Italy tour, sightseeing & restaurant suggestions Please
 

Hello! We are a family of 6 kids ranging from 8,16,19 &22. We have our itinerary and lodging complete- now to finalize some tours, things to see and places to eat. Not too lengthly of tours- unless super engaging. We are not typically museum goers, but are not against it. More active, into nature and history too. We are not picky eaters.

-Arriving in Venice 6/17- looking for suggestions cool places to check out and dinner suggestions.

-We will have a rental car on 6/20 &21 to explore Tuscany and visit Pisa. We have a request to walk to the top of Pisa- I looked at their site but tickets are not available yet for those dates- does anyone know how/when tickets are released?
Those dates are available to book a tour from a 3rd Party but the cost is much more significant. Any recommendations from those who have done just the self guided walk up the tower vs a guided tour?
Winery suggestions? We will be staying in Marti.

-We have 6/25 penciled in for a tour of the Colosseum. So many different options- it’s overwhelming! What’s the suggestions? I’m curious if the Arena floor is extra special or touched upon on other tour options. Do most book through viator?
Reataurant suggestions in Rome? Also thinking about a cooking class one evening as possibility of a dinner? Recommendations?

-We will be attempting to relax a bit in Amalfi. 6/28-7/1. A trip to Capri was requested. Should we take the ferry to Capri and explore? Charter a boat for touring and explore Capri separately?
Dinner recommendations also please.

Thank you so much!!
suggestions appreciated!!

I see there were no responses to this and am hoping for the same answers. Will be going to Italy in April and there are hundreds of tour operators!! Need tour guide suggestions for the Colosseum and Vatican. A guide that will take us to those less-seen places, not something I can do just walking around with headphones.
Thanks all!!

Would like to hear how this turned out. I wonder if they are all still talking to each other...any divorces? How did it go? Nothing like a European trip with Mom and Dad and six kids ages ranging from 8 to 22! The inevitable horror stories later become funny stories around the holiday table. We hauled five kids around Europe, could not afford it but we did it anyway.... Best decision ever, great memories.

I'm with wildiowa. The pace of the OP's trip with that many people sounded like a Chevy Chase family vacation movie. What can go wrong?

Anyway, in answer to a couple of questions that were raised by elissamoore...

It appears that tickets to climb the Leaning Tower are available 3 months in advance. Checking the website today (Jan. 15), tickets are available through April 15, and lots of time slots are available that day. I assume that tomorrow the tickets for April 16 will be available. Etc. I don't see any reason to take a tour. Read the webpage carefully for guidelines and suggestions for your visit.

https://www.opapisa.it/en/

The Colosseo is very interesting and usually pretty crowded. Which tour depends a bit on your level of interest in the Colosseo and on how much time you want to devote to this one sight in a city that is overwhelming in interesting sightseeing options. I don't know what the "less-seen" places are. If you are very interested in art, a guided tour of the Vatican would be enjoyable. My only gripe with tours is that you move at the pace of the tour which can be faster or slower than you might prefer. If your time in Rome is limited, you might want to focus on only certain things in the Vatican rather than trying to see it all. For me, one of the most interesting things we saw/did in Vatican City was take the Scavi Tour of excavations under St. Peter's.

https://www.scavi.va/content/scavi/en/prenotazione.html

elissamoore mentioned Capri. The ferry service is good, and if you have the money a private boat charter is great (although perhaps not "great" in April). You can see a lot of the island in a day trip, but you'd obviously see a lot more if you spent a night or two on the island.

For Capri, I preferred visiting the island itself and especially Anacapri to being on the water, although that reaction may be because I was already spending time on the water to get to and from Capri. YMMV.

The Tombs and the museum in Tarquinia
https://flic.kr/p/7pip8o

https://flic.kr/p/7pip3w

The Bomarzo garden of monsters

https://flic.kr/p/7pirfU

Orvieto for its cathedral and double helix well

https://flic.kr/p/7pezBg

https://flic.kr/p/7pituE

I've been to Venice a couple dozen times, always enjoyed staying on Lido because that's where Italian families go for vacation, and it is 15 minutes from San Marco, but it is a friendly Italian resort feel. But this last time was an odd waylay - - hadn't planned to go into Venice, but due to flight bollocks-ups wound up with an evening there, and this was great: if you walk from the train station Venice Santa Lucia, all the way round through Cannaregio till you get over to Rialto, and then San Marco, there is this big wide pedestrian arc called Strada Nova. Gets a bit commercial on Strada Nova, but hidden further outside Strada Nova is a cool, bar-hopping, restaurant bespattered, and really pretty, pretty stretch: Fondamenta de la Miseracordia. This is away from the tourist slog, seems populated by people who like nice tasty things and a relaxed vibe - - a really rare, and still classicly beautiful area of Venice.

Just FYI, I'm pretty sure the OP [elissamoore] took her trip last June. Poster cheezz resurrected the thread seeking "the same answers" and to ask about tours of the Colosseo and the Vatican.

Good catch, Jean! Let's hope someone, perhaps cheezz, finds the thread useful.

Life marches on, doesn't it.

I was surprised there were no responses to the original post, and I felt a bit bad for elissamoore. I was on a trip at that time, so I'm not surprised I missed it.