Child-friendly museums in Umbria
Children will never be bored, there is always something interesting for every age and preference. Let’s discover the museums together: PERUGIA The Museo del Gioco e del Giocattolo (Museum of Games and Toys) in Perugia offers a timeless exhibition over 300 square metres with more than 2000 toys from the late 1700s to the present day. Through a journey back in time, children can enter a classroom from 1920 and learn to write with old nibs dipped in ink or play with tin spinning tops, marionettes and puppets. And if they want, they can learn the art of making a toy by attending one of the workshops organised for them. A space for children of all ages is POST - Perugia Officina Scienza Tecnologia. Here, they can become Nature Detectives, perform chemistry experiments using test tubes and mysterious substances, and explore the universe. Don’t miss the digital multi-sensory experience in the immersive amphitheatre with scientific and technological contents narrated by moving images and sounds. At the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, a museum full of must-see masterpieces, many workshops are organised for children to develop their creativity and to explain ancient painting techniques and tricks. GUBBIO Another family experience is the exhibition Extinction, Before and After the Disappearance of the Dinosaurs, which throughout the year 2022, tells the story of life on Earth, with a special focus on the theme of the great extinctions and with a section dedicated to them, the dinosaurs, who have become a pop icon of that period. Between spectacular life-size models, fossils, casts, panels and multimedia content, as well as the possibility of reconstructing the skeleton of the giant herbivore, rest assured that it will be a morning of pure pleasure. SANT'ANATOLIA DI NARCO Don’t miss the Hemp Museum in this hilltop village in the Valnerina. In addition to discovering the historic workings of hemp and marvellous outfits, children can try their hand at weaving. Between colourful yarns, made using natural dyes, and children’s looms, fun is guaranteed. And in summer, the activity is organised in the little square in front of the museum - the village is also child-friendly! SAN GEMINI Visit the Geolab - Museo laboratorio di scienze della Terra, dedicated to Earth sciences with a series of interactive machines, such as the special lens that allows you to enter the centre of the Earth to see what the inside of our planet looks like, or the model that reveals how mountains, earthquakes and volcanoes are created. NARNI Discover the Children’s Museum at Palazzo Eroli, a permanent museum itinerary that allows the youngest children to interact with the collection on display in the historic building, with games and short workshops that allow them to learn simple, basic notions of art.
ALLERONA The Museum of Geological Cycles guides you through the stages of the geological history of the area, starting 2.5 million years ago. The discovery, unique in the world, of fossil grey amber in the Allerona area, becomes the starting point for illustrating Pleistocene marine environments. With dozens of fossil finds, including molluscs, sharks, cetaceans, and the rich amber collection, you will feel as if you are reliving that formidable era, the era in which man appeared. AVIGLIANO UMBRO And continuing on the subject of fossils, how about a very special forest, which came to light inside a clay quarry in the mid-1970s? The Dunarobba site is the proud custodian of the remains of around fifty trunks of gigantic conifers dating back 2-3 million years, which can be seen in the Centre of Vegetable Palaeontology, where a sketch of what the forest once looked like and the animal species that inhabited it are on display. For information: Perugia: Museo del gioco e del giocattolo, strada Perugia-San Marco (under the chimney of the former Galletti furnace, “Fornaci” bus stop), tel. +39 348 5412637 www.museodelgiocattoloperugia.com Perugia: POST Perugia Officina Scienza Tecnologia, Via del Melo 34, tel. +39 075 5736501 www.perugiapost.it Gubbio: Extinction, via del Perilasio 2, angolo tra via Tifernate e viale Teatro Romano, tel. +39 340 4690268 www.dinosauricarneossa.it/gubbio San Gemini: Geolab, via della Misericordia 1, tel. 199 151 123 (call center Sistema Museo) Narni: Palazzo Eroli, via Aurelio Saffi, 16, tel. +39 0744 717117 Allerona: Museo dei cicli geologici, tel. +39 347 1454728 Avigliano Umbro: Dunarobba Fossil Forest - Centre for Plant Paleontology, tel. +39 0744 940348 – foresta.fossile@libero.it – www.forestafossile.it