jamierin

Hello,

Family of four staying a week in Chianti area this summer at a place in the countryside (near Tavarnelle val di Pesa).

We plan on taking it slowly this week, but of course, want to do some touring around.

So far, my ideas include:

Day trip to Volterra for the medieval festival; *

Day trip to San Gimignano to do the tower(s), have some lunch and will do this mid-week - perhaps their market day (Thursday?);

Pasta making class one morning near our apartment, and lunch there as well, *

A trip along the old Chianti road, stopping here and there, with a destination of Il Mulino b+b to have lunch and use their wonderful pools, *

Siena for a day trip; *

Lucca for a day trip.

This would cover 6 full days. We may not do it all, but I have added stars to the things that I am pretty sure about.

Any comments would be appreciated, further suggestions, etc. to enrich the experience. We may not do Florence this trip, unless we cut out Lucca, which is a possibility. Don't scold me for this. My kids will go back to Italy one day and will probably have Florence on their "to do" lists.

We will be coming from Rome and I anticipate that Rome will be tiring so I want to enjoy this time, not rush through just ticking off boxes.

Thanks

raincitygirl

Sounds great! How old are your kids?
When you go to Lucca you might want to rent bikes and ride around the top of the city wall. We did this and it was really fun. It is so wide at the top it's as if you are on a big boulevard.

If you want a fabulous restaurant for lunch or dinner in Chianti I recommend Ristoro di Lamole. Great food, super nice people and a lovely view from their terrace. It is in a little village (Lamole) way up a narrow, twisting road, but worth the drive. I think from Greve it took us about 20 to 30 minutes to drive up.

Jean

I'm not a big fan of Lucca, so it would probably drop off my to-do list. Florence is my favorite, but I wouldn't go there in high summer with kids. I think your kids would probably like another day in the pool.

Will you be there at the same time as Siena's Palio (July 2, August 16)?

Sounds like a great trip!

jamierin

My kids are 11 and 14 and are fairly easy-going travellers. The 11 year old is especially interested in "seeing the world" and has a travel bug (like his mother).

Most people that know we are going to Italy with the kids looked at me at first like I was from Mars for taking them on such a trip. Travelling with them adds a new dimension to the trip and seeing places through a child's eyes is often very enlightening.

Thanks for the restaurnt recommendation in Lamole. It sounds amazing and has been on many lists for dining in Tuscany. Would you do it for lunch?

jamierin

Hi Jean,

We miss Pailo by 9 days but are just in time for the Volterra festival which sounds wonderful.

cboris

bookmarking

jamierin

Oh and I forgot to mention that I need to find a place between Rome and our rental for the Saturday that we arrive.

Thinking Orvieto for lunch or somewhere near-ish to Montepulciano. We can cut off the A-1 near there and see this part of Tuscany, because we won't get that far south afterwards.

Jean

Where are you picking up the car?

The kids would probably like Orvieto. Ride the funicular up to the town. Take the underground tour.

capxxx

Pisa seems an obvious choice -- they've got that leaning tower thing. I would pick it over Lucca, personally.

Our two boys (8 and 13) enjoyed the Leonardo museum in Vinci -- its a tiny town a few miles west of Florence on the way to Pisa. They've made working models of all the machines and gadgets in Leonardo's notebooks.

If you do go to Florence, the kids might enjoy climbing up inside the dome of the great cathedral, and also exploring the open areas under the floor; climbing the campinile, and seeing the row of sculptures outside the Uffizi.

surfmom

we were just there - kids ages 7, 9, 11years.

kids loved:
- Pisa - my 11yo did a powerpoint presentation on it before we left - made it meaningful and interesting. If you go there, MUST climb to the top!

- San Gimignano - we just wandered the town, climbed a tower, had lunch.

- Lucca - this is where we stayed. Nice little town to come back to at the end of the day. Kids enjoyed renting bikes and riding the walls around the city. In fact, they liked it so much, we went around twice! If had time, would have done it another evening. Would be easy to combine this with climbing the tower at Pisa.

- Vinci - enjoyed the museum, although a bus had just pulled in, so we were stuck behind uninterested kids. We detoured and came back and it was much better. The boy loved it, the girls, not so much.

What about renting bikes or arranging a tour and doing a day of biking? My youngest was too young, but I know they would have loved that...

Are you also doing Florence?

jamierin

@ Jean - We are renting the car in Rome proper, when we leave Rome.

I would love to bike in Tuscany with my husband, but biking with kids seems like a recipe for disaster, with all of the winding roads and summer tourists driving rental cars.

We have bikes at the apartment we are renting and if it looks doable we may try and bike into the small town nearest to us, and certainly on the paths on the property itself. Lucca for biking also seems really great - though when I mentioned this to a friend she said that the walls are so steep that she would be worried about one of the kids going off the edge. I had never heard that before!

Not sure if we are going to visit Florence or Pisa this trip.

Has anyone done Siena with the kids? Wondering what the highlights may be there. I already have a place to eat lunch picked out

raincitygirl

jamierin, in answer to your question about Ristoro di Lamole, we did dinner but our son (14 at the time) opted to stay at the hotel, so we were able to take our time and really enjoy a couple's night out. Lunch is apparently fantastic as well, there was a honeymooning couple at our hotel who did lunch and could not stop raving about it. So maybe with 2 kids I'd choose lunch.

Our son enjoyed climbing one of the towers in San Gimignano and really wanted to climb the tower in Pisa but the line was horrendously long and it was a really hot day so he didn't get to do that. So be prepared in July there will be lots of lines for things.
Everyone has a different preference, personally I much preferred Lucca over PIsa, I did not like all the stalls full of crappy souvenirs and there were masses of people and lots of hawkers and vendors kind of in your face. It was good to see the tower but we were glad to move on pretty quickly.

I don't know why your friend would tell you the walls around Lucca are so steep she'd be afraid your kids would fall off. Nonsense. From the outside, yes, they look very high but once you are there you wouldn't really know you are on a wall in many places, it is super, super wide like a big boulevard, with benches for people to sit, plenty of room for bikers and strollers and dog walkers etc. There were also some restaurants on the outer side.

We had a week in Tuscany also and never did make it into Florence, there were just too many other things to do. I think after spending time in Rome you are smart to do other things and check out some of the smaller places. My son is a history buff and loved Rome but he was exhausted there, he said it wasn't just that his feet hurt, but that his brain hurt from trying to absorb it all.

Something we did that you and your kids might enjoy is go to the beach for the day. A shopkeeper in Rome told me about a beach town called Forte dei Marmi which was kind of in between Pisa and Lucca. On the day we went to Pisa and Lucca we went to Forte dei Marmi to check it out and then returned the following day. We found a nice beach club and after we got over the idea of paying to go to the beach we decided that was the civilized way to go. Especially when you are travelling and don't have all your own beach "accoutrements" with you.
You make a reservation for the day and then you are given an umbrella, your own loungers etc, all set up for you on the beach, waiters come out and you can order food and drinks or you can go into the little restaurant they have, there are washrooms, showers and change rooms. Very enjoyable and civilized. Our son loved that day.

We went to Siena also but we were lucky enough to be there the day they matched the horses and riders for the Palio which was really exciting and fun. Once that was over we basically just wandered, went into the church, had lunch , bought some yummy things from a deli to take back to the hotel. The downside to Siena was that parking was hard to find and we parked near the train station and took a cab into the centre of the city. On the way home we couldn't seem to get a cab so started walking..and walking..and walking...we were lost, I swear we walked for over 2 hours before finding the car. That was a tired and crabby ride back to the hotel!!

Whatever you do jamierin, it will be fun and a great family experience. Enjoy!

TravelsWithGeorge

I took my son to Florence, Pisa and Volterra, he always surprises me, I'm never really sure what will grab him. He did like the leaning tower because it's soooooo famous though I agree, very touristy. Volterra I liked a lot, it's perched on a hilltop, very cool. In Florence, the Bargello and the Museo Galileo (history of science) I thought were great. Sorry, scattered reply, I'm really excited for your trip!

Lexma90

I definitely agree with you feeling that you can't do everything, and there will be some things that your kids may visit when they're adults. But do give some thought to visiting Florence on this trip, depending on the weather.

Our DD, 10yo at the time, really enjoyed her time in Florence. She likes museums, but in addition to that, she loved people-watching at cafes in the piazzas. She also enjoyed listening to and watching the crowds gathered around the mostly-English-speaking street musicians.

When we took her to Italy, we spent our time in rural Italy in the Le Marche region. There are more castles in that part of Italy, which we thought she would enjoy (she did). You might research whether there are any castles that you can visit in Chianti.

Outside of San Gimignano, there are some interesting ruins in the woods, Castelvecchio, which was a fortified village of the middle ages, located outside San Gimignano to the southwest (though more south than west). To get there, we drove south from San G. on the road from San Gimignano to Volterra, and parked in San Donato, a tiny hamlet. We then walked south about .1 mile on the road to a sign marked Cammogio; the sign also says it’s the path to Castelvecchio. It was pretty and remote; it took 35 minutes back, and a bit longer to get there, as it was mostly uphill. The route was up and down, and some parts were steep with loose rocks, though the beginning was on a rough (four-wheel drive) road. But to arrive at the ruins, in the middle of the forest, was magical and just a bit creepy. The fortress at the front, and the church at the rear, are the most still-together (reconstructed by volunteers, possibly?), with walls and bits of wells for many buildings.

You might also consider visiting Volterra. The Etruscan museum is very good, and the Roman amphitheatre just outside the town walls is interesting, too.

LauraLF

Hi Jamierin, we are doing a very similar trip in June. (into Rome for 4 nights then on to Tuscany for 1 week). We are based outside Pienza in Castelmuzio.

I'm curious about the part of your itinerary which states
"A trip along the old Chianti road, stopping here and there, with a destination of Il Mulino b+b to have lunch and use their wonderful pools, *
This sounds really fun....and relaxing! Can you elaborate a bit, I'd love to hear more. We are traveling with our boys age 17 and 14.

BTW, I totally agree with you, traveling with children is a fabulous experience; not only for us as parents, but also in watching them experience the world.

jamierin

Hi Laura,

The place to which I refer is this: http://www.mulinodiquercegrossa.it/.

It is located off S222, just north of Siena.

Take a look at the photogallery and tell me that your kids wouldn't want to spend the afternoon by those pools?!

Have a great trip and please post a report when you are back.

Where are you staying in Rome? I have been researching where to eat with a family and have come up with some good places that I would be happy to share. Let me know which areas you think that you will be in come dinner time and I can give you a couple of suggestions. We are staying near the Pantheon but in August Only time we could travel this school break.

LauraLF

Thanks Jamierin! Wow! Looks like a pretty special place for Mom and Dad too!

We are staying in an apt. off Piazza Navona(via Del Governo Vecchio). I would love to have your recs. for good places to dine with a family. I've been doing some research as well and just downloaded EatRoma app. I'm guessing we'll be in the Campo/Piazza Navona area most nights but we are pretty adventurous and like to check out other neighborhoods as well.

I'll definitely try to get my TR done before August

jamierin

Oh - that is great! I heard that is the best street! Did you book thought sleepinitaly ( I noticed that they have a great apartment on that street) or through someone else?

Off the top of my head (and I will post more later when I have time) I have read about La Fiammetta (great eggplant parm), Cul de Sac and a place called Tavernetta 48. They all look great.

dugi_otok

jamierin/Laura

We stayed at Il Mulino, including our 7 and 11 year old grandsons, in 2010. They loved the community pools next door.

Siena is well worth a visit. You can climb the tower in the main square (Il Campo).

For the best gelato in Italy stop at Antica Delizia
http://www.anticadelizia.it/index.htm
in Castellina. We had a nice dinner in Castellina at a pizza/ristorante named Tre Port.