Free Guidebook to Florence, Italy
Florence Tourism Had Disney Design a Child-Friendly Travel Guide
Let Donald Duck & Co. guide your children on a sightseeing tour of Florence in Italy with this free child-oriented guide to the Renaissance city of art
In the past few years, Florence Tourism has been devoting considerable effort in trying to market the city as a family-friendly tourist destination.
An Innovative Tourist Guide
Like most art cities in Italy and elsewhere, Florence can prove a somewhat daunting holiday destination for families with young children. Fully aware of this challenge, Florence Tourism decided to team up with the Italian division of Disney Publishing and produce a travel guide for kids like no other, to help them explore Florence and its immediate surroundings (including the nearby town of Fiesole) with their great art and intriguing history.
First printed in Italian in 2006, the guide book is now available also in English. On the down side, the translation from Italian into English does show in some funnily built sentences or outlandish choice of words, but none the less the idea is commendable and well worth a try from visiting families. In fact if the guide proves successful, Disney is planning to run a series of similar child-friendly books on other major tourist destinations.
Edutainment: Florence Meets Ducktown
Aimed at children aged 7 to 12 and based on the principles of edutainment (short for 'educational entertainment' or 'entertainment-education') the 50-page booklet aims to help young visitors embark on a travel adventure with some of Disney's favorite characters, the Ducktown family, featuring Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Uncle Scroodge and of course their clever and ever-curious youngsters, Huey, Dewey and Louie, with whom children are encouraged to identify for the purpose of becoming savvy leaders of their family's Florentine vacation.
Kid-Oriented Information
The guidebook is blissfully free from advertising by hotels, restaurants, shops and the like: after all, that's grown-ups' stuff isn't it!
The design mixes photos, cartoons and child-friendly maps with short texts and is packed with useful information, itineraries, games and curiosities delivered in a colorful and fun way.
Downtown Florence is divided into four historic districts, and different icons help readers identify at a glance information ranging from local customs (like the Explosion of the Cart on Easter Sunday) or where to take the best pictures, but also hints on yummy local snacks worth trying (like 'quaresimali', chocolate cookies in the shapes of letters of the alphabet) and where to find parks and gardens for a well-deserved break from the sightseeing marathon.
Where Do I Find It?
The Disney guide to Florence is available free of charge from the city's Tourist Information Centres as well as from selected offices of the Italian Tourist Board worldwide (while stocks last!).
In Florence, Florence Tourism (the Tourist Board for the Province of Florence in Tuscany, aka APT Firenze), manages the following tourist information points:
- Via Manzoni 16 (main offices)
- Via Cavour 1r ('r' is for 'red': commercial premises in Florence bear red instead of black street numbers)
- Amerigo Vespucci Florence Airport (Arrivals lounge)
The City of Florence also operates two additional information desks:
- Piazza Stazione 4/a
- Borgo Santa Croce 29r (red!)
