My son, husband and I will be in Rome our son's 14th birthday in late APril. Any suggestions on how to make this a memorable day for the birthday boy - other than, of course, simply being in Rome on your 14th birthday! His birthday is a Saturday.

Thanks, all!
bethrich

Your son might enjoy going to the children's driving school at EUR. They get to drive a small vehicle on a track and get a certificate at the end. Parco Scuola del Traffico, Piazza Barcelona 10. Open Saturdays between 3:30 and 6:30.

Hi all - I am still looking for suggestions for a 14 year old boy's birthday in Rome. So far, he has decided on dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (whoppee!) unless I can come up with a teen-friendly Italian place. The driving school sounds great, but he is a 6'2", lean and lanky 14 year old, so I'm not sure he'll fit! BTW, he finds museums "clastrophobic"...Any suggestions most appreciated!

Almost all restaurants in Rome (and the rest of Ialy) are teen/kid friendly. Hopefully once you arrive, he'll want to drop that Hard Rock idea and go italian. There's so much great food there.

You should do a day trip to Pompeii, it's well worth it. Many of the historic sites are outdoors (colliseum, forum) so, he might like them better than museums. There's also a church where all the decorative items are made from bones. It's called the Capuchan (sp?) crypt. He may like that. My kids were certainly intrigued.

How about a soccer match, or some other italian sports event?

Hi

Have a look at http://www.time-elevator.it/en/. And also - http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/rome/chills_thrills.htm.

Cheers

The link from Slowtrav.com that worldinabag gave you is very helpful. We followed many of the suggestions listed there. We were with our kids (age 10 and 12 at the time) and our favorites were Capuchin Monk Crypt at Santa Maria Concezione, Via Veneto 27, the Catacombs on the Via Appia Antica and Museo Criminologico di Roma, Via Gonfalone 29.