Liguria is a seaside region. With its 330 km of coast and beaches is the ideal destination for families, as you can imagine children love playing with sand and water.
The end of summer does not put an end to the entertainment for kids. On the contrary Genoa’s city offers many activities dedicated to the kids, with which they will learn by having fun. They will spend the afternoons playing with other children and learning team play. From the Città dei Bambini (The City of Kids) to the Pirates’ Galleon, passing through the museums , the Old Port is a sort of parallel Universe for kids, a world made just for them, “built on the water”.
La Città dei Bambini e dei Ragazzi
It is the world of the kids between 2 or 13 years old: it is a space of over 3000 square meters, where are settled almost 90 interactive multimedia installations. Everything was built thinking about them, to make them get closer to science and technology through games. It is very appealing as well as it is very colourful everywhere.
It is never too soon to learn. For this reason, children between 2 and 3 years old have their exclusive area. There you will find a small wood and a cave, a house, a small bridge that you can cross. For kids between 3 and 5 years there is a worksite where it is possible to work, of course with a protection helmet, as a true construction worker.
From 6 years old the visitors can apply science in challenging games and ability games: they have to think about the work of the future. Speaking of Natural Science very interesting is the “Ant’s Nest”, that shows the organization and the life of the ants.
Genoa’s Aquarium
It is the biggest aquarium in Italy, the second in Europe and the ninth in the world. It is open from 25 years and keeps to fascinate its visitors, renovating itself also for kids, who are for nature animal lovers.
It is active the “Acquario dietro le quinte kids” (Aquarium in the backstage), a special landmarks trail thought for kids between 3 and 7 years old. The children will learn some secrets about animals visiting the labs and entering some parts of the structure that are restricted to the public.
The lab “alla scoperta dei cuccioli” (discover the puppies) will be very thrilling as well, it will teach them how and where the puppies born and how they are bred.
It will be a unique experience sleeping at the side of the sharks tank. In the morning after watching the fishes wake up, the aquarium assures a very rich breakfast.
It is particularly charming the abyss room, a space dedicated to the VR to discover the fishes that live there. It is simulated an immersion of 3 minutes: you will wear special glasses and perceive the room getting darker and darker as the depth increase.
Children can also create their own fantasy fish, with some touchscreen devices.
Galata The Maritime Museum
This museum has many different rooms, each of them dedicated to a sea subject, but they are not just link to the vessels world.
At the beginning of the trail you will jump back in time to Genoa in 1481 and to its maritime traditions. It was rebuilt the arsenal of the Republic of Genoa as well as a galea (ancient boat) of the XV century. All around touchscreen monitors can be consult to see old maps geo localized with the most recent ones. Changing floor you will plunge in a different time period. You can experience a sinking on ship next to Cape Horn in the 4D room. And you can also see which kind of scientific equipment was used in different time period in the nautical room and also stay at the helm of a brigantino-goletta from the XIX century.
In the MEM (memory and migration) section it is narrated the history of Italian migration by sea and the most recent migration towards Italy itself; you will hear this part of the story directly through the voice of the migrants, now in Italy, that will speak about their own experience.
The Galata as well as many others international maritime museums has built on its seaside platforms an Open Air Museum: it tells the story of the shipyards and the commercial activities on the sea that used to be held in these spaces. Just in front of the platform there is the submarine Nazario Sauro S518 built by Fincantieri and the Italian Navy in 1976 and dismissed in 2002. It is the only afloat submarine that is possible to visit in Italy.
The Pirates’ Galleon of the Old Port
Along the platform of the port you will surely notice the eye-catching Neptune, a vessel built in 1986 for the Roman Polanski movie Pirates. It is operational even if it is a cinematographic vessel. It is possible to visit it for the joy of the kids, who can pretend to be like Jack Sparrow for one day.
