The Innocenti Museum Ranks First in Tuscany Among Museums of Regional Significance

Also in 2024, the Innocenti Museum is a “Museum of Regional Significance”, a recognition awarded by the Tuscany Region. For the first time, it has ranked first in the merit ranking for the regional call for financial support to accredited museums and eco-museums, a competition that this year involved 109 organisations. This very significant result was achieved thanks to the score awarded by the Region of Tuscany, which takes into account factors such as organisation, cultural offer, services, accessibility and users.

The Regional Call

Every year, the Region of Tuscany publishes a call for the allocation of the ordinary contributions to museums and eco-museums of regional significance, aimed at all validly accredited organisations in the region. The total financial resources made available by the region for 2024 amount to 1.2 million euros. These resources are allocated to various museums based on a merit ranking, determined through a combination of qualitative and quantitative criteria. Among these criteria are: facilities and infrastructure for scientific, educational, documentation, and study activities; visitor services, including essential and additional amenities; public opening hours; educational activities, including guided tours for schools and universities; extracurricular educational programmes; number of events and visitors for exhibitions and displays; publications, catalogues, research, and scientific studies.

The Innocenti Museum

Inaugurated in its new guise in 2016, the Innocenti Museum has been accredited as a museum of regional significance since 2018. The Museum aims at making the unique cultural heritage held by the Istituto degli Innocenti usable and accessible to all. In recent years, the Museum has seen a steady growth in interest and attendance thanks to its efforts to increase and differentiate its artistic and cultural offerings: on the one hand, in-depth and research exhibitions highlighting the history and role of the Istituto degli Innocenti over the centuries, such as the permanent exhibition dedicated to the “tokens”, which is updated every six months; and on the other hand, temporary exhibitions aimed at a broader and more diverse audience. In recent years, the Museum of the Innocenti has also focused on accessibility, now offering seven-day-a-week opening, and has expanded its educational activities through its dedicated section, La Bottega dei Ragazzi (Children’s Workshop).

After the pandemic, visitor numbers at the Museum of the Innocenti have been steadily increasing, far exceeding those recorded in the year of the new Museum layout's opening. Attendance grew from 55,000 in 2019 to over 80,000 in 2022, surpassing 130,000 in 2023.