Looking for stone animals in Florence: private tour for children & families

Travelling with your family is a wonderful way to spend time together and to share moments outside your daily routine. Bearing this in mind, those of you who have small children know that this is no peaches and cream... Children get easily bored and need to find activities that can engage them and keep them busy. What we offer is one of the most popular and appreciated family tours by children. Our guides, under the supervision of parents, will take them on an exciting animal hunt around the centre of Florence. Everyone knows that when it comes to animals and children, you are always playing it safe: they love them! Obviously we are not talking about pigeons, cats or puppies, but of the wonderful stone animals, and also the bronze ones, scattered around the Tuscan capital.

Thanks to this kids tour you will discover many curiosities about Florence that our guides will illustrate in a simple and engaging way. It is intended for children of up to 10 years of age but, said between us, parents will have fun discovering anecdotes, legends and mysteries related to each of the animal statues we will find on our guided tour. The fun ‘treasure hunt for Florence's stone animals’ will cross the most important points of the Tuscan city: starting from the wonderful Piazza della Signoria and then moving to the lively Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, you will continue towards Piazza Strozzi and Piazza della Repubblica to then arrive in the fantastic Piazza del Duomo. Are you impatient and you already want some anticipation on what your children will discover? We will share some of the content with you, but make sure you don’t spoil the surprise for your children!

In Florence, Fontana del Porcellino contains one of the most famous animals in the city, which, as many are aware, is also the protagonist of an ancient good luck rite. Let’s begin by pointing out that the bronze statue located under Loggia del Mercato Nuovo in Florence is not a piglet, but a wild boar statue. You just have to look at it to recognise it right away: thick hair and tusks leave no doubt. The statue of the wild boar of Florence, which is the symbol of the city itself, is a copy of another marble boar statue that was donated to Cosimo I by Pope Pius IV in 1560. It was Pietro Tacca who completed the fantastic and realistic bronze version that Ferdinando placed under the vaults of Mercato Nuovo. The latter, precisely because of the presence of this statue, is also called ‘Loggia del Porcellino’ in Florence. The fountain was originally placed to quench the thirst of merchants who gathered in the area but nowadays... the rite of rubbing the boar’s nose takes place. Young and old will soon realize that that is the shiniest part of the whole statue, and that's precisely because by stroking it you perform the first part of the good-luck rite. The guides will explain it to you in detail, even if you just have to look at the tourists from all around the world doing the same gestures: stroking its nose, placing a coin on the boar’s tongue and watching where it falls. If it falls, in the water you will be lucky... otherwise, comfort yourself with a nice ice cream!

However, in Florence the wild boar fountain is not the only animal worthy of note! In the central Piazza Del Duomo and precisely in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore there is another one that tells of a slightly spicy story... but still suitable for children. It is the Santa Maria del Fiore bull that adorns one of the gargoyles on the side that faces Via de’ Servi. Why is it there? Perhaps to remember the many animals used to tow materials for the construction of the Church. A plausible but not intriguing explanation! Well, the most fictional one tells of the story of a lady – it is unclear whether she was a baker's wife or a tailor’s - who betrayed her husband with a master craftsman in charge of construction work. He was severely punished, and as a revenge he placed the bull with long horns right in front of the house of the poor betrayed husband... just to remind him of his condition. And there is more! At the faculty of architecture rumours floated around that he wasn’t a craftsman, but rather Brunelleschi himself... will it be the usual Tuscan joke? The Florence dome bull’s head, alas, will never tell us!

Among the animal stones in Florence, a fantastic creature such as the Orsanmichele dragon could not be missing. The Church, which became the representative building of the corporations in memory of the ‘armourers and the swords', contains in addition to a statue of San Giorgio di Donatello, a bas-relief that depicts a dragon. Wait and see: your children will only take a second to find it, we are sure!

What do you think? If you are planning to spend a few days in Florence the family tour that we propose is perfect to spend a few pleasant, fun and informative hours together with your children. Do not forget that every Florence animal story, every legend, every anecdote about animals will be an opportunity to see history, art and architecture in a more eye-catching, but always educational style. The Florence stone animals hunt will be a fun experience that your children will always remember with pleasure. Do not waste time and book now! Do not let the chance of this fantastic Florence artistic animal hunt slip away... as the saying goes, ‘you snooze, you lose’...