Grand Opening of Ciao Bambini

Oct 08, 2023 652

BY: Michael Cross, President St Louis-Bologna Sister Cities

Ciao Bambini is an interactive and immerse children's exhibit at The Magic House, the St Louis Children's Museum which officially opened to the public on Saturday, September 23, 2023. When Beth Fitzgerald, President of The Magic House, contacted our community a year and a half ago about this project, we were more than honored to participate.

After 18 months of meetings and discussions regarding the design and layout, we chose to model the exhibit around a piazza, a central part of life in every Italian town, city, and village. The Magic House architects have done a tremendous job of putting together the first travelling Italian children's exhibit in America and we're very proud to have been part of that.

Today, you and your children can discover the wonders of Italy through this unique immersive environment. From pizzas to piazzas, you can be transported to the beautiful country of Italy right here in St Louis. The exhibit highlights Italy’s world-renowned architectureart and food, and pays tribute to its significant historical contributions while showing what life is like for children in Italy today.

We made sure that the focus of this exhibit was on authentic and contemporary Italy and not the Italy of the past. Children will learn to make pasta in a traditional Italian home, serve delicious treats in a gelateria, create a mosaic masterpiece, learn simple words and phrases in Italian and capture your travels with a photo on a vespa in a piazza.

We are currently looking for volunteers to help at Ciao Bambini. In order to keep an authentic feel to the exhibit, The Magic House is asking that only those who are native Italian or who are fluent in the Italian language to apply. For inquiries, please contact: [email protected]

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