The Toy Museum in Milan is located in the small town of Santo Stefano Lodigiano (about 3 hours by car from Milan).
The museum allows you to get acquainted, even if not with ancient, but ancient toys made in the XVIII century. And it’s not just children who will be interested in them.
The museum is interesting for the younger generation to learn about the world of ancient toys, while adults will find themselves in a world of childhood filled with wooden soldiers and homemade ships. The Milan Toy Museum is housed in an old house on the banks of the Po. It was once a post office, but after restoration the building was given the honour of becoming a museum. There are three exhibition halls, a presentation hall where they show a film about the origin and history of Italian toys, a laboratory, a cafe and a souvenir shop where you can buy postcards and all sorts of trinkets to commemorate the museum.
The first exhibition is devoted to the history of toys. More than 2,000 toys and children’s entertainments of all kinds, made in different European countries between 1770 and 1960, are presented in this hall. All exhibits of the exposition are divided into five sections: for babies, for war games, educational, circus and, of course, Italian toys. The museum staff did not hide the antique exhibits under thick glass and did not hang them on stands. Entire compositions were made of various toys. You can also see steam trains and many mechanical exhibits, which are regularly turned on to amuse visitors.
The second exhibition hall – this exhibition space is dedicated to literature for children, of course, Italian. The story of the origins of comic books and world-famous fairy tale characters will be perfectly remembered by children, as a lecture by a guide will be supported by illustrations from books and magazines on three large screens. Pinocchio is on a special account with Italian children. The first stories about the adventures of the wooden doll were printed in Florence in a newspaper for children at the end of the XIX century.
In the third room visitors will see works by painters and graphic artists, the theme of which – toys. A separate exhibition is devoted to drawings by Antonio Rubino, the artist who created the first Italian comic books.
A laboratory here gives children the opportunity to learn how to make a variety of toys from improvised materials. An excursion to the Toy Museum in Milan is undoubtedly an educational experience. Children learn a lot about toys that are so commonplace to them and get a lot of positive emotions.
The museum is open all days except 24 and 25 December
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