Baby Pit Stop Opens at the Innocenti

A “Baby pit stop”, i.e., a special area for breastfeeding and caring for children, has arrived at the Istituto degli Innocenti. The initiative is promoted and financed by the Soroptimist Association, as part of a biennial memorandum of understanding signed with the Italian Unicef committee which aims precisely at promoting the Baby Pit Stop project. An integral part of the Unicef National Programme Insieme per l’allattamento (Together for Breastfeeding), the Baby Pit Stop project is aimed at supporting and raising awareness of childcare by setting up equipped areas that are welcoming places for mothers and their children, particularly in museums, libraries and cultural venues in general.

The inauguration of the Baby Pit Stop is not the first partnership between the Istituto degli Innocenti and Soroptimist, a non-profit organisation working to advance the status of women, promote human rights, accept diversity, and foster development and peace in the world.

In 2021, Soroptimist, Istituto degli Innocenti and the Municipality of Florence joined the international “Orange the World” campaign against all forms of abuse and violence. On the evening of 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and until 5 December, the Loggia of the Istituto degli Innocenti was lit up in orange, the colour symbolising a brighter future. In 2022, after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Soroptimist provided computer equipment to facilitate the studies of the children from the Ukrainian community received at the Innocenti.