sandi_travelnut

My son was really into Greek mythology at the time of our first Italy trip. He relished in telling me all about the Gods we came across in sculpture, like at the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. He also found the best pizza in all of Italy (according to his exhausted research) in Florence. His favorite thing to do is just walk. Walk all over the city. If he never had to go inside, he'd be happy.

donnapg

We are leaving Tuesday with 16 & 13 year old boys to Venice, Sorrento (for Pompei) and Rome.

In Venice the only thing we have booked is the Secret Itineraries tour at the Doge's Palace. My boys also want to go to Murano and we all want to go to the Jewish Ghetto. The rest of the time will be spent wandering & exploring.

In Sorrento we are doing a drive of the Amalfi Coast on Saturday, and Pompei on Sunday.

In Rome we have booked private tours of The Vatican & St Peters as well as The Colosseum & Forum with Daniella Hunt http://www.rome-tours.com/. I had read soe very good reviews about her. I decided to do private tours instead of group tours so we can gear it towards my kids. More of what they want, and less of what they don't.

Oh, and can't forget, we promised them gelato - gelato and oh yeah gelato.

I'll post about my tours when I get home.

Donna

missypie

I just booked tours through Icon for the Vatican and the Colleseum. The kids weren't too happy about the tour of the Vatican museum, but I assured them that it would be quicker than if we wandered around ourselves (since I could look at art forever.)
My son is the 15 year old and he loves history; he has read The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons many times, so I told him to make up a list of "must sees" from the Dan Brown books. I don't know if there is much hope for the girls, other than the promise of gelato.

donnapg

missypie - My son loves the Dan Brown books also and wants to see the places in the book as well.

I actually looked on line for an Angels & Demons tour but the only one I found was waayyy too long.

I told them that the Vatican was the only museum I would insist upon, and they are OK with that.

risab

My daughter loved the Uffizzi and asked to go back on our second trip because she felt that she did not thoroughly appreciate it when she first went (age 10 first trip- 14 second trip). She loves shopping and just wondering around Florence-and of course walking over the Ponte Vecchio. She loved Venice on our first trip...everything about Venice.
In Rome she loves wondering around and looking at the stores especially the area off of the Pantheon and she loves shopping and browsing on the streets off of the Campo Fiori and the market at the Campo Fiori. Trastevere is a fav. area also- with great restaurants. She loved the Borghese Gardens and the Borghese Museum---her favorite sculptures. She did get totally churched out on our first trip so the second time we took it easy on that end. We also did a side trip to Capri and visited the Blue Grotto. She loved that and that was a nice day trip from Rome on an organized bus tour.

brooklandsbuttercup

Near Florence is a smaller town called Lucca that is surrounded by a wall that is about 200 feet wide. Our kids (similar ages) particularly loved biking on top of the wall around Lucca (one can rent bikes there easily). It is fun, easy, and has great views. Then you park the bikes and walk around inside the town, which is charming and has a great da Vinci museum, by the way.

dina4

Buttercup,

Can you tell us more about the Da Vinci museum in Lucca?

Thanks,
Dina

brooklandsbuttercup

Another thing that worked well for my kids was that I created a "treasure hunt" when we went to the Uffizi. I had printed out on the web some paintings that are in the museum, and had them get "points" for finding the original. I also wrote out some descriptive clues for them to find certain paintings and artists. It was not competitive; each person "won" when they had checked everything off. I brought something small as a prize for each. It helped them engage and not get overwhelmed by the size and quantity in that museum.

brooklandsbuttercup

Dina4,
The da Vinci museum in Lucca is a pleasant spot with models of some of da Vinci's sketches of inventions, as well as some general historical material. It was very low stress (no lines) and cool on a hot day, and we all enjoyed it.

brooklandsbuttercup

I forgot to mention that it is CRUCIAL to get advance tickets to the Uffizi and the Accademia on the web. It is easy and you totally avoid the two hour lines. There is no way that my kids could have stood in those lines in the heat and still appreciated the art! (maybe me either). The only difficulty, of course, is that you have to know exactly what day and what time you will want to go, as they are precise that way, but we found it worthwhile when we saw the long lines there. Go as early in the AM as possible to avoid crowds around the more popular art.

travelgirl2

My boys were 9 and 11 when we last travelled to Italy. They loved the forum and were disappointed with the coliseum. I rushed, rushed, rushed them through the Vatican to get to the Sistine Chapel before they got bored, only to have the 11 year old tell me that it was his favorite site and he wished we had spent more time there. Climbing the dome at St. Peter's was fun for all of us - it is beautiful up there. Walking around Rome, especially at night, and having gelato once or twice a day were fun.

There was a tacky but fun short film (with a little bit of a ride) in Rome, which introduced a little history, in English. It was a good introduction on our first day there, for the younger ages. It's called something like the Time Elevator. They have a web site.

In Venice, the Secret Tour at Doge's Palace was excellent. A gondola ride was fun and something we felt we must do, but a bit of a letdown. They were underwhelmed at Peggy Guggenheim's museum.

On our next trip, they want to go back to the Vatican museums and also to the catacombs outside of Rome.

rmtsmom

I agree about private tours. We also had Daniella Hunt last year for private tours of the Vatican and Ancient Rome and all of us got a lot more out of these places than we would otherwise. Definitely worth the expense. The kids are still talking about her!

My kids (12,10,9)enjoyed the Salvatore and Gennario Amalfi Coast tour the most, hands down. Second would be walking around the cities at night.

Their behavior was just outstanding. We walked miles without so much as a whimper. No doubt in my mind that taking the kids was worth it.

victoria_reynolds

For the parents whose children read The Da Vinci code, please consider having them read one of the books that point out the many errors in the book. For example, The Da Vinci Deception or The Da Vinci Hoax. Unfortunately, it comes across as historical fiction, but it is far from accurate. Don't let your children be taken in...There is also an article by one of the art historians who has done Contect Rome tours that discusses the book's errors in terms of the"Last Supper" painting/ Renaissance art.: http://www.jesusdecoded.com/leonardo1.php

MRand

missypie - We took our 18 year old daughter and 15 and 11 year old sons to Italy on the spur of the moment last June (2005). On the trip home, they listed their favorite activities(my comments are in the parentheses):

17 year old daughter:
1. Swimming off the rocks in the Cinque Terre (Manarola).
2. Eating gelato in the square in San Gimignano in the evenings.
3. Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum Tour.
4. Venice shopping.
5. Water taxi to the airport and gondola ride in Venice.
6. Venice hotel (Antico Doge)
7. Driving in the Cinque Terre.

15 year old son:
1. Roman Forum.
2. Tuscany (mostly San Gimignano).
3. Swimming in Manarola.
4. Dinner at Ristorante Latini (Certaldo, near San Gimignano).
5. Vatican Museum tour.

11 year old son:
1. Rome hotel. (Apparently the old cage-style elevator and the Internet access outweighed the lack of air conditioning.)
2. Colosseum and Forum.
3. Hiking the Chenk (Cinque Terre)
4. I liked the hotel in Tuscany but it was hot. (Casale del Cotone outside of San Gimignano)
5. I liked the Doge's Palace (Venice) but couldn't understand the guide.

While some of our destinations are not on your itinerary, you get the flavor for the diversity of activities they liked. The guides we hired in Rome through Context Rome for private family tours of the Forum/Colosseum and the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel were also big hits with the kids. We specifically requested "kid friendly" guides when arranging for the tours and were not disappointed. Also, as you can tell from their commments, the swimming at Manarola in the Cinque Terre and at the inn in Tuscany (near Sam Gimignano) were welcome respites for all of us from the demands of travel and the heat. Our goal generally is not to try to do it all but to plan at most only one major activity per morning, afternoon, and evening and to allow for some down time and that has served us well on longer trips. There are many more details about at our trip that may be useful at:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34645606
We've traveled together as a family on a number of trips and all agree the Italy trip last summer may have been the best of all. Good luck and I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time.