Huge model railway opens to public in Florence

A new model railway museum opened in Florence on 29 May and is called HZero.

The model railway covers 280 square metres and is housed in a former cinema in Florence, a few steps from the Santa Maria Novella station.

This highly detailed installation was designed and built by the Marquis Giuseppe Paternò Castello di San Giuliano.

It all started in 1972, when he went to a toy shop to buy a model car, but came away with something a little different.

The model is continually updated.

The miniaturised landscapes evoke the mountainous contours of the Dolomites, the architecture inspired by Berlin and the seascapes inspired by a Tuscan island.

The Italian studio Karmachina has designed an interplay of light, music and projections to simulate the change of seasons and the passage from day to night.