looking for a farm, inn or B &B outside of Rome with 3 children
 

Hi! I know this is way in advance but we are traveling to Italy in June 2011 with the family (the girls will be at that time 4, 6 and 10) We are going for 2 weeks and want to stay 1 week outside of Rome and 1 week in Tuscany. The Tuscany part is pretty easy but it seems difficult to find somewhere outside of Rome to stay. We are hoping for a 45 min or less train ride into Rome. Oh and a swimming pool is a must for us (well the girls anyways ;)

My husband and I last traveled to Italy 9 years ago (how can it be that long??) to Santa marguerita, Pienza, Todi and Florence. We really aren't big city people and prefer to stay outside of the cities (we stayed in florence but afterwards wish we had skipped it and gone back to SM ;) We plan on taking the train in 2 or 3 days into Rome in the am....seeing some sights, lunch, relax and then head back to hang out where we are staying (which is kind of what we do here on the weekends..go into Atlanta in the morning, see a museum or 2, lunch and then head back home )

Any ideas of places to stay? I fell in love with one place but they only have double rooms so we would need two and it would be 320 euros a night which is out of our price range (more towards the 200/night would be better)

Thanks in (way!) advance!!! I love being back on the forum boards and seeing some of the people posting who helped me plan our trips years ago :)

Dawn

Fontana del Papa would answer most of yout requirements, but not all. It's an agriturismo in Tolfa, with swimming pool, but it's more than 45 minutes from Rome.

that is exactly the place I fell in love with :( Unfortunately we would need 2 rooms and we can't afford the 320 euros a night (the girls would have LOVED the cooking classes!!!)

But the rate includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, as I read it.

Have a look here:
http://en.agriturismo.it/lazio/index.jsp

You can choose the amenities you want (e.g., swimming pool), and it will list those that have it. You don't have to book through the site. Most of the agriturismi have their own sites that you can find through Google.

Have you tried looking on Lago di Bracciano? It has good transport connections to Rome.

http://en.agriturismo-on-line.com/ci...no&IDregione=7

So does the beach town of Fregene.

Also. you can use this website to search specifically for agriturismi with swimming pools in in Latium, including right in the province of Roma:

http://en.agriturismo-on-line.com/ri..._speciali2.cfm

Finally, I don't know if this place would let you put an extra bed in a quad, and whether it is convenient to the Tarquinia train station, but you might check it out, if you can take a 90 minute train ride into the city.

http://www.valledelmarta.it/UpManage...e_list_web.pdf

http://www.valledelmarta.com/

Did you communicate directly with Fontana del Papa?

This place advertises itself to be 30 minutes by bus to the "central station" in Rome, and has a pool, and an apartment that sleeps 6:

http://en.agriturismo-on-line.com/pa...31&IDRegione=7

It got a nice review on Tripadvisor, the above place (Casale Belladonna). Only 45 mins from Rome

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...ECK_RATES_CONT

Finally, if you haven't already been perusing venere, it's got more. I've often found terrific places by googling the lodgings listed as you scroll down the page but which venere doesn't handle the bookings. Those places often have websites.

http://www.venere.com/it/agriturismo/roma/

But if you fell in love with Fontana del Papa and didn't e-mail them directly, I would. It may be that they can't accommodate you in your time frame, but it's worth a try.

Thank you both so much for you help! I liked the look of Casale Belladonna and another I found on a site suggested by you that has a kids play area

http://www.agriturismo.it/ValleSiriaca/enindex.asp

Now the HUGE problem is airfare (granted I'm not buying it yet since it is for 2011!) I did a search pretending I was going this June and the price for 5 of us was $8000!!!! When my husband and I used to travel to Europe (be it 10 years ago) we would go for less than $300 each!!! Is $1500 the normal rate now????? One of the travel books I got from the library said rates are generally $900-$1500..UGH!

Thanks so much again :)

What city are you flying from?

June and Rome for five people are unlikely to be a combination for which you can get a great deal, but there's no way to know until 2011 how bad it will be.

Oh, I see from above, your departure city is likely to be Atlanta. It could be worse, although I doubt that is much consolation.

That agriturismo is gorgeous! And its website says it's only 40 minutes by bus from Rome, and there is a nearby train line.

http://www.vallesiriaca.it/

Last year, the cheapest airfares to Italy I saw were Delta non-stop from Atlanta to Florence airport.

I don't know if past is prologue, or if those fares were available in June, or in advance. But they were as low as under $300 round trip (often originating in New York and routed through Atlanta).

Delta had a fare mistake last year (which I also took advantage of), but the fares were not for June, and I don't think anyone can count on that happening again, although I sure wish it would.

Ah! Thanks for adding that info. I wouldn't want to raise false hopes.

well I guess only time will tell! We used to always go in the beginning of June (seems that fares go up mid June) Luckily schools get out here end of May so we can leave as early as late May. So far the cheapest flights (for this year, and by cheap I mean $800 each) are going to Spain and Germany so I may plan trips for there as well and then keep my fingers crossed for an Italy sale next year (well they are reasonable going to France too but we had an exchange student for the summer from France last year and she was such a horror I don't want to go to France again for a long time ;)

I just wanted to start thinking about getting the cd's out to learn (re-learn) Italian but now it seems I have to think about learning 3 languages!

Just so you know, there are overnight ferries from Barcelona to Italy.