This travel blog submitted by Chapter President Chris Woodruff

My wife Lori and I recently traveled to Italy, and on the advice of close friend Giampaolo Huober, we visited the HZERO Train Museum in Firenze (aka Florence). Visiting this museum was one of the highlights of our trip, and I will go on the record as saying this is a “must see” if you are anywhere near Firenze. We only spent about an hour or so at the museum, but I could have personally stayed all day.

Here are some background facts/details about the museum:

• The HZERO Museum had its origins as a personal layout created by Giuseppe di San Giuliano. Giuseppe’s original interest was in model cars, but after seeing some trains at a model hobby shop, his passion quickly shifted to Marklin trains. He started collecting in the 1970’s, and his first version of the layout was set up in the library of his home in Firenze.
• Giuseppe’s family stated that Giuseppe was “A great aesthete with a refined eye for detail, a lover of art, music, and literature; Giuseppe did not simply want to assemble a set of train tracks…he conceived an incredible backdrop for the trains to travel through a realistic landscape.” Every action that he took with regard to the development of his layout had to have intellectual and aesthetic value.
• Over the years, the layout grew in size and complexity. Several of Giuseppe’s friends, some of whom were regarded as Master Modelers in their own right, helped him to enlarge the layout and build new structures and scenery. One of the contributing model-makers, Beppe Innocenti, devoted extraordinary attention to landscaping details, and even went so far as to take trips into the mountains to observe rocks, stones, and various types of vegetation that he could use as subjects to replicate on the layout.
• The scenery is of German and Italian-themed settings, and includes urban and rural landscapes. In 1975, the layout covered 150 square meters. By the year 2000, the increasing size of the layout necessitated that it be moved. It was relocated to a 400 square meter hangar in Scandicci, near Firenze, where the layout continued to be expanded and improved.
• Over the course of an hour, the lighting in the room changes to simulate bright daylight and then transitions to evening and then night. The lighting of and in the structures is exceptional. The structures are also exceptional! The scratch-built train station is nothing short of jaw-dropping amazing…an absolute work of art!
• The layout is now located in the heart of Firenze, in the former 900 square meter Ariston cinema and not too far (easy walking distance) from the Santa Maria Novella train station.
• The layout uses Marklin C-track, and the locomotives are of Marklin, Piko, and Roco manufacture.
• There is a small but very nice bookstore/gift shop near the entrance to the museum. They have a great selection of books about Italian railways (all in the Italian language), a few books in English, and they sell a limited selection of Piko HO locomotives and rolling stock.
• Admission for those under the age of 65 is 16 Euro’s. Seniors (65 +) qualify for a 50% discount; however, for those over 65, be prepared to show ID to prove your age. The man who preceeded us in line was obviously in his late 70’s – early 80’s, and they asked him for ID to prove that he was a senior. Thankfully he had a good sense of humor and laughed while he complied with their request.