cindder

Hi, I will be traveling to Italy. With. My 4 children (ages 12,11, 11 and 6). We are trying to make this an educational trip fort he, so we are thinking about going to Rome, Venice ..maybe Florence. Can anyone recommend places to stay that would be economical for our whole family? I assume hotels would be costly because of the size of our family.. I as thinking maybe renting a house would be a better option??

Thanks for your help.

Ps
I'm open to itinerary suggestions as well!

Henry

cinder,
This may help http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...o-and-rome.cfm

stevewith

Italians have large families, and they live in apartments in the cities, so you should be able to find a good sized apartment with enough comfortable beds. It gets easier if you are renting for a week at a time, but if you don't have that much time, do google searches for °"short-stay" apartments. Staying in apartments will also help you cut down on restaurant bills.

Given the ages of your kids, i am guessing you are going during summer vacation. If the trip is this summer, you should get busy looking for apartments. You will need air conditioned apartments, not only because of the strong summer heat, but so you can shut the windows against noise and mosquitoes.

It is hard to recommend what might be an ideal itinerary for your family without knowing what kind of experiences you think would be most educational for your kids, and what your kids themselves find engaging when it comes to learning new things. As you can imagine, Italy is overflowing with great historic achievement, and if your kids are curious about how buildings are constructed, or how fresh water was first brought into cities, or how castles protected towns, or marble was quarried and carved, or how musical instruments or mosaics are made, or cheese, or boats or lace or perfume, Italy has all that, and motorcycles too. Italy also has a strong history in the invention of mathematics, medicine, law, map-making and movie making, so if they have burgeoning interests, you can often special places that are famous for just that which they might really appreciate. There are also soccer games in the piazza, public swimming pools, and bike riding they can join.

Kids may be less impressed with popes, dukes, wineries and shopping than their parents are. Most kids find it special that Italian kids get to stay up so late and run around in the public places, near fountains and ice cream parlors. Plus, the afternoon summer heat can make even adults sleepy, so knocking off for a rest in the afternoon and then resuming sightseeing in the evening can be a cooler way to go. The art cities of Italy are beautiful at night, and it can be enjoyable time to walk around, with lots to appreciate.

cindder

Hi, thanks so much for your advice. I am actually thinking of either going in May or in the fall. I want to beat the heat and the crowds ( I'll take them out of school either way). Maybe someone has a good recommendation for a travel agent? Finding a place will be my biggest challenge. Someone also recommended hiring a chef so we don't have to cook. That sounds like a good idea as well. My goal is for the kids to experience living in another country.. We will plan to see some museums but not a lot ( going for the "a-d-d" version). I know kids have short attention spans.

Peter_S_Aus

This place would accomodate your kids, and the local campo is alive with kids in the afternoons once schoo finishes. Buying and cooking food is a geat way to engage with the local culture, instead of hiring a chef.

http://www.vrbo.com/149494

Peter_S_Aus

I should mention that we are staying in http://www.vrbo.com/149494 right now, we've been here for a couple of months, and the description of the apartment is accurate. It's better than the photos indicate.

cindder

This looks beautiful but I need a place that will hold 6-8 people. This is in Venice?

Thanks!

Peter_S_Aus

it would sleep six, with your youngest on a big sized sofa ...

jgg

As others have suggested take a look at VRBO.com for apartments. You should be able to find apts that will fit all of you. We just stayed in this apt. in Rome (Trastevere neighborhood) and we were 6 people. http://www.vrbo.com/442087. We were very pleased with our stay there.

We did our first trip to Italy when the kids were 9 and 12. We did Rome, Venice, Florence and it was a fabulous trip and I think a good way to start with Italy. We did some museums but I tried to pick the real "must sees" and also include other things that would interest them. They loved the trip and we have been traveling the world ever since. Here is a link to my trip report along with pictures:
http://www.fromhometoroam.com/catego...eflorence2005/

stevewith

I think if you can afford it that hiring a cook is a great idea. Even in the cities, the markets close up in midday, and they are not necessarily easy to locate, especially if you are smack dab in the middle of the tourist sights areas. There are very few one-stop shopping supermarkets in Italy.
With all your kids in tow, I doubt you will find it amusing to be making 3 or 4 stops at different shops trying to find all the ingredients for meal making, especially since your apartment is unlikely to be well-stocked staples like sufficient olive oil, etc. I mean, this ought to be a vacation for the parents too!

Another great reason to hire a cook is that to have an Italian cook the local foods for you! It's almost inevitable that if you do your own cooking you'll make your own familiar recipes. But Italians make their own dishes so well -- usually so much better than anything you will eat in restaurants, you will get the real deal.

I think you might be able to find a cook by either posting on the Slow Travel website or contacting some of the people that do food tours of the cities you are going to. For Rome, check out the websites of Elizabeth Minchelli and Rome Digest, and ask them for help in locating a cook. If you go to Florence, then get in touch with Divina Cucina. For Venice, sorry, but I don't have a tip. But people who run cooking schools know cooks, and what might really work instead of a museum day is a morning spent with the cook, touring the markets, learning about foods (and the cook learning about your kids), and coming home that night to a great meal. Italian history is very much tied up with its food. It has been very important to Italians. So it definitely has an educational aspect to know that the Romans ate this or that, or people fought over the land or sea where this food comes from, or how pasta or pizza came to be so important, and why people in Venice don't eat the same "Italian" food as the Romans do.

I agree that you don't need a travel agent to help you find an apartment. Most travel agents don't know anything about apartment rentals. Most of their business today consists of booking large weddings and other group travel, usually at discount hotels far from the sights.

Living in Italy as opposed to America means noticing how hard it is to park a car, how people rest in the middle of the day, how safe it is for everybody to be out and about at night, how Italians care for their history, and how much Italians enjoy group fun, and invite others to join, whether it be in restaurants or games in the piazza. If your kids go to the same places Italian kids go to have fun and play games, they will be invited to join whether everybody speaks the same language or not.

Lisabu

We are traveling to Italy with our four kids this summer. I found apartments in Venice and Rome that sleep six people (4 twin beds for the kids). Both apartments also have terraces.

Rome - www.residenzagiubbonari.com - we are renting the Pink Apt. Campo dei Fiori area

Venice - Homeaway.com #63751. Filippo Gaggia is the owner and he also is affiliated with Views on Venice apartment rentals so I think you could find it either way. This apartment is in the Dorsoduro area.

We have not stayed in these apartments, but I could report back in July. Both owners have been great to work with over the past few months.