Vasari's Lives become an audio story for children, free of charge

A nice initiative for the youngest visitors, that of the Uffizi Gallery: in fact, the museum has made available to the public the “Vasarini,” seventeen audio-stories of about ten minutes each taken from the Lives of Giorgio Vasari (Arezzo, 1511 - Florence, 1574) and forming part of the book Burle, tavolozze e scalpelli written by Virginia Galante Garrone. Seventeen tales for as many artists: children (but also adults: the tales are well-edited and entertaining) will thus learn about the vicissitudes of the young Perugino before he became a painter, follow poor Filippo Lippi kidnapped by Moorish pirates on his journey across the Adriatic Sea and discover how he managed to get himself freed, laugh while listening to the funny adventures of Rosso Fiorentino’s little monkey... and much more.

The project was created as a result of the invitation in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministries of Education, Culture and Health to extend and enhance the practice of reading aloud to young children. “We considered this to be the most suitable time of year for such a presentation,” the Uffizi Gallery specifies, “because, in addition to the proximity to the beginning of the school year, we imagined that in the long winter evenings children will be able to listen to and comment with adults on the lives of artists of the past whose work they can easily learn about by visiting our museums.”

The audio tracks, narrated by the narrative voice of Giancarla Cavalletti, were created in collaboration with the National Talking Book Center and the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired, both entities interested in participating in an inclusive storytelling project aimed at all children: those who still cannot read, those who suffer from dyslexia or other learning disorders, and those who enjoy reading (or, in this case, listening to) interesting stories after school.

The audio stories from Vasari’s Lives can be enjoyed in MP3 format and can be downloaded from this web address.

Vasari's Lives become an audio story for children, free of charge

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