Travel Kids – Italy in Intercity with Focus Junior is the new podcast channel designed for children (6–12 years old) and parents travelling. Created in collaboration with Trenitalia – the parent company of the FS Group’s Passenger Hub – its 100+ podcasts will accompany families on an incredible step-by-step story across Italy and the Islands: odd stories, amusing anecdotes about places, characters, objects, science, nature, animals and much more.

Podcasts are a winning tool to disseminate culture and entertainment: people listen to them to learn, study and laugh. In Italy, every month 12 million people listen to podcasts (Ipsos research), with numbers steadily increasing year after year, especially in the younger age groups. Focus Junior, the leading brand in the kids’ sector, and Loquis, the first platform for listening to and narrating the world via geolocalised podcasts, will take the young passengers of Intercity, the Trenitalia Business management company headed by Luigi Corradi, and their families on a journey to discover the many wonders of Italy: from the incredible story of Ciro, the baby dinosaur preserved at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Milan, to the reason why the Tower of Pisa leans, along with stories of pirates and witches in Liguria, to the mystery of the Riace Bronzes in Calabria.

“Italy is the real Wonderland, where every place has curious stories just waiting to be told”, said Sarah Pozzoli, Focus Junior Director. “Thanks to this initiative, created in collaboration with Loquis and Trenitalia, Focus Junior has been able to narrate the history and beauty of Italy through podcasts designed specifically for children and young people, with a light but authoritative tone and a rigorous eye for content. Travel Kids is in line with our mission “to entertain while discovering the world”, in this case our peninsula, a true treasure rich in history, culture and biodiversity”.

Focus Junior and Loquis will stimulate the imagination and curiosity of young people with relaxing and educational content, using simple and entertaining language suitable for the whole family. The narrators for this project will be Andrea Lucchetta, former Italian national volleyball team player, and Creator Alessio Bourcet aka Pika Palindromo.

“Loquis is a very special kind of navigator: instead of providing directions, it tells us about the places we visit”, said Bruno Pellegrini, CEO of Loquis. “We created it because we are convinced that knowledge of the world and its locations is as necessary as ever in this time when people are withdrawing into virtual worlds. This is why we are very happy to create a project dedicated to the youngsters, creating educational entertainment, which is one of the social aims of Loquis, where the smartphone is just a tool for listening to stories dedicated to the beauty of our cities, leaving the eyes free to enjoy them”.

For Domenico Scida, Trenitalia’s Intercity Business Director, “This is an initiative designed for families and children who can travel by Intercity and share moments of leisure and culture”. “We are happy”, added Scida, “to start an important collaboration with Loquis and Focus Junior, to accompany and entertain all children travelling on our trains, with an increasingly customised service, recounting curiosities and anecdotes about Italian cities, from North to South, in a fun and dynamic way”.

The first 50 podcasts are already available on the Milan-Lecce, Taranto-Reggio Calabria and Milan-Ventimiglia routes. 100 podcasts are expected by mid-January 2024, on all parts of Trenitalia’s Intercity network.