westcoastgal67

As you can see, we have a mixture of ages and interests. We are just beginning to plan our trip to Italy in May 2015. I am looking for any tips you are willing to provide. My top questions would be:
1. What exactly should we see? The young adults will be with us for 10 days, then we will continue on our own for another 10 with the 5 year old. We don't want to rush our trip, so have to narrow it down from the 5 cities we have (Venice, Rome, Florence, Sora (my husband's birth town) and Positano).
2. I am thinking we should be looking for apartments rather than hotels. Is airbnb the best resource for this?
3. Any other advice you can provide us for this type of group would be appreciated!

sandralist

It varies from town to town as to whether Airbnb is the best resource for apartments. Most of Italy has a very well established and wide selection of apartment rentals that pre-dates the creation of Airbnb.

The real issue, as I see it, is whether the young adults want to go to Sora. It sounds like a perfect place for you and your husband and 5 year old to spend at least half of the 10 days you will be in Italy after others have left.

If I were the dictator of this this trip, I would probably have everybody fly into Venice for 3 nights, and spend the next 7 days in an apartment with Rome with a day trip to Florence. Then the young adults fly home while the core travelers head off to Sora for 5 days with a car to explore, and then I would drive to Positano, and ultimately to Rome. (Actually, I would go to Sperlonga in Lazio with a 5 year old, not Positano).

But if your young adults are wild to see Positano, maybe the way to do the trip is to fly to Rome and get a van to take you all to Positano for 3 days, then head up to Rome for 7 days with a day trip to Florence. Then you go off to Sora for 5 days, but return to Rome to take the train to Venice, and fly home from there.

If it is really important for the young adults to see something of Sora, it probably can be done as a day trip from Rome, but I still think it would be a great place to spend many days with a 5 year old. Looks like a charming place to go even without a 5 year old.

vincenzo32951

Re apartments: I don't know if there's a "best" source. We've used VRBO.com and had good success. There are many others. If you Google "apartment rentals in [insert city name]," you'll get plenty of info. Often, owners advertise on more than one site, so you'll see some overlap. VRBO has reviews of each place, which helps. Also, TripAdvisor has a review section for vacation rentals that's helpful.

With the larger group, it may be a little difficult to find one place that can accommodate the whole group. You may want to look at two nearby places or two in the same building. That can be a bit of a challenge in a place like Rome. Of course, it will be easier when your group shrinks.

Your post is a little confusing to me because I don't quite understand what cities are a priority with the young adults. Or maybe they're leaving it up to you?

Me? With the group, I'd fly into Venice, stay there maybe 3 days. Then to Florence for 3 days with a possible day trip to Siena, and then Rome for 3 days. Then you and the young adults presumably part ways. That will leave you with 10 days to explore Sora, the Amalfi Coast, and maybe another locale of your choosing. You can look for open-jaw tickets that allow you to fly out of another city besides Rome, unless you really want to go back there.

Positano is great but will be a bit of a challenge with a 5-year-old: lots of steps.

sandralist

It is not hard to find apartments in Rome, Florence, Venice and Positano that have 3 or 4 bedrooms, and which sleep as many as 10 people if they include sofa beds and bunk beds. Sometimes the easiest way to search for large apartments is to do google searches for each destination using the search terms "vacation rental apartment three 3 bathrooms" and add the name of the city. Many apartments that sleep 6 adults and 1 child have 2 bathrooms, so you can try those searches too.

An agency in Rome that I like to use is Rome Loft, and they have several comfortably large apartments, in various good locations in Rome, at varying prices:

http://www.romeloft.com/search/?chec...05-09&people=8

sandralist

And here is an agriturismo right outside Sora that could take your whole family.

http://www.italyfarmstay.com/gallery/gallery.html

sandralist

I happened to notice that this agriturismo includes on its website step-by-step on how to get to Sora from Rome using public transportation in case you want to take a day trip

http://www.italyfarmstay.com/where/where.html

But honestly, after looking through the website at reading about the meals they serve and homemade wine, and the animals on the organic farm, I hope your entire family can stay there for at least a few days. I personally would easily cut one or two destinations from your list to spend time near the ancestral home and experience both small town life and the traditional farm life. It can be an extraordinarily eye opening experience of Italy and the world.