A kids’ guide to Venice

Have you ever tried to visit a city of art with kids?
If the answer is “Yes, we have” and you strongly decided that you “will never do it again!” … well, we have the right idea for your next trip to Venice. We tested it last week-end and are looking forward to visiting this wonderful city again.
The secret? Just keep on reading …

What is A kids’ guide to Venice?

A kids’ guide to Venice is the title of an amazing book, tailored for children of age 6 years and older. It’s a real guide-book for young travellers, rich of information about the city’s history, art and craft, architectural features, monuments and museums, celebrities, traditions, local food and even … some typical expressions of the local dialect you could hear on your way!
You are wrong if you think that knowing Venetian words is of no interest. For example, the Italian Ciao cames from one of these words, as you will discover at the end of the book.

Of course, you can not teach all these topics to a child without using images and the editor is aware of this. That’s why he chose Allegra Agliardi to illustrate the book with her joyful drawing style.
Kids will enjoy to find out the objects described in the text, depicted in bright colours and fancy shapes. They will love to open the folded pages and discover what’s hidden inside. And, most of all, they will look forward to being in those incredible places in order to answer the quizzes and play the games the author created.

How to use the guidebook?

We recommend buying A kids’ guide to Venice when you are at home. Children like to imitate and be involved in parents’ activities, so they will be happy to help you plan the visit to the city. It’s a clever way to make them part of the team, to understand what they are more interested in and to arouse their curiosity. The first pages, such as the last ones, can be read in the evening like a goodnight tale.

The main chapters, instead, talk about specific places, such as Saint Mark Square, Rialto Bridge, Gran Canal, the Doge’s Palace and the most important churches, museums and lagoon’s isles. We suggest to read them when you are in front of the monuments so that kids can look at the original ones while listening to your words. And then, comparing drawn images with reality is funny too.

If you are not so lucky to have the guidebook before leaving, be sure to have it in the suitcase before going back home. It will be the best souvenir for children and a sweet memory of the unforgettable holidays in one of the most beautiful city of art in the world.

We like A Kids’ guide to Venice because …

The book is really a perfect guide for young travellers, with a smart description, nice images and a lot of curiosities about the city and the people. It’s written by Alberta Garini, an Italian writer specialized on school books, who knows how to capture kids’ attention very well.
The book is available also in English and French and you can find it in many museums’ bookshops, both in Venice and the rest of the region.

Good to know:

• A Kids’ guide to Venice, by Alberta Garini and Allegra Agliardi, Lapis Edizioni 2011, € 12,50
• In Lapis Edizioni web site you can buy it online and have a short preview of some pages from the Italian version