Italia in Miniatura

Over 40 years of “And they learned happily ever after...”

“Beauty is Italy’s oil”, the Romagnolo poet Tonino Guerra used to say. And it is the indubitable beauty of the Bel Paese that inspired Rimini’s Italia in Miniatura ‘miniature Italy’ park.
Italia in Miniatura is a 3D reverie where one fails to trust one’s eyes, where reality exceeds imagination in a triumph of the creative mind that celebrates Italy’s historical, architectural and cultural heritage. The park tells the tale of the great beauty of the country by representing it faithfully and in astounding realistic detail, only... in miniature.
Italia in Miniatura was founded in 1970 by visionary entrepreneur Ivo Rambaldi, who travelled 27,000 km to visit and measure first-hand (literally! He used to carry a measuring tape with him) churches, piazzas, bridges and monuments. Rambaldi also got in touch with all Italian Universities and requested 6,000 photographs, drawings and maps before he created his first miniaturized monument – a replica of the St. Apollinare in Classe church, a tribute to the nearby city of Ravenna.
Today Italia in Miniatura has a very different outlook and has grown much larger, with several new attractions that keep faith to the park’s edutainment mission and cater for families’ and schoolchildren’s interests. Its story is a wonderful tale that has been unravelling for over 40 years, and presently consists of 273 Italian and European architectural wonders reproduced in painstaking detail at scales ranging from 1:25 to 1:50. Additionally, about one third of the 15,000 trees that grow over the 85,000 sqm total area are living miniatures!
But there is much more besides miniatures – find your favourite attraction! The Cannonacqua water cannon fight will take you back to the epic medieval battles between the local ruling families Montefeltro and Malatesta. Or see the miniatures from 6 metres above ground on the Arcobaleno monorail electric train that travels all around the park at 15 km/h. Or why not try the interactive driving school for a road safety course designed for kids from 6 to 12 – its special ‘speaking’ cars with virtual instructors run on entirely renewable energy sources. And if you feel romantic and fancy a trip to Venice, here you can actually glide on a gondola along the Grand Canal and see its palaces, the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco, reproduced at a 1:5 scale – the piazza can host up to 280 people!
The park grows every year, not only with new miniatures but also with new ideas and projects, such as guided and edutainment tours specially designed for school trips that can be tailored on each class’s specific needs.
Educational tour themes range from nanotechnologies to physics, biology, the space, telecommunications, nutrition and food education, Italian architecture and history, arts and science, introduction to theatre, history of the unification of Italy, the Italian constitution, children’s and teenagers’ rights, road safety, biodiversity and the environment – there is something for all schoolchildren! Additionally, the Science Funfair has a dedicated educational pavilion where kids will love to experiment and reproduce the mysteries of physics.
With such an edutainment range, learning has never been so much fun!