Visit Pistoia Zoo

holiday tuscany
visit pistoia zoo

HOLIDAY TUSCANY

VISIT PISTOIA ZOO

More than 600 species of animals await you in the marvellous Zoological Gardens of Pistoia. 

Opened in 1970, the zoo expands into a large quantity of vegetation that continually restores itself.  Biodiversity Conservation is one of the primary objectives of the Zoological Garden.

For this motive it created the Biodiversity Laboratory, which gives the possibility for both adults and children, to encounter nature by enjoyment and learning. 

For a really unique holiday and to have contact with nature, Pistoia Zoo will enhance and make your holiday in Tuscany an unforgettable moment.

PISTOIA
Formerly dating from the 2nd Century b.c. it was founded to rest Roman troops fighting against the Liguri, becoming famous in 62 a.d. because Catilina was stopped, defeated and died, as remembered by Sallustio. Destroyed by the Ostrogoti in 406, it became later a Lombard bench mark and today the city planning of the city still carries that impression.

In 1105 Pistoia became a self-governing Imperial and Ghibelline community. Federico Barbarossa, confirmation in 1165 the title of “Imperio fedelissima”, permitted the city to select a representative consul.  But in 1180, with Barbarossa prevailed elsewhere, lost the battle with Guelph Montecatini, who took the border to the edge of Serravalle. In 1200 Pistoia, thought above all to commerce, attracted merchants from all over Europe, but the frequent wars with Florence exhausted the city and from the 14th Century, after alternate events, wars and skirmishes, definitively submitted to Florence.  In the 16th century the Dukedom of Mediceo arrived and constructed a 5th wall, wanted by Cosimo de’ Medici, which is still in existence today.  In the following centuries Pistoia was barely important, politically and from the 19th century recommenced expansion outside the walls.

 In the Unity of Italy, it was part of the province of Florence, while from 1927 it became the head town of the province.  The views of Pistoia go from the splendid Piazza del Duomo, an old civil and religious centre, enclosed between the Palazzo Comunale, the Gothic style Palazzo Pretorio, the Torre di Catilina, built in the Dark Ages and 30 metres high, the Cathedral of San Zeno with a silver altar by San Jacopo, the Baptistry by San Giovanni, built in Gothic style with white and green marble and the Palazzo dei Vescovi, made with a Gothic arcade on the ground floor.  The underground of  the Palazzo is enriched with bedded archaeological routes that have seen the discovery of an Etruscan Stone, a Roman kiln and tracts of the ancient Pistoriae wall.

In the historic centre a worthy mark is the church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, decorated with white  and green marble and Sant’Andrea, with a pulpit by Giovanni Pisano.
The Madonna dell’Umiltà church has an octagonal dome which is 59 metres high and is the work of Vasari.  Piazza della Sala, the first Lombard centre, has a marble well in the centre by Leoncino. The Ospedale del Ceppo is also lovely, with ornamented friezes of the Seven Works of Mercy, plus the  
Museo dei Ferri Chirurgici.
The city of Pistoia is surrounded by traces of the 13th Century wall and powerful ruins of the Fortress di Santa Barbara, built in the 1500 by the Fiorentines can still be seen. The Museo Marino Marini, has dedicated works of the famous Pistoiese sculptor and the Museo del Ricamo, tradition of Pistoia,
hosted in the Palazzo Rospigliosi which belonged to the family of Pope Clemente IX.  

AN ABSOULTE VISIT NOT TO MISS

The Butterfly House and Pinocchio Park
Pinocchio Park cannot be anywhere else but Collodi, where the antique village has been for more than a century, with its characteristic waterfall of houses that go from the top of the hill stopping behind  Villa Garzoni with its 17th Century scenic Garden.
visit tuscanyPinocchi Park
visit tuscanyButterfly House Collodi
visit tuscanyVilla Garzoni Garden