silhouettes that turn a no-entry sign into a scene — and his Saturday morning children's workshop (ages 5–12) invites kids to design their own sign interventions on real aluminium blanks.

If Clet is fully booked, Macchia d'Inchiostro near Piazza Santo Spirito offers drop-in watercolour and printmaking sessions weekday afternoons (€25/child, materials included). Both workshops last about 90 minutes and produce a finished piece the child takes home — a far more personal souvenir than anything from a gift shop. Book at least three days ahead in peak season.

The antique carousel in Piazza della Repubblica has been spinning since the 1920s, and its hand-painted horses remain one of Florence's simplest family pleasures. A ride costs €3, lasts about three minutes, and buys you enough time to drink a standing espresso at one of the surrounding cafés while keeping the children in sight.

The piazza itself is worth a pause — it sits on the site of the old Roman forum and the medieval Jewish ghetto, and the triumphal arch on the western side commemorates Florence's brief stint as capital of Italy from 1865 to 1871. Street musicians perform most afternoons, adding a soundtrack that makes the carousel feel like a scene from a film. Combine it with a walk down Via del Corso toward the Duomo: the route is flat, shaded, and lined with display windows that keep children interested.

The Biblioteca delle Oblate occupies a former convent whose upper-floor terrace stares directly at Brunelleschi's dome — closer than almost any other public viewpoint in the city. The ground-floor children's section stocks picture books in Italian, English, French, and German, and hosts free story-time sessions on Saturday mornings at 10:30 for ages 3–8.

We use the Oblate as a midday reset. Air-conditioned in summer, warm in winter, with clean bathrooms and a quiet café on the second floor that serves lunch (primi around €8). Children read or colour at the low tables while parents recharge. No library card is needed for the children's section — just walk in. It is one block from the Duomo, making it an ideal pit stop between heavier museum visits.

The Ponte Vecchio has carried foot traffic across the Arno since 1345, making it the oldest surviving bridge in Florence. Its goldsmith shops — installed by ducal decree in 1593 after the butchers were evicted for the smell — overhang the river on wooden brackets, creating a tunnel of glittering windows that children find irresistible to peer into.

Cross the bridge from the north bank toward the Oltrarno and stop at the central opening, where a bronze bust of Benvenuto Cellini overlooks the river. Point out the Vasari Corridor running above the shops — the elevated walkway the Medici used to commute between Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti without mixing with the public. The bridge is busiest between 11:00 and 15:00; come at breakfast time or after dinner for photos without crowds. Pair the crossing with a walk along Lungarno Torrigiani on the south bank, where children can spot rowing crews on the water.