{"id":3454,"date":"2025-07-20T07:08:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T05:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestfreetour.com\/?p=3454"},"modified":"2025-07-05T19:31:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T17:31:03","slug":"bozza-automaticaforgotten-zoo-of-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestfreetour.com\/zh\/2025\/07\/20\/bozza-automaticaforgotten-zoo-of-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten Zoo of Florence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Florence
Florence Free Tour-Forgotten Zoo of Florence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Florence Had a Jungle: The Lost Zoo of Le Cascine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cForgotten Zoo of Florence\u201d uncovers a wild and whimsical piece of the city\u2019s past, when lions and alpacas lived where cyclists now race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the heart of the 19th century, while Italy was learning to walk united as a single nation, Florence dared to dream something unique: a place where humans, science, and exotic animals could coexist in an unusual experiment of acclimatization and wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result? The creation, in 1863<\/strong>, of the Regio Giardino Zoologico Fiorentino<\/strong>\u2014Florence\u2019s royal zoological garden. Directed by the naturalist Giuseppe Desmeure<\/strong>, it was one of Europe\u2019s earliest examples of scientific zoos open to the public. And this, dear reader, is the story of the Forgotten Zoo of Florence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Was the Forgotten Zoo of Florence?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Surprisingly, it stood exactly where today you\u2019ll find the Velodrome of Le Cascine<\/strong>, the tennis courts, and the historic Sferisterio<\/strong> arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone strolling through these sports facilities may have no idea that beneath the gravel and pathways once lay an extraordinary 19th-century zoological theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That area\u2014known as Primo Prato delle Cascine<\/strong>\u2014was granted by the city to the zoological society after the 1861 Italian Exposition<\/strong>, as a site to explore coexistence between civilized humans and the wildness of the world\u2019s fauna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its peak, the Forgotten Zoo of Florence<\/strong> hosted giraffes<\/a>, lions, bears, hyenas, kangaroos, antelopes, monkeys<\/strong>, and tropical birds<\/strong>. But the two animals that became the talk of the town were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n