Italy/Greece with kids
 

Hi there,
We are trying to plan a two week trip. Since my kids finish history with the fall of the Roman Empire this year, we thought it would be great to plan a trip to see some of those places (Coliseum, Acropolis, etc...) and a bit of a vacation as well. Thinking of Rome & southern Italy, plus a day or two in Athens, plus a few days on a Greek island.
Early June, so it is the height of tourist season, but we have to work around school...
1) any recos for "must sees" in that region of Italy
2) best Greek island? Would like to avoid Santorini, given the height of tourist season
3) any other tidbits of advice, places to avoid, etc...
this is our first time to both places. While I would love to see more of Italy, and the Greek islands trying to be reasonable with time. Kids will be 12 & 9 at time of trip
Thanks much!!

Do not try to do both.
You do not have time to do justice to either.

Early June is not the height of the tourist season — that would be the last half of July through August. Santorini will be busy with cruise ships, but other islands like Naxos and Paros will be quiet.

is there a special reason that you want to go to greece? if not, it would be easier to go from rome to an italian coastal area (if you like the water or swimming)...

you could go, for instance, to sorrento (and easily to capri, if you want an island)... from sorrento, you could visit Paestum or Pompeii. (they probably studies Pompeii this year, too.

getting from rome to greece -- i assume you would fly. athens is a great city and the kids would probably love it, but it's too much to try to get to an island as well within this time frame, imo. or you could fly directly from rome to a greek island and skip athens?

If you are interested in the classics you will want to see the Greek (and Roman) ruins in Athens. There is no need to add a Greek island, but if you really want to, there are islands in the Saronic Gulf, e.g. Aegina, easy to reach on a day trip from Athens.