La Specola (Zoological Museum)
Price guide: Budget
Via Romana 17, Florence, 50125
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#18 of 20
expert-rated things to do in Florence- Recommended for:
- Backpackers / Students, Families with teenagers, Families with younger children, Education, Nature / wildlife
Best for Families - Expert review of La Specola (Zoological Museum)
A charmingly old-fashioned zoological museum with a surprise in store at the end.
A great place for blood-thirsty kids and one of Florence’s more bizarre attractions, this fascinating museum houses an important zoological section and a collection of anatomical waxes. Examples (stuffed or pickled or both) of just about every bird or beast known to man - some of them really old - are displayed in wonderful, old-fashioned glass cases.
Sensitive kids should be steered well clear of the section dedicated to anatomical waxes (it comes at the end of the tour), which includes dozens of gruesome examples dating from the 18th century created for Cosimo III by Gaetano Zumbo, a Sicilian priest. Other waxes (horribly realistic bodies and dismembered bits of them) are on show in a laboratory that would not be out of place in a Hammer Horror flick; these were used as teaching aides in the 19th century.
More information on La Specola (Zoological Museum):
- Price guide:
- Type:
- Museum
- Address:
- Via Romana 17, Florence, 50125
- Telephone:
- 055 2288251
- Months open:
- All year round
- Opening times:
- Mon-Sat 9.30am-4.30pm (last entry 4pm).
- Indoor/outdoor?:
- Indoor
