jdraper

I stumbled across this site about one month ago and have gathered some invaluable information from reading previous posts. My husband and I are returning to Italy the first two weeks in April 2004 and are taking are twenty-something children and their finace's so that we can show them the country we fell in love with. The majority of the trip will be in Venice, the most wonderful city in the world, with a car trip to Florence, Bologna and Parma. While we will have no problem entertaining ourselves just walking these beautiful cities, meeting the people and sipping wine and espresso we are concerned that the "children" will be a bit bored. Does anyone have any ideas about the nightlife in Venice and Florence that would occupy the young people while us "old" folks are tucked into our beds? I have not been able to find much information on clubs, etc. where the younger folks could go to meet the locals, dance and play. They tend to enjoy dance clubs and kareoke (groan!) here in the states so I would like to find something of that nature for them to enjoy. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you. Jackie

RufusTFirefly

Lots of spots listed right here at Fodors. For Venice:

http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgr...ur_section=nig

ira

Dear jd,

If you are concerned that your offspring and their consorts will be bored in some of the most beautiful cities in the world, get them hotel rooms with large TV's with cable.

jdraper

Ira: Maybe I phrased my question wrong. I am not as concerned that they will be bored as I am aware that they have different interests than their parents do. Furthermore, while travling with the offspring is fun I know we will all have a much better time if they can go out and play at night, leaving us to rise early and have some time to ourselves each day, without being chaperoned by the kids. A little togetherness can go a long way on a two week vacation. Your point is well taken though, if they spend a lot of time in their rooms with the television in these beautiful cities they will likely find themselves swimming in a canal after their irate mother counts the $$$ spent on the trip. We want to share our love of Italy with them but it would be a lot cheaper to leave them home to housesit and feed the dogs. Anyway, any helpful advice on this subject would be welcome. Thanks Jackie

jdraper

Dear Rufus TFirefly: (Or is it just Rufus for short?) Thanks for the website for Venice. I am sure the kids will be more than interested in several of these possibilities. Any ideas for Florence? Thank you. Jackie

KS452

Respectfully, I would let them do their own research. If my parents handed me a list of clubs/bars they thought would be groovy, the first thing I would do (after shuddering violently) would be to head for the nearest trash bin.

It's easy enough to ask locals and/or check out the entertainment rags once they are there. If they stumble upon just one happening place, the patrons there can point them to other hot venues.

rialtogrl

Venice doesn't have much of a nightlife. There are only a couple of dance clubs and they are fairly bizarre. After midnight open bars are few and far between. So don't even try to go armed with a list, just let them go out and find places and things to do on their own. Bringing a bottle of wine and some plastic cups to Piazza San Marco is always fun, and especially at 2 A.M. when they will have the place completely to themselves.

ira

Hi jd,

If they go to www.google.com and enter "Florence Italy nightlife" they will get a number of tourist guides, including one on fodors.com.

RAR

Venice has practically no nightlife. But the places I've seen open past midnight are typically packed - but go figure, since there are so few of them.

jdraper

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I went to some of the websites that were recommended and was able to find several places in Florence that the kids were very excited about, including one karioke club, much to the delight of my future daughter in law. You have all been a great help and the kids will have many places to choose from. Unlike some, my kids were thrilled to have the suggestions along with the freedom to check out the places I found or go their own way. Jackie

kybourbon

There are lots of "discos" or clubs in Florence. We were there in June and it seemed like every restaurant we were in had brochures about clubs. Be aware that clubs in Europe do not really start until midnight.

vacation03

I"m a 20 something gal myself, went to Italy last year with 3 other 20 somethings....we went with the intention of sightseeing + clubbing - and guess wot - we never got to the clubbing! There is just too much to see during the day that at night we were so exhausted! I'll skip the Rome story(you can just hang out at the piazzas and you'd be fine!) but in Florence we'd have a nice dinner and by midnight be tucked in as every morning we had something to do (well we were there for only two days) - Venice was an AMAZING CITY!!!! During the day we walked a lot + did the gongola rides at night - and by 10pm we were tired again, we managed to find one of the few restaurants/pubs open , grabbed some sandwiches and just met some other American guy that we were exchanging notes with - the pub closed at 1pm - we headed out to San Marco Square - it was almost empty, and we were so sleepy by then that we were happy to get to our rooms...

It's impossible to get bored! Oh and dinner is a longggggggggg affair in Northern Italy(dunno anything about southern) - takes forever to order, eat, get your check - everything is slow and relaxed....