We're traveling with a family of 6-8 people in early Sep. Our plan is to fly into Rome and spend a total of 12 days touring Rome, Tuscany, and Florence.

Could really use help and advice on the following issues (doing quite a bit of research myself but advice from people that have been to Italy before would certainly be helpful).
- Apartments/Homes: Any website or locations you could recommend we stay in. Want to keep it affordable so multiple hotel rooms per night wont really work.
- How to Divide Time: What would be a good way to split the 12 days across the 3 regions?
- Traveling between regions: With such a large group, would we be better off renting cars as opposed to going by train? Especially if we want to tour Tuscany.
- Any other tips/considerations.

Thanks in advance.

I don't see a subscribe button so I'll put a useless reply in here so hopefully I'll get emailed on replies. I'm traveling to Italy/France in September with wife and 4 kids (3-14) in September and am interested as well.

Yes I don't think these forums let you know when someone has responded... which is sort of strange. I say for a large group, especially in Tuscany, you want a villa and or an apartment in Florence (or two) that fits everyone. Of course then you have to make your own breakfast - but you also can cook if you want. This site has many villas in the countryside of Tuscany: http://www.tuscanyrentdirect.com/

With that many people public transportation - especially trains and longer hauls - does get expensive. If anyone has enough experience or is willing to drive, I would suggest a minivan for part of the journey that you can all get in to. Otherwise it sounds like 2 cars.

I would split you time - maybe 4 or 5 days in Rome with taxis, buses, and on foot, and then rent a minivan and spend the rest in Tuscany (Florence is a city in Tuscany). Staying outside of Florence, maybe somewhere between Siena and Florence, will put you an hours drive (more or less) to Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Gaiole, Lucca, Montepulciano, etc. etc. etc. Almost everything you would want to see. You can park in Florence outside the ZTL in a garage or up at the Piazzale Michelangelo on the days you want to visit there, or go to a nearby train station and take the train in.

First of all, it's good to hear that you are coming to Tuscany and I hope you have a nice time around here. I'll try to answer all your questions:

- Divide time: 3 days in Rome, 3 days in Florence and 6 days in the countryside of Tuscany (you could base your family in Cortona or Lucca, for example).

- Traveling between regions: you could rent a big car or a mini van with a driver. The driver can pick you up at the Rome airport or at your Rome hotel and bring all of you here to Tuscany. I cannot give you any names or recommend companies, but you can write "driver in Tuscany" on Google. Probably a car will be less expensive and more comfortable for a big family like yours.

- Are you a family with kids? In this case I suggest you visit the Galileo museum, there is a very practical guided tour: your children are going to have the possibility to touch a Galileo telescope, they can change lenses of the telescope and will be able to understand how far the human eyes could go when Galileo was living, for example. Search "Florence for Family".

- Other tips for family with kids: Pinocchio Park – Collodi, Pistoia Zoo, Acqua Village, Cavallino Matto, See the dolphins in Viareggio.

If you have other questions, just ask us.

I would personally do the following - Rent a house or large apartment in the Tuscany area for 7 days. If I was you, I'd go right up to the Tuscany area and spend those days and would day trip from there to Florence, Pisa, Siena and other towns. The final 4-5 days, I'd go and spend it in Rome. This will allow you to maximize your time efficiently - since I'm guessing you'd be leaving from Rome. This way you dont have to leave Florence/Tuscany - scury back to Either the night before or that morning to catch a plane. With my plan you only need to change accommodations 1 time.

I also would suggest staying outside of Florence. If you do this, I would suggest renting a car or picking a town that you can get to a train station easily which will allow you to not rent a car.

You may want to check out a place like this (near florence 13km and only 1km from the bus which takes you into Florence)

http://www.greve-in-chianti.com/albereto.htm

I would spend a minimum of three to four full days in Rome. You didn't give an indication of your budget which would be helpful. We had very good luck renting through realrome.com and this agency's apartments are very reasonable. You might consider renting two apartments in one building/area to get enough space for the family.

www.TuscanyNow.com villavacations.com or slowtrav.com have villa's for rent and the companies reliable. Early September, you may still want A/C. Richard

Yes, check out www.slowtrav.com. Lots of valuable information there about self-catering accommodations, especially in Italy. Including reviews of rentals and rental agencies.

I prefer renting from an agency because I can use a credit card and because an agency, to stay in business, must rent good places. If the rental is not as advertised, I can dispute my credit card charge.

With so many people, instead of staying in Florence, consider renting in the Tuscan countryside and doing one or more daytrips into Florence. Find a town that has good public transportation (bus or train) into Florence. Examples are Arezzo and Siena.

You will probably need a villa for that many people, and will probably need a car to get to and from the villa. Better 2 cars. That gives you more flexibility and smaller cars are easier to drive in small Italian hilltowns. As opposed to a single big people mover.

Pick up the cars after Rome and drop them off before you return.

Thanks to everyone for all the info. I've done quite a bit more research and have planned the following itinerary

4 days in Rome
3 days staying in Sienns but visiting some other towns
4 days in Florence including day trips to Cinque Terre and Pisa

Managed to find apartments that house 8 in both Rome and Florence. Less than EUR 300 per night which we thought was quite reasonable.

Still looking for places to stay in Siena. Looking to stay in the city so everything is close by. I'm not sure I'll be able to find an apartment so will look at B&Bs.

I think we'll mostly travel by train but I heard Rome to Siena might be better by bus and some of the towns in Chianti don't have train service.

For day trips to Cinque Terre we'll rent a bus and a driver...