Perfect for both adults and kids, Italy in Miniature (Italia in Miniatura) is a theme park set up in 1970 in Viserbella, a suburb of Rimini in the Emilia Romagna region. Like a giant, you walk around the cities of the peninsula among over 270 miniatures of the most famous monuments, palaces, historic sites and over 5000 real trees of small dimensions. Read more to discover all the attractions of this magical place!
The Park
Here are represented all the Italian regions with their monuments, palaces, churches and symbolic buildings carefully reproduced to scale. To make some examples, you'll find the Colosseum, the Arena of Verona, the Milan Cathedral, the Mole Antonelliana of Turin, the Saint Peter's Basilica, the Royal Palace of Caserta and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The natural landscape perfectly reflects the reality, with hills, rivers, lakes and seas. In Venice, which is 5 times smaller than the real one, you can even surf the Grand Canal and admire Piazza San Marco, which can accommodate up to 280 people! There are also working electric railways, truly amazing!
Activities
The monorail Arcobaleno will surely make kids crazy! It is an electric-powered train that runs the perimeter of the park at an average height of 6 metres and a speed of 15 km/h. A voice will guide you during the whole tour, which takes about 8 minutes. There's no lack of playground areas which include the Play Mart with slides, pools of multi-coloured balls, creepers, tunnels and bridges; the Horses Carousel; a section dedicated to the fairytale of Pinocchio crossed on board of funny cars and the Panoramic Tower, which reaches 10 metres high. During hot summer days, you can opt for Cannonacqua, a fun and refreshing game under the walls of Castel Sismondo, the symbol of Rimini, reproduced in scale 1:3. It works like a water balloon fight, but instead of balloons you'll have to use water cannons.
For a much exciting break, I recommend the canoe trip, with a thrilling final fall or the Sling Shot, a giant mechanical sling consisting of a central capsule with two seats and linked to a spring machine that projects it up to 55 metres in height in just 1.2 seconds! To have a ride, you must be aged between 14 and 55 years old. If you are an adventure lover, but prefer to live it comfortably seated in front of a screen, Cinemagia 7 D is what you look for! Latest within the park is the Pappamondo area, a kind of tropical island where you can see up close over a hundred species of parrots from Central and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania. Another place to visit is the Science Fair Park, where children can experience and understand the laws of physics, mechanics, hydraulics, optics and electricity through interactive machines.
Europe in miniature
Nearby the area dedicated to Italy, there is a smaller one dedicated to Europe in miniature, with about thirty popular monuments, such as the Little Mermaid of Copenhagen, the Eiffel tour, the Acropolis of Athens, the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the windmills and Saint Paul's Cathedral in London.
My suggestions
Italy in Miniature is an extraordinary park and one of a kind, so I strongly recommend a visit when staying in this area. It is open all year round; at the beginning of the year only on weekends and major holidays, but then from late March to mid-September it's open every day. The ticket cost and opening times vary depending on the period, so check them before departure! If you plan to visit it in the summer, take with you swimming costumes for the children, beach towels and extra cloths, given the numerous water games. For lunch or just for a snack, there are various restaurants and stands inside the park; as alternative, you can take advantage of the picnic areas under the shade of the trees.
