Top 10 team-building activities to do in Italy

February 11, 2023 ndowd

Ciao, Italia!

Corporate team-building activities typically look like games, cooking classes, escape rooms, and more. However, if you’re considering a team-building event in Italy, you can throw expectations out the window. We’ve wrapped up some of the most unique team-building activities in the country.

In 2023, 81% of respondents to a recent TravelPerk survey are organizing more face-to-face events compared to the last 12 months. Italy’s a brilliant place to bring your team together and build crucial employee engagement.

A high-quality event will help you improve teamwork, increase team bonding, and can have a substantial effect on the productivity, profitability, and overall success of a company. In fact, 86% of executives feel a lack of collaboration and team synergy is responsible for company failures—an inability to perform as a team can impact its revenue. So, by organizing a team-building event, you’re already heading in the right direction toward a more cohesive, engaged group of employees.

Ready to say “Buon giorno” to Italy? Or, are you already based in Italy and looking to broaden your search? Let’s take a look at some of the best team-building activities in the country of pasta, pizza, and paintings.

10 In-person team-building activities in Italy

Florence, Milan, Tuscany, Venice, and Rome are some of the world’s most famous and beautiful cities. Yet they offer so much more than fine wines, stunning views, and rich architecture–they’re also great places to find and experience team-building activities for multinational teams.

Admittedly, some of those team-building activities will involve tasting and making some authentic Italian pasta–how could there not be–but Italy offers something for every team–whether they eat gluten or not!

We understand that planning a memorable corporate event is not an easy or simple task, but we’ve done the hard work for you. We’ve compiled a list of the top ten team-building activities in Italy for different budgets, group sizes, locations, and more.

Have a look through and find the activities that are best suited to you and your team, those that will develop your team’s competitive spirit, and communication skills, guaranteeing a unique experience.

Here are the ten perfect team-building ideas for your team event.

1. Urban Gaming: press all the right buttons in Venice

Location: Venice, Bologna, Cagliari, Florence, and many other cities across Italy
Duration: 2 hours to 2 days
Group Size: 5-2000
Budget: $$
Book now

With Urban Gaming’s Pursuit you’ll get to see Venice in a truly unique way.

Teams of 5-10 people are given a tablet and briefed on the task at hand: win. How does your team win? Get to all the points of interest shown on the map, answer their riddles, complete location-specific challenges, and answer some history trivia on the city of gondolas.

Once the time is up, a debriefing will take place. Everyone will get to see the other teams’ creative challenges–you’ll certainly make a few memories–and raise a glass to the winning team—Saluti!

This is an activity that will develop communication skills, creativity, leadership, listening, and even orienteering if that’s something your team needs! Plus, it’s a great fit for teams of all sizes.

2. Carton boat building: get your team to build a boat and see if their idea floats

Location: across Italy
Duration: 2-3 hours
Group Size: 2-100 people
Budget: $
Book now

In this activity, teams will have to build a boat that will pass certain tests: floatability, speed, and creativity/uniqueness of the design. Sound easy? Here’s the catch: you can only use cardboard and insulating tape.

This activity really gets creative juices flowing as well as some problem-solving skills emerging. It won’t be an easy task: the raft must be rideable. Scusi!? You read that right, these pretty cardboard boats aren’t simply to put on the water, and that’s it, there must be a captain in it–ahoy!

Not only will this be an experience that will push them to their limits, but it will also build some incredible memories for your team.

3. Da Vinci’s Machines: put your team to the test and build catapults, bridges, and more

Location: Rome
Duration: 3-4 hours
Group Size: Up to a 100
Budget: $$
Book now

Da Vinci was not only a great artist, he was also a talented engineer. He designed and built some ingenious machines. Now, let your team try to achieve the same and enter Leonardo’s lab.

In this activity, your attendees will be divided into smaller groups and given instructions to build some of Da Vinci’s great designs. You can take your team-building event up a gear and add a treasure hunt option; here, your team will need to find clues throughout the venue in order to build.

The machines your employees will be building will depend on the type of event you want to set up. Once the machines are ready, it’s time to test them and see if they work. Would Leonardo be proud of your teamwork? It’s time to find out.

4. Tour quiz of Milan: discover the highlights and hidden gems of Europe’s fashion capital

Location: Milan
Duration: 2-3 hours
Group Size: max 20
Budget: $$
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Bike tour meets pub quiz meets scavenger hunt: that’s what you’ll get with this unique tour of the beautiful city of Milano.

In this activity, you’ll be touring the city of Milan, while breaking a sweat on a bike and trying to use your knowledge and creativity to answer a city-inspired quiz along the way.

You’ll pass by Piazza del Duomo, Piazza della Scala, Basilica di San Simpliciano, and so many more must-see spots in the glorious city. There are even prizes to be won, and the tour is available in Russian, English, Italian, or French.

5. Horse riding in Tuscany: saddle up for a 4-day horse riding adventure

Location: Tuscany
Duration: 4 days
Group Size: max 8
Budget: $$$
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This is a perfect summertime activity for teams that like the outdoors and want to try something really different. It’s designed for people who have little to no experience horse riding: beginners will have the opportunity to take a couple of lessons so they’re up to speed for the trails.

The package also includes three nights’ accommodation, access to a swimming pool, spa, table tennis, a large garden. It’s on the pricier end, but if you’re looking for a relaxing experience that’ll really help your team unwind away from their desks, this is for you. The experience is available from mid-April until the end of October.

6. Risotto and pasta cooking class: learn to make delicious Italian food–and take a tour of Milano’s food market

Location: Milan
Duration: 5 hours
Group Size: max 20
Budget: $$$
Book now

If you’re visiting Italy, it would be a big shame if you left without a few Italian recipes and tricks of the trade up your sleeve to show off at home. With this activity, your team will be able to build a new skill and have some fun while they learn how to make mouth-watering risotto and pasta.

After the class, by which time you’ll be experts on the cooking front, you’ll be able to tour Milan’s world-famous central grocery market and grab some ingredients to bring home with you— or back to the office.

With stellar reviews describing the experience as a ‘must-do in Milan’, this is not one to miss. In Italy pasta and risotto are more than food—they’re an art—and with expert guidance, you’ll be able to make these as the Milanesi do. Wherever there’s wine and food involved you’re guaranteed to have a team-building activity that your employees love. Buon appetite!

7. Go-karting in Rome: get your team’s hearts and karts racing in Roma

Location: Rome
Duration: 2 hours
Group Size: 1-50 people
Budget: $$
Book now

Tre, due, uno, Vai! Competition is an inherent part of business–and of building an ambitious, engaged team. Draw on your team’s competitive spirit to have them race for the podium.

Go-karting is guaranteed to give your team an adrenaline rush while they use their maneuvering skills to conquer the track. With lots of laughs along the way, camaraderie among your team will be at a record high after this activity.

Although this activity sounds like a high-risk, high-reward experience, you don’t have to worry. Novice drivers will have an introductory class, and everyone will be safe and sound with the protection gear on offer. This winding 900-meter course is perfect for those thrill-seekers in the company. Go, go, go!

8. Rafting in Florence: see the city of architecture from a new perspective

Location: Florence
Duration: 2-3 hours
Group Size: max 20
Budget: $$$
Book now

Bonding at happy hour is one thing, bonding over a rafting experience through the history-rich city of Florence, is a whole new level.

With this activity, your team will be able to enjoy Florence from a different angle while they paddle in unison with their colleagues through the city’s scenic River Arno.

Without being too physically demanding, you’ll get your team moving while enjoying some major landmarks—like the Pontevecchio bridge, the Uffizi Gallery, and much more through the city’s iconic waterway.

During this tour, your team will learn how to raft while taking in the history and art of this world-famous city. All participants are provided with a life vest, a paddle, and a waterproof camera bag. A guaranteed splashing time.

9. Paint and sip wine: indulge in one of Rome’s favorite pastimes

Location: Rome
Duration: 2.5 hours
Group Size: max 16
Budget: $$
Book now

It’s time to give Michelangelo a run for his money. In a stunning 17th-century art studio located in the heart of Rome, you’ll get to create your own masterpiece.

Guided by experienced art teachers, sipping Italian wines, and enjoying some locally-sourced gourmet cheese and prosciutto, your team will have the freedom to paint and create, both individually and collaboratively.

They’ll be supplied with all that’s necessary. Even complete beginners who have never held a brush before will be able to take home an original painting to hang up in their house–or office—serving as a lovely reminder of an activity that brought laughter and filled them with renewed creative inspiration.

As the saying goes: ‘when in Rome… sip some wine and paint some art.’ Or something like that.

10. Wine-tasting in a farmhouse: vai for vino surrounded by the Italian countryside

Location: Near Milan
Duration: 1-2 hours
Group Size: 10-100
Budget: $$
Book now

Wine-tasting in an Italian Farmhouse–what’s not to love? Even better; this event adds a little bit of healthy competition to your typical wine-tasting experience. Como?

Your team will experience a wine-tasting class with a sommelier and indulge in some tastings to warm up their palate. Next, each team will be given a mystery wine–can they guess what it is? The winning team gets a special reward, and winner or not; everyone walks out with a participation diploma, because it’s always the taking part that counts.

This is a unique activity to experience great Italian wines, with a side of team building to hit your offsite goals. This experience is perfect as an icebreaker for new team members–they’ll get to know each other fast and in comfort with such an intimate setting.

Create a stress-free team-building experience thanks to TravelPerk

From the United States to Brazil to Mexico, no matter where you are around the world, Italy is always a great idea for a unique team-building experience. Take the hassle out of team trips with a corporate travel solution: TravelPerk.

Get your in-office and remote teams to travel, enjoy a truly memorable corporate team-building event and create relationships that were seemingly impossible in the office or over Slack.