Liadan

Hi everyone!

We have just booked a 6-night trip to Rome in February with our kids, who will be 11 and 6 at the time.

As background, DH and I have been to Rome once 3 years ago. The kids have not been to Rome, but we took a Scandinavia/Russia cruise over the summer and we've also been to the UK. I would gauge their tolerance for museums/ruins at maybe the high end of average for their ages. I have a minor in art history (which is a totally weak qualification), and I think it helps that I can weave a bit of a story or give some background to things.

My questions are: What would be a great experience in Rome for the kids? Where are parks or piazzas where we can just kind let them play? (They LOVED Museumplein in Amsterdam) My eldest is a bit of a catastrophist so I'm thinking he would be impressed by Pompeii/Vesuvius--is that worth a day trip? I'm mentally planning to splurge on 1-2 tours... maybe a food tour? Colosseum tour? Pompeii tour? Any advice or tips at all would be very appreciated!

We definitely are not going to try and see it all. I would say we want to balance seeing stuff with plenty of free time for the kids.

Thank you for reading!

Ackislander

Colosseum, Forum, Capitoline Museum, the wall with the mouth you put your hand into, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, St Peter's (the Basilica, not the museums) and Castel St Angelo.

Buy them lots of gelato and Roman style pizza (like flatbread).

Pray hard that it is not bitterly cold and rainy. It isn't likely to be, but it can certainly be.

That is a pretty good age for children to travel. The older one will remember everything, the 6 year old will have memories.

Liadan

Thanks Ackislander! I'm prepared for the hardship of lots of gelato. We want to introduce them to real hot chocolate, too.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely keep my fingers crossed for decent weather. Last trip, it was mid-50sF and a bit windy but completely doable. I did just pick up some new lightweight down puffer coats for the kids just in case.

Blueeyedcod

A Pompeii day trip is possible. It's just a bit over an hour on the train from Rome to Naples, then you travel onward to Pompeii on the local train which takes about 50 minutes. An alternative - meaning an ancient Roman town is Ostia Antica which is on the outskirts of Rome, so not as laborious a trip in the winter. This video gives a snapshot of the site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XLChHJ6lSw

The Villa Borghese is 'Rome's lungs' - an enormous park where you can hire bikes and even little boats. It also contains the Borghese Gallery which contains some of the greatest Renaissance works of all time. I love going to the gallery and then taking a bike ride afterward. The park also contains a zoo. If you wish to see the gallery you need to book ahead and visits are limited to two hours. This little video from Rick Steves may help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT-08urKawo

There are tons of other things for kids, such as the display inside Palazzo Valentini.


http://www.palazzovalentini.it/en/

Finally, I love the Capitoline Museums and so do my sons, who are a bit older than yours.
http://en.museicapitolini.org/

Henry

liadan,
This may give you some ideas http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...o-and-rome.cfm

sandralist

If your eldest is fascinated by catastrophe, then I think Pompei is worth the train trip down and back. Ostia Antica was mainly abandoned, not annihilated. If your youngest is prone to nightmares or easily alarmed, thn read up a bit on the site beforehand and figure out if there is anything you might want to avoid and what to say as you tour. (And don't let them read "Dog of Pompei" before you go. It's devastating!)

Even though your kids are fine with museum going, if you and your husband have already seen mega-sites like the Vatican and the Forum up close and personal, you might skip those in favor of more easily conquired and digestible sites that can convey the same history or over the top art and architecture. Underground crypts, wildly painted ceilings, multi-layered ruins like Portico d'Ottavia, the amazing fascination of the Pantheon, the cat sanctuary (even the cats go back to Roman empire times) might be the way to go. I've seen lists on line of less-crowded places that are still huge wows. If I can dig one up, I'll come back and post a link.

Maybe piazza Navona, small as it is, can work as fun place to be outdoors, especially if they undestand that the piazza at times was filled with water to stage fake naval battles. If you like, the adults can park themselves at a pricey piazza-side cafe while the kids tear around. If the family likes bike riding, consider the via Appia. The variety of fountains in Rome is very amusing to me, and visiting many and studying them, and understanding the importance of water to the ancient historic city, can be a way of organizing sightseeing along that theme.

If you go to the Borghese Gardens, look up the electric bus route from there to Trastevere. If it is cold and the kids are tired, bus and tram rides through the eternal city have their fascinations. (One of the most thrilling bus rides in Rome is the one that whirls around the Colosseum on the way to the Baths of Caracalla.

Sun sets fairly early in February so maybe an after-dark taxi ride that does a whizzy loop of the top iconic sights would be fun -- dropping you off finally at the Trevi Fountain. The city is amazingly lit at night but walking around in February can be cold and tough if you've been at it all day. Don't know how much such a taxi tour would cost.

nytraveler

They would probably love Pompeii (you can pick up a guide at the gate) - but it makes for a long day trip. You might want to consider Ostia Antica, which has very substantial ruins and is only about 30 minutes from Rome by train, which would be an easier trip with kids.

I second Borghese gardens - but many of the piazzas can make an impromptu playground - and identifying figures in the fountain sculptures can be fun for kids.

I also think the forum can be fun - to give them some idea of how huge ancient rome was - and how advanced (apartment buildings, huge baths, indoor plumbing).

sandralist

I meant to include a recommendation that you definitely take them to Palazzo Spada

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Spada

Try this instead of the Sistine Chapel:
http://www.baldhiker.com/2013/04/16/...ius-of-loyola/

Instead of the Galleria Borghese, I'd be tempted to substite the converted power plant of Centrale Montemartini, crammed with gigantic Roman-empire statuary. (Might even sub it for the Capitoline)

http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/ce...ntemartini.htm

Maybe a brief food tour might be fun if it goes to Testaccio, where they could see the broken amphorae and eat cheese at Volpetti.

Not all of these are for kids, but some might be fun

http://www.eurocheapo.com/blog/4-com...s-of-rome.html

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/ro...articles/77005

Also wanted to toss in my 2 cents that I didn't find the interior of Castel Sant'Angelo to be of gripping interest, but if the kids want to race to the top and see the view, sure.

sandralist

Finallly (and I really will stop after this), your kids could get a word or their names or such carved in marble on the via Margutta to take home with them (but they have to agree ahead of time to tote in their suitcases themselves!)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...ome_Lazio.html

http://www.travelagencytribes.com/tr...=25cz4r2icxo02

http://www.afar.com/places/bottega-del-marmoraro-roma

Saraho

Great suggestions!

Liadan

Thank you for all your replies! I got swallowed by Christmas but thankfully it's time to move on!!

I think we'll go forward with the idea of going to Pompeii as long as the weather doesn't look miserable. My catastrophe-loving kid also loves trains, too. So it'll be fun for him, and my daughter will have a good time.

My daughter would love the cat sanctuary! She's an animal lover.

It sounds like we can make a great afternoon at Borghese. If we plan things right, maybe the kids can run off some energy and we can visit the gallery. I doubt we could spend the whole 2 hours we'd be allotted, but that's ok. DH and I have been before. I'd just love for the kids to see that Bernini statue of Apollo & Daphne.

Palazzo Spado looks great! I'd love to do that just for me. I've put that on the list.

We're going to reread the Greek Mythology book we read to the youngest and try to give them some Roman history in small doses. Last week we had a great talk about Caesar, Cleopatra, and Antony. The kids were engaged and asking questions, and it made me glad we decided to take this trip with them.

HENRY--Your trip report was so wonderful. You're a writer for sure. My father has had similar "pay up and shut up" comments to make about my wedding. And my husband has already uttered almost identical sentiments at The American Girl Doll store. On our last trip to Italy 3 years ago, we had a wonderful day in Siena. I hope we can get back up that way next time. Thank you for sharing!

mama_mia

From your studies of Julius Caesar, you may be aware that he was supposedly assassinated in the Curia of Pompey, which is believed to be in the Torre Argentina, where you will also find the cat sanctuary.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1010102158.htm

I would think that the aqueducts and fountains of Rome would also be of interest to children. Although ancient Rome was reliably fed by several aqueducts, during the middle ages, water sources had fallen into disrepair. The discovery of ancient texts that fueled the Renaissance art and thinking also contained information on the Roman water system. Some of the aqueducts were then revived and new ones built under Popes and civic officials of the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

To point to these civic achievements, monuments known as mostre or show fountains were built. The Trevi Fountain is one of these. It is the mostra fountain for the Aqua Vergine (the Roman Aqua Virgo). Although it provided great tasting water, it had a low flow, hence the design of some of the fountains served by it. (For example, check out the Fontana della Barcaccia, whose unique design can be partly explained by the low water pressure.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontana_della_Barcaccia

The same waters feed the Fontana della Tartarughe, one of the most charming in Rome.

I wish I could point you to a good book, but you might find the following sites helpful:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient...aqueducts.html
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/waters/

Liadan

Thanks mama mia! I didn't know that was his probable assassination site, and that article was great. This will be a perfect stop.

My boy has some real engineering tendencies so I think it's very likely he'll be interested in aqueducts. We have talked a bit about Roman roads and how they built their empire. I need to work on developing 1-3 minute macro level explanations of things.

We went to a bookstore today and the kids found an Italian phrase book that they're incredibly excited about. They REALLY want to ignore the pronunciation guides and just apply English phonics to it all, but we'll keep working on it.

sandralist

It is really easy to use google translate to type in any Italian word like "buongiorno" and then hit the little icon for a "speaker" in the box under the word and hear the pronunciation of the word on the screen. They would probably find learning Italian pronunciation more fun listening to it. I myself could never stand to look at pronunciation transliterations. "bwon-zhoor-noh just confuses me --- still! -- even though I know how to pronounce correctly "buongiorno".

https://translate.google.com/#it/en/buongiorno

sandralist

(By the way, if your kids walk into a cafe in the morning and say "buongiorno" to the staff, the staff will talk up a storm to them. I'm sure you have heard that Italians adore chidlren, and adore them all the more if visiting children are willing to use Italian)

bvlenci

My granddaughter got very interested in mythology from reading a series of children's books about a modern teenager who's really an ancient Greek hero. (His name is Percy something.) Anyway, her interest in mythology got her very excited by the National Roman Museum at Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. This museum has a world-class collection of ancient sculpture, as well as mosaics, rare wall frescoes, household artifacts (including a well-presevered drinking glass), jewelry, and coins.

There's even a mysterious mummy in the museum, a little girl who was mummified in the Egyptian fashion. The rest of her family in the tomb was buried in the Roman fashion. No one knows why, but I suspect that she died shortly after the family moved to Rome from Egypt, and that by the time the rest of them died, the family had become Romanized. Similarly, in an old cemetery in Pennsylvania Dutch country, I noticed that the little children's graves had tombstones in German, but their parent had tombstones in English.

I was afraid that my granddaughter (who was 9 at the time) would be afraid of the mummy, but she wanted to see it. The child was buried with her doll, which my granddaughter found very poignant, but not scary.

My granddaughter first visited this museum when she was about five or six, and loved it so much that she's asked to see it on later visits. She especially liked the jewelry on her first visit.

Another museum that my granddaughter really enjoyed was the Doria Pamphilj Gallery, a splendid Renaissance palazzo still owned, and partially inhabited, by descendants of the powerful Doria Pamphilj family, with many rooms maintained in period style, as well as the family's art collection. There is an excellent audio tour, narrated by a member of the family. My granddaughter (8 at the time) had to be torn away from the place, wanting to hear every single explanation on the audio tour.

My granddaughter also loved the Villa Farnesina, a Renaissance villa set in a lovely garden. The interior has several rooms with frescoes, including some by Raphael. This is in Trastevere, and just across the street is the Corsini Gallery, a small museum with a world-class collection of paintings belonging to the Corsini family. You can see both in a few hours, and both are very reasonably priced, so that you can visit both for less than what many single museums would cost.

I once took my adolescent nieces to Ostia Antica, and they loved that experience. They sat on the seats in the ancient amphitheatre, stood behind the ancient bar pretending to serve drinks, and even sat on the seats of the ancient Roman public toilet (which they weren't supposed to do!). We climbed up to the second floor of an ancient apartment building and looked out the window at a well-preserved Roman street. Ostia doesn't have the dramatic story of Pompeii, but in some ways it's a more typical Roman city. It was very cosmopolitan; there are remains of a Christian basilica, a Jewish synagogue, pagan temples, a Mithraen temple, and many other artifacts of an ancient port city, with people from all over the empire.

Another thing that I know kids enjoy is the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Piazza del Popolo, just below the Pincian overlook in the Villa Borghese gardens. It has working models of his inventions, including many that can be operated by the visitor.

maxima

Your children may enjoy reading :

City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction
by David Macaulay
This is probably best for your older child.

Pompeii...Buried Alive! (Step into Reading)
by Edith Kunhardt Davis
for young readers..it is hard to find children's books about Pompeii

your family may like

Mission Rome: A Scavenger Hunt Adventure (Travel Book For Kids) by Catherine Aragon































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Pompeii...Buried Alive! (Step into Reading) Paperback – October 12, 1987

by Edith Kunhardt Davis

Liadan

sandralist: We make them learn hello, goodbye, please, thank you, etc just basic words in the language of whatever country we visit. They usually aren't shy but I'm hoping they will make an effort to talk to people. It definitely helps if people respond to them.

bvlenci: Thank you so much for your suggestions! I think my daughter might really like the palazzos. We visited Yusupov Palace in St Petersburg, and she really liked seeing the house but was a bit scared of the wax figures. She's brought up the house and the story several times so it seems to have made an impression on her.

maxima: Thank you for the books! We have Pompeii: Buried Alive! from my eldest reading it a few years ago. But both my kids love scavenger hunts and I'm going to check for that one, too!

There's a 2014 movie called Pompeii that's rated PG 13. I'm thinking we might try it with the almost 11-year-old and see if it would be too much for my younger one.

Liadan

Maxima: I bought the Mission Rome book as well as a Lonely Planet guide geared toward kids called Not For Parents Rome. The kids and I started looking over the Mission book, and it's really cute. It tells the kids they're secret agents (mine picked code names Kitten and Wizard) and explains the missions and a point system. Really cool.

I'll do more a review after we come back in case the information is helpful to anyone else.

Thank you again for the suggestions!!

maxima

You're welcome! I am sure you will all have a really memorable vacation.