Le ville e i giardini medicei rappresentano un vero e proprio microcosmo attorno a cui ruota la vita di corte. In questi luoghi i Medici prima, i Lorena e i Savoia poi si dedicarono alle proprie passioni: l’arte e il mecenatismo, la vita nella natura e la caccia, la convivialità a corte e la buona tavola. Per la ricchezza di arredi, motivi decorativi e tecniche artigianali custodiscono veri e propri tesori, testimonianze materiali delle arti minori del nostro territorio.
Stazione Utopia, in collaborazione con il Polo Museale della Toscana, propone una serie di attività ricreative e di formazione, laboratori e visite guidate finalizzate a far conoscere la storia e le opere conservate nelle ville e nei giardini, attraverso metodologie inclusive e una varietà di tematiche e approcci pensati per pubblici sempre più articolati e differenziati: dalle scuole, agli adulti, alle persone con bisogni educativi speciali.
A partire dalle potenzialità offerte dalle lavagne interattive, si propongono lezioni frontali in cui grazie a diversi supporti (video, interviste, immagini, rendering) si illustrano temi di ampia portata e vasto respiro.
SERVICES FOR EVENTS AND SHOWS
Set-up, porterage, exhibitions, security
Technical direction and assistance, rental of stage equipment, consultancy for public performance documentation, exhibitions' design and implementation.
Clients:
Compagnia Mauri Sturno, Roma;
Elledieffe, Roma;
Estate Fiesolana, Firenze;
Fondazione Teatro della Toscana, Firenze;
Fabbrica Europa, Firenze;
Gli Ipocriti di Melina Balsamo, Napoli;
Nuovo Teatro, Napoli;
Teatro Franco Parenti, Milano;
Teatro Stabile del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Udine;
Università di Firenze, Firenze.
KOMOREBI*
In its third edition, Komorebi | the light that filters through* presents a series of performative actions in unusual locations, including the Medici Villa La Petraia, the garden of the Medici Villa of Castello, PARC - Performing Arts Research Centre, Rari Nantes Florentia, Teatro Cantiere Florida, the nursing home Il Gignoro, the women’s section of the new prison complex of Sollicciano, and Combo Social Club. These sites host a cycle of performative actions aimed at fostering relationships with cultural heritage, the territory, and the communities that inhabit it.
Through workshops and choreographic actions led by a very new generation of dancers, the project engages in a fluid and symbiotic dialogue with existing cultural experiences, giving shape to practices of social innovation and cultural participation. The performative action thus filters through the walls of everyday life, illuminating space with new meanings.
*Komorebi is a Japanese word describing sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees and appears to dance.
NUTIDA
From June 16 to July 10, 2026, at the Pomario, the garden of the medieval Acciaiolo Castle in Scandicci.
Nutida | Nuovə danzatrici/ori VI edition presents a dance festival inspired by the relationship with the place and its inhabitants, supporting new generations. Nutida supports the growth process of new dancers and choreographers, promoting unusual and deconstructed ways of experiencing performances, encouraging accessibility and the participation of new audiences. Nutida hosts site-specific performances designed or adapted in a “bare” form, in a garden, outdoors, in summer, at sunset.
NUTIDA is a production by Stazione Utopia, supported by the MIC – Ministry of Culture, the Metropolitan City of Florence, the Tuscany Region, and the Municipality of Scandicci / OpenCity 2025.
ROSA
EU projects design and management
A new permanent laboratory for mediation of cultural and botanical heritage is born in Florence, at the Rose Garden, a space for encounter and the collective construction of knowledge. ROSA is an open space for meeting, research, and collective knowledge-building, dedicated to enhancing historical-artistic, landscape, and environmental heritage through educational, participatory, and inclusive practices.
A project by Stazione Utopia, made possible thanks to the allocation of spaces by the Municipality of Florence, Department of Heritage, Environment, and Culture.
EUROPEAN PROJECTS
EU projects design and management
Mapping of EU public funding opportunities, application writing, consortium recruitment, negotiation with the granting authorities, budgeting, project management, implementation of projects. Specialised in specific calls for proposals involving Education, Training and Cultural programmes (Creative Europe, Erasmus+).
Clients:
Fondazione Teatro della Toscana, Firenze;
Comune di Firenze, Firenze;
Fond. di Firenze per l'artigianato artistico, Firenze
Tempo Reale, Firenze
EMME
Education, Museums and Migrants' Experience
EMME | education musems and migrants' experience is a training programme for museum educational workers to improve their skills in welcoming immigrants.
It involves different activities abroad based on the roles and functions performed by the various staff members, on-site feedbacks and reviews aimed at the design of educational paths with and for migrants and the drafting of educational materials that may be used by teachers, operators and volunteers.
Co-funded by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union
ERASMUS+
Erasmus+ study visits abroad for young adults and their trainers
Stazione Utopia is among the organizations accredited by the Erasmus+ Agency as a coordinator of consortia to develop international mobility projects focused on cultural mediation in the museum sector. The visits involve both teaching staff and learners in situations of vulnerability.
Design and implementation of educational activities
Learning activities, museum mediation courses, in-depth seminars and laboratories designed to foster creative and transversal learning, to promote the discovery of the original language of the artwork, the intercultural dialogue and direct experience of the handcraft knowledge and skills, addressed to schools, adults, and people with special needs.
UNCOMFORTABLE TOURS
Itineraries and dissenting narratives on Florentine cultural heritage
From decolonial walks to traces of violence in paintings, from architectural barriers to 15th-century slavery, from queer communities in the Renaissance to exotic plants in botanical gardens, from the Mosque to the Ethiopian ambassador in Santa Maria Novella: workshops, screenings, guided visits, and urban walks—led by people with a migrant background—propose dissenting narratives by addressing little-known themes, erased histories, and social practices of experimentation that, from the margins, both in the past and today, are capable of contributing to the collective construction of imaginaries and symbols, reclaiming public spaces and visibility.
Uncomfortable Tours is a project by Stazione Utopia, within the framework of the project AMIR | Alliances, Museums, Encounters and Relations, carried out with the support of Estate Fiorentina 2025, an initiative included in the Operational Plan of the City of Florence.
From June to September.
EDUCAZIONE CIVICA
Incontri
A proposal of encounters reflecting on the growth and awareness of the social and cultural role of museums, heritage, and shared public spaces in relation to major contemporary issues, including:
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Climate change
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Social justice
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Sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems
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Intercultural dialogue
We believe that shared urban spaces, rich in layered testimonies, are called to become interdisciplinary and connected places of learning, capable of resonating their own identity with voices and perspectives coming from other subjectivities, contributing to the construction of new narratives and fostering practices for a critical and polyphonic dialogue on both the past and the future.
Within the framework of the project AMIR | Alliances, Museums, Encounters and Relations.
SEMI - Sinergia, Educazione, Mutamento, Inclusione
Visits and workshops in the Fiesole area
SEMI – Synergy, Education, Change, Inclusion is a cultural participation project of the Municipality of Fiesole, created to build an educational community across the territory and to enhance the skills of the institutions involved in educating the “citizens of the future.”
F.F.F. – Fiesole Family Format invites families to discover the cultural heritage of Fiesole together through educational, playful, and experiential activities designed for all ages. Through stories, explorations, and small workshops, children and adults can experience cultural sites with curiosity and wonder. Libraries, museums, the archaeological area of Fiesole, and local businesses thus become spaces for encounter, discovery, and connection with the city and its landscape.
Utopia | ForGlobe
Activities and meetings in libraries and archives
Since May 2025, in all municipalities of the Integrated Documentary System of the Florence Area (SDIAF), the ForGlobe project has been active. It offers adults a wide range of free training pathways held in libraries, municipal archives, and selected cultural institutions across the territory.
Stazione Utopia, in collaboration with ForGlobe, has scheduled three series of activities:
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The library as a language laboratory
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Geopolitical café
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Stories, gazes, and colonial objects: archives and decolonial questions
The project is fully funded by the Tuscany Region – PR FSE+ 2021/2027.
GALLERIA DELL'ACCADEMIA
Special visits, educational workshops, and inclusive pathways
The Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, in collaboration with Stazione Utopia, offers a series of educational activities aimed at lower secondary schools, families, people with sensory disabilities, and includes Italian Sign Language (LIS) guided tours, with the support of UICI Florence and ENS Florence.
The visits and workshops explore the potential of the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, proposing themes and activities that enhance the museum experience as an opportunity for discovery, social interaction, and education.
VILLA MEDICEA LA PETRAIA
Ateliers, visits, explorations, and walks
The villas and gardens represent a true microcosm around which court life revolved. In these places, the Medici first, and later the House of Lorraine and the House of Savoy, devoted themselves to their passions: art and patronage, life in nature and hunting, courtly sociability, and fine dining. Due to the richness of furnishings, decorative motifs, and craft techniques, they preserve true treasures—material testimonies of the minor arts of our region.
Stazione Utopia, under the scientific supervision of the Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany, proposes a series of educational activities, workshops, and guided tours aimed at introducing the history and artworks preserved in the villas and gardens. These activities use inclusive methodologies and a variety of themes and approaches designed for increasingly diverse audiences: schools, adults, and people with special educational needs.
In collaboration with the Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany of the Ministry of Culture, the Medici Villa La Petraia and the Garden of the Medici Villa of Castello.
MUSEO DEGLI INNOCENTI
Visits and ateliers
A series of thematic workshops aimed at understanding the architectural elements and technological innovations experimented with by Filippo Brunelleschi for the Istituto degli Innocenti, the nearby Rotunda, and the Dome of the Cathedral of Florence.
The workshop experiences are delivered through interdisciplinary teaching methodologies, following “learning by doing” and hands-on strategies oriented toward collaborative and participatory learning. The delivery methods and workshop content are adapted according to age, educational projects, and the characteristics of each class group.
In collaboration with La Bottega dei Ragazzi, the educational section of the Istituto degli Innocenti.
I GIARDINI DELLA BIZZARRIA
Thematic visits, performance-based tours, workshops, and the spectacular 19th-century ball
They return in summer 2024 with the 5th edition, “The Gardens of Bizzarria”, a series of free-entry summer events dedicated to families, adults, and enthusiasts at the Medici Villa La Petraia and the Garden of the Medici Villa of Castello, under the Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany of the Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with Culter, and supported by Unicoop Firenze and Estate Fiorentina 2024 | Municipality of Florence.
SABIR
Observation and discussion on cultural heritage
SABIR | Observation and discussion on cultural heritage* offers a workshop for a group of students attending CPIA Florence 1. It provides an introduction to reading, understanding, and interpreting cultural and artistic heritage as a space for multidisciplinary learning, intercultural exchange, and knowledge sharing.
The programme is structured as a cycle of meetings, study visits, tours with mediators from the AMIR project, and group reflections with experts. These sessions address not only art and history, but also cultural diversity, gender issues, decision-making processes, and the construction of political boundaries through historical and artistic heritage.
The course concludes with a two-night study visit to an art city in Tuscany.
Sabir refers to a “service language” historically spoken in Mediterranean ports between the 11th and 19th centuries, composed of vocabulary from Italian, Spanish, Arabic, and Catalan.
SABIR* is a project by Stazione Utopia, within the framework of the AMIR | Alliances, Museums, Encounters and Relations programme, and is made possible thanks to the support of the Fondazione CR Firenze.
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ARCHITEKSTURA
Urban design and manipulation atelier
/////ARCHITEkstURA\\\\\ is a free summer centre/atelier for 20 participants, including Ukrainian youth, young people of foreign origin educated in Italy, Italian youth, and the adults around them.
During the programme, participants will carry out research on the neighbourhood in order to collectively imagine and co-design an element of urban architecture within the spaces of Manifattura Tabacchi.
AMIR4ONOUKA
Art workshops, school tutoring, and language learning for young Ukrainian participants
For the first year, the project launches a programme of activities developed in collaboration with ONOUKA, a cultural association born from the cooperation of emerging artists, arts professionals, and Ukrainian and Italian educators who are currently working on the integration of young Ukrainian people welcomed in Florence.
The proposed actions aim to provide educational support for Ukrainian children and adolescents, as well as assistance for them and their families in facing the difficulties and traumas related to forced displacement, separation from their homes, and the sudden experience of living in a new and unfamiliar environment.
AMIR4ONOUKA is made possible thanks to the contribution of the Tuscany Region and the Fondazione CR Firenze, and is developed in collaboration with Stazione Utopia, the cultural association ONOUKA, and the museum network Musei di Tutti Fiesole.
MUSEI E DECOLONIALITA'
Practices for a critical and polyphonic dialogue on the past and the future
What is the role of museums and cultural heritage in building new narratives capable of recognizing diversity and fostering intercultural dialogue? How can museums bring their identity and collections into resonance with voices and perspectives coming from the margins, encouraging reflection rooted in marginalized and underrepresented identities? In what ways can museums—particularly those that preserve and exhibit European collections—contribute meaningfully to the decolonization practices that museums of colonial origin have been exploring in recent years?
A seminar to discuss and exchange ideas, drawing on the experience developed by the AMIR project (Allenaze, Musei, Incontri, Relazioni), focusing on the very nature of the museum—once an emblem of Western culture and today a possible space for transforming communities.
PICCOLA CITTA'
Workshops to explore and imagine the ideal city for children
The project offers free museum workshops and activities for 20 primary school children from Siena during the 2022 Christmas holidays. Through activities led by museum educators, architects, and art historians, participants will explore their city and cultural heritage as a large classroom—a place to discover, understand, and reimagine.
OPUS Patrimonio di Saperi
Guided visits and narrative itineraries
An integrated programme of exhibitions, meetings, educational workshops, thematic tours, videos, and training courses: the Medici Villa of Petraia becomes the protagonist of an unprecedented narrative thanks to contributions from art historians, restorers, and artisans who reconstruct in detail the craftsmanship of porcelain, wood, and wallpaper production.
A project curated by the Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany, with the support of MuSST3# – “Museums and Development of Territorial Systems” of the Ministry of Culture.
I GIARDINI DELLA BIZZARRIA
Guided visits and narrative itineraries
A new edition for summer 2023 of the series “I Giardini della Bizzarria”, the much-anticipated programme of visits and workshops for adults and families promoted by the Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany of the Ministry of Culture, curated by Stazione Utopia and supported by Unicoop Firenze, offering the opportunity to discover the history and collections preserved in the Medici villas and gardens.
With the support of Unicoop Firenze.
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GERMOGLI
Training course for gardeners of historic parks and gardens
Anelli Mancanti and Stazione Utopia, in collaboration with the Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany – Villa Medicea La Petraia and Azienda Rocchi, thanks to funding from the Fondazione CR Firenze, present the second edition of the GERMOGLI project: a training course for historic garden maintenance workers. This educational and professional orientation program is aimed at 14 participants, including refugees hosted at former SPRAR centres and NEET (Neither in Employment nor in Education or Training) aged 18 to 29 who are currently neither studying nor working.
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AMIR
Alleanze, Musei, Incontri e Relazioni
AMIR | Alliances, Museums, Encounters, and Relations is a project launched in September 2018 (AMIR means “prince” in Arabic). It is curated by a network of museums and aims to offer cultural mediation activities led by citizens with a migratory background. Currently, the initiative involves twenty-five mediators and seventeen institutions, including museums, collections, villages, churches, and public spaces in Florence and Fiesole.
AMIR is curated by Stazione Utopia and the thematic museum network Musei di Tutti, and includes the participation of the Museum and Archaeological Area of Fiesole, the Bandini Museum, the Primo Conti Museum, the Palazzo Vecchio Museum, the Museo Novecento, the Santa Maria Novella Complex, the Istituto degli Innocenti Museum, as well as other locations such as the Art Collection of the Fondazione CR Firenze, the village of Quaracchi, the Church of Santa Maria a Peretola, Villa Medici La Petraia, and the Garden of the Villa Medici in Castello, in addition to urban walks.
The project has collaborated with the Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany, the University Museum System, Case della Memoria (Houses of Memory), the Lucca Archive, the Photographic Archive of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max Planck Institute, University of Florence (SAGAS Department), the Islamic Community of Florence, the Alinari Foundation for Photography, and Archivi in Rete, with the support of the Tuscany Region and the Fondazione CR Firenze.
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