The Veneto Toy Museum was established in 2006 with the aim of preserving and enhancing the toys it houses, which constitute the largest toy collection in the Veneto region, featuring priceless unique pieces that trace the history of toys from the late 19th century to the 1970s. The Collection includes various types of toys such as cars, trains, ships, airplanes, soldiers, dolls, and fantasy games, produced in Italy and abroad from the late 19th century to the 1970s. The exhibition is divided into seven sections based on the type of objects, plus one section dedicated to the production of the famous Padua-based toy manufacturer Ingap.
The Museum’s collection was born and continues to grow thanks to the generosity and passion of several collectors. Central to this mission is not only the preservation of memory and the specific past through the conservation of items of historical and artistic interest but above all the focus on the active interaction of children with toys to stimulate creativity and develop interpersonal relationships through play.
The toys preserved and displayed in the Museum’s spacious halls represent an important artistic and craft testimony, but more importantly, they play a fundamental role in enhancing the dimension of memory and relationality in the context of intergenerational exchange.
For this reason, the Museum has been placed within the “Civitas Vitae” complex, which covers an area of 12 hectares, a Multifunctional Center of the Immaculate Conception Foundation where the pillars of active longevity culture are found. In this context, a group of people from the Agorà Association, Third Age Protagonist Laboratory, specially trained, collaborate with the Museum to integrate the relational dimension with that of memory through a creative recollection stimulated by toys. The contribution of elderly people, the “Grandparents of the Heart,” is to transmit a memory that preserves past experiences and returns them to future generations, enriched with meaning and significance, as it constitutes an individual and collective identity. Visiting the Museum allows one to appreciate the beauty of toys from the past through the stories of the “Grandparents of the Heart”; toys thus become a bridge between generations.
The Veneto Toy Museum organizes guided tours for organized groups and local schools and hosts intergenerational workshops supported by the “Grandparents of the Heart.”
Periodically, it organizes events in collaboration with the local area; it also has a partnership with the Rovereto Museum.
Information about Veneto Toy Museum – Onlus
Via Toblino, 51
35142 Padua (Padua)
0498281111
Source: MIBACT
