Cultural activities

The Pistoia Zoo

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The gentle hills surrounding the city to the north, just two kilometres from the centre, are the unusual and surprising location of Pistoia’s Zoological Gardens, covering an area of 75,000 m² and immersed in the dense vegetation of oak, pine and tropical plants. This is one of Italy’s most famous and modern zoos, and the home of over 600 animals from all over the world. The Zoo was founded and opened to the public in 1970 by Mr Raffaello Galardini. It is still owned and operated by the founder's family. It is actually focusing its animal collection on endangered species and it has been already successful in breeding rare and threatened species such as Fennec foxes, Caimans and Ring-tailed lemurs. Since 2001 the Zoo has started renovation of many exhibits in order to assure animal welfare, to promote conservation education and to support conservation of threatened species. The Zoo has also cooperated with some Italian Universities to carry out research project about biology and ethology of the housed species in order to contribute to their preservation in the wild.

Included in the price: no

Discount: 10% discount on the entrance ticket

Pistoia Underground Museum Complex

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The museum was opened in May 2010 and has various excellences that make it attractive to a wide target of visitors. It is located inside the Ceppo Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals in the world still working and also known for the presence of the famous frieze of the Robbian school, which attracts tourists from around the world. The museum has, in fact, a reconstruction of the history of the hospital, from an underground archaeological site along nearly 700 meters. The visit continues with the the world's smallestanatomical amphitheater, a small jewel with frescoes entirely and perfectly preserved from 1785 and a remarkable collection of antique surgical instruments. The museum, in fact, is fully wheelchair accessible and is equipped with panels Braille for the blind.

Included in the price: no

Cost: Biglietto scontato a € 4,5 (invece di 9€)

S.M.I. Museum and Shelters

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The institute of Historical and Archaeological Research has opened in May 2012, the new headquarters in the mountains, hosted at the new premises of the SMI Museum and Shelters, located at the interior of the old factory of Italian Metallurgical Company founded in 1911. Where once was the office building, which now houses the cultural center, were reorganized some thematic rooms that trace the history of the factory and the evolution of machinery and methods for the production of ammunition, equipment and original instruments that were used in the plant inauguration until closing in 2006. The cultural center also includes the air-raid shelters which is accessed down two long spiral staircases located within the conical reinforced concrete. The shelters, built in 1937-1939 to protect the workers and their families, were dug into the rock at an average depth of 20 meters for a length of about kilometers. There can be found, perfectly preserved, the infirmary of men, a chapel dedicated to Saint Barbara, the local clean-up and at the end of the path will be recreated the sounds and feelings.

Included in the price: no

Discount: Biglietto scontato a € 7 (invece di 9€)

Pinocchio park

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The park was created thanks to the valuable collective work of many artists and the idea in 1951, prof. Rolando Anzilotti. In 1962, the Pinocchio Park had become a cultural reality established in 1972 and was built as a continuation of the Park Toyland, a fantastic journey designed by Peter Porcinai twenty-one and dotted with sculptures in bronze and steel construction and architect Pietro Consagra Marco Zanuso.
It is open to the public every day of the year from 8:00 am to sunset.

Included in the price: no

Cost: Entry only Pinocchio Park € 9 (instead of 12), only input Garden VIlla Garzoni and Butterfly House € 10 (instead of 13), Park entrance and Garden with Butterfly House € 17 (instead of 21)

Hesperidarium - Citrus Garden

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It is a garden of internationally unique because it brings together over 200 varieties of citrus coming from your world. The park will surprise the visitor with a new route full of curiosity and is a particularly inviting for an audience of non-experts. The collection of citrus plants is indeed divided between driveways, tunnels, plants, fountains and large figures inspired by the tale of Pinocchio. With 2,000 square meters of extension, the large greenhouse ago from mantle to the park, protects it from the elements and allows you to be able to visit in any weather conditions.

Included in the price: no

Cost: € 3.50 instead of € 4.50

Museum of bonsai

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Open since 1992, the museum contains the private collection of Costantino Franchi, a series of specimens Bonsai collected in decades of intense and passionate work. It is divided in three distinct areas: the first contains the essences of both Eastern European origin, and the second area, an outdoor terrace brings together five needle pine, Aleppo pine, juniper scales, fir, yew, cypress, while the third zone is reserved for individuals who need a subtropical climate. Real pride for the company, open all year round except public testivi and with free admission, the museum is visited by groups of enthusiasts, from students and tourists from all over Europe.

Included in the price: no

Cost: Free entrance

Plaster cast gallery Libero Andreotti

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The Plaster cast gallery Libero Andreotti, who can be called a modern art museum, is an unusual event in the panorama of Italian museum. Formed by 230 chalks coming directly from the studio of the sculptor, is one of the rare instances in which a collection can fully document the entire production period of an artist. The museum was created thanks to the generous donation from the family of the sculptor to his hometown, is the appropriate recognition in the case of an artist node for the understanding and definition of the first twentieth-century Italian sculpture.
It was inaugurated in late 1992 in the halls properly restored the Palazzo del Podesta, called "The palace", dating from the thirteenth century.

Included in the price: no

Cost: Free entrance

Pescia Paper Museum

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The Pescia Paper Museum located in Pietrabuona, preserves and passes on a universe of knowledge, shared over time and space: making paper. The Museum targets a wide audience of scholars and students, devotees and casual visitors that can come in, explore the world of paper and learn its secrets: from the priceless collection of watermarks (among which the 1812 portaits of Napoleon and Marie-Louise of Austria) to period tools and machinery used to make paper by hand. The Pescia Paper Museum has become an invaluable reference for restorers, scholars and bibliophiles from the world over.

Included in the price: no

13th century wooden Deposition

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13th century wooden Deposition: In front of the modern city hospital you’ll find the 14th-century St. Anthony Abbot oratory. The tiny church with its bare facade is mentioned already in 1327, nonetheless some of its parts make us suppose it is even older. Don’t skip it, go inside, in the left chapel, there is the wooden Deposition dating from the 13th century.

Included in the price: no

Picture by Berlinghieri (1235)

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Picture by Berlinghieri (1235): in the San Francesco’s Church, restored in the late 20th-century but dates back to the end of the 14th-century, each altar and chapel tell of stories and legends of the town, but a real major set-piece is the picture of St. Francis of Assisi on the predella (base of the altarpiece), painted in 1235 by Bonaventura Berlinghieri showing with poignant and detailed scenes six episodes of the life of St. Francis, and his afterdeath miracles.

Included in the price: no

The angel of Leonardo da Vinci in San Gennaro’s Parish

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Inside the Parish of San Gennaro (Capannori) we find the Statue of the Annunciation's Angel, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. The professor Carlo Petretti (professor at California University , director of the Hammer centre for researches on Leonardo and world renown expert of the life and works of the artist) has no doubt: the polycrome earthenware angel is a work of the young Leonardo, made between 1476 and 1482  in the Verrocchio's workshop. The angel shows various typical features that remind us of the genius of Vinci: the drape on the arm, the hair, the face and the position of the body that seems to move. This angel was attributed to Leonardo in the seventies', when it was damaged by a sexton and then restored. The angel, 120 centimetres high, has an exceptional peculiarity: it is the only statue of Leonardo preserved.

Included in the price: no

Distance: 7 km