What did your teenagers love the most of their Italy trip?
 

I'm interested in hearing from all of you that travelled through Italy with teens, aged around the 16 & 18 yrs, both boy and girl. What did & didnt they like? What did they love and what is the best memory you have with them from your travels?

My daughter loved throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain and putting her hand in the Mouth of Truth--mostly because we had watched the old movie Roman Holiday (tons of great Rome scenery).

Mouth of Truth is hard to find--Piazza della Bocca della Verità, 18 Santa Maria in Cosmedin, 00186 Roma, Italy 06 488991

As a girl, she loved standing on the fictional balcony in Verona.

She enjoyed Venice and buying a mask and blown glass earrings.

Of course, taking her picture "pushing" against the the Leaning Tower of Pisa was a must.

This topic couldn't be more timely - we leave for Italy in 4 weeks with our 2 17 year olds, a boy and a girl. I'll be watching for replies too.

I posted a trip report about visiting Rome with a 15yo daughter...

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ht-of-rome.cfm

My 18yo son spent a few days in Rome with friends a couple of months ago and loved it, but then he had plenty of freedom to sample the nightlife! For him the most impressive site he saw was the Pantheon.

GELATO

I was fortunate enough to visit Italy with both of my daughters (separately) on high school trips; I think that made it quite different than a family trip. But both enjoyed Italy and have returned over the years - you probably know your children best and can gear the trip to their interests. I would think anyone would be fascinated in Venice, the train travel was novel to us, on return trips we have gone to some of the resort areas to give us a break from art, ruins and churches.

My kids were a bit younger than teens (10 & 12), but the highlights probably were taking the water taxi from the Venice airport to our hotel upon arrival. After a long red-eye, the boat ride through the grand canal was like being on a Disney ride. They also loved Pompeii (their request when we planned the trip) and of course, the food (including their daily gelato fix).

Rome, Venice and Capri were our daughter's favorite places when she was a teenager. Having said that she loved every minute of our time in Italy. No doubt it was because we were there for two months so we weren't rushed. That was back in the precomputer days. If I were taking a teenager to Italy now I would have them do a lot of research on the web and get feed back from them as to what interested them. Wish you a wonderful time with your teens, I wish our trip could be repeated, we always loved travelling with our daughter.

oh two more memories - one evening we went by the Trevi Fountain - there were alot of teens / young adults and people playing the guitar - it was a lovely evening. Also at the Piazza Nuvona were various street performers which was something we had never seen here in the US

I asked my daughter who was 19 at the time of our first visit in 2002(she fell in love with Italy, studied for a semester in Florence in 2004 and has returned several times since.)

Santa Maria Novella Profumeria, the food, the gelato, the markets, Michelangelo's David, the Ponte Vecchio, the Piazza del Campo in Siena. And I would say the big cathedrals and signature pieces of art that you grow up seeing on TV or in a book and then see in person. Of course, the warm Italian people and the natural beauty of the Tuscan hills and Cinque Terre, and the Amalfi coast.

Two years ago we took our two grandsons, 16 and 13 at the time to Italy. They were really looking forward to Italy, but Venice turned out the be someplace they wish to return to. I agree with them, by the way :)

During our two-week trip to Italy in December, our two teen girls (17 & 19) most enjoyed:

Top 3 locations
1. Pompeii – five star day for them (we visited when it was neither hot nor crowded, which can make a difference)
2. Rome -- they enjoyed the entire feel of Rome
3. Pisa – touristy, but fun!

Venice -- they enjoyed the beauty and uniqueness of Venice, and they did a lot of souvenir shopping here -- but didn't love it as much as Rome
Florence -- they enjoyed shopping in the leather market, but weren't particularly wowed overall. My eldest spent a day in Arezzo with a friend and really enjoyed the countryside.

Top Activities
1. Walking around and time to explore on their own
2. Taking pictures (film and digital)
3. “Big sites” – they liked to see things that they had studied or were familiar with through books or movies (e.g., the Colosseum, Leaning Tower, Pompeii)
4. Riding the train (anywhere, everywhere)

What they liked in small doses:
1. Museums – in two weeks, we just toured the Vatican Museum and the Uffizi in Florence. This was just enough for them to enjoy and appreciate. I might have been able to squeeze one more in, but that would have been the absolute max.
2. Churches – it’s easy to overdose here, and they had definite limits

What they didn’t like:
1. Getting up
2. Being on the go all day
3. Spending too much time with the family

In other words, they were still teenagers in Italy like they are at home, and some of that teen moodiness had to be navigated. We tried to allow them some down time every day, and gave them a map and a phone so they could spend time exploring on their own. We brought a laptop and they were able to check in with friends on FB and watch movies online at night; but most hotels provide access to the internet and there are convenient internet cafes. We didn’t allow phone contact with friends though. Also, they each had their own travel debit card so they could spend their money the way they wanted.

Italy is a great place to visit with teens. Each place has its own vibe, and my girls really enjoyed just walking around getting a sense of each place. Many of their favorite things were unexpected or what one might consider "small things" -- the pine trees in Rome, watching street performers, Nutella on toast, trying to spot pickpockets. And they squeezed a little history, art and architecture in as well.

Have a great time!

Let us not forget feeding the pigeons in San Marco (Venice)! As an 8yo girl it was almost all I remember from our trip (other than dire warnings not to jump into the canals). When I returned as a college student, I was shocked to see the beautiful buildings. Fast forward- took my daughter to Venice- pigeons all over again! San Marco at night, gondola rides and glass blowing also made the memory list.

We went to Rome for a week several years ago with our then-16 year old son. His main interest was seeing the ancient Roman ruins and he really likes ancient history/archeology so is probably not a typical teenager in that regard.

He was not enthusiastic about visiting many churches or museums, even the museums with ancient Roman art.

We all went to the Vatican museums and St. Peter's and churches that were nearby on our walks, and my husband and I went to other churches on our own a few times.

The Roman history sights that my son enjoyed in the central part of the city were the Forum, the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine,the Palatine, the Pantheon, Trajan's column and Markets, the area Sacra dell'Argentina, the temples and arch of Janus near the Piazza Bocca della Verita (and the bocca--Mouth of Truth itself), the Baths of Caracalla, the Pyramid of Caius Cestio and the obelisks at Piazza del populo, St Peter's , Piazza della Minerva and Piazza Navona.

We stayed at an apartment in the ghetto area and all enjoyed walking across the ancient pedestrian bridges of Isola tiberina to and from Trastevere. There was a sax player there most evenings.

Even though he knew there was very little left to see of the Circus Maximus I think my son was disappointed by that. On the other hand he was really impressed by the Pantheon.

We took the hop on/hop off archeo bus tour. It goes out of the central city to the catacombs, the Appian Way and major aqueducts on Viale appio Claudio and is a convenient way to see these sites.We went to the catacombs of San Callisto, but my son thought the tour there was too short (not sure if any of the others would have pleased him more, but possibly the catacombs of San Domatillo which are larger)

We spent an afternoon at Ostia Antica, a short train trip away from Rome. However, if you are going to Pompeii you might well skip this.

My son really enjoyed the Piazza Navona/Piazza Rotunda (in front of the Pantheon) area. Since our apartment was a short walk from this part of the city we went there at least once a day. We also walked by the Area Sacra dell' Argentina and the cat sanctuary several times a day and always stopped to see how many cats we could count among the ruins

the amazing thing about Rome is that there is so much else that we didn't see. I especially regret (1)not having booked the Scavi tour of the Vatican which is a highlight for many people and (2) not taking our son to a soccer game which he would have loved.

Since we carefully threw our coins in the Trevi fountain I am confident we will all go back.

Wow, I love these answers, all cities we are going to. I read all of them with a smile on my face and I can tell that reminiscing would have brought a smile to your faces too!!
kwren - cant wait to hear all about your trip!!

Our two - 14 and 17 - loved almost everything about Italy - esp the food, the roman ruins, the museums and some of the churches. After a while some of the churches began to pall and they would go shopping while we toured some of the more obscure ones. In Venice they loved Torcello (really ancient), they liked Siena but loved Asissi, liked Florence but loved Venice. Most of all they loved spending a couple of evenings at the student hangouts. They were not that impressed by Capri - but to kids used to the Hamptons - it;s not so exotic.

It's vital to involve them early in the planning process so they know in advance what they want to see/do and get their basic Italian up to speed. And if they don;t know much about Italian history make sure they brush up so what they see means something to them.

Just a suggestion - in Venice, the area around Campo Margerita in Dorsoduro is where students hang out. There are a couple of Uni campuses nearby.

LOL, nytraveler, besides loving Capri where we were going to stay 3 days and ended up staying 10 days as it was a vacation especially for my husband who did all the driving for 2 months my daughter met her first love on Capri who was a son of a long time family on that island. It was heartbreaking when we left and they had to say goodbye.

And regarding Rome which my daughter adored and still does to this day. She ended up marrying a wonderful man, a Roman, some years later. So be forewarned kcnewby.

Oh dont worry LoveItaly, my daughter is already dreaming of the Italian boys! My son is looking forward to the girls too. Oh god, does this forum have help on love in italy??? :)

If you've got a lazy half hour or so, I wrote a bit about our last trip to Venice. It's not really veru useful, but maybe there's a bit of an Australian perspective to it. I didn't write about the big sights much - it was more the intimate things that turned me on. Like a big Donald Duck made of Lego in the upstairs window of a shoe shop that used to be a toy shop.

Not earth shattering, I suppose, just little details in the cosmos.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

and for a historical perspective- I travelled in Italy with two girlfriends when I was 17, many many years ago. My friends were Italian although born in Australia so we had our 'tours' with their Italian family members.
My standouts were, the Alps near Sondrio, Bormio, and into Switzerland. Assissi, and in Rome, St Peter's,particularly the hike up the cupola (fantastic), the catacombs below and the Pieta, and even the glimpse of the outside of the collosseum!
I was enthralled with the way of life, which was so different to home, cows wandering the mountains with cowbells, wild blueberries and strawberries to pick.. and my shopping was for a few leather goods, and hand woven rugs, a great cheese knife, a bottle of Galiano and 10kg of swiss chocolate!!
My daughter travelled with a friend when she was 18 (a few years ago) and loved the Roman Holiday places )as mentioned earlier,the places mentioned in Da Vinci Code books, and loved Venice) bought some beautiful glass pieces. And the food is fantastic! I will be travelling with my husband and younger two children in October and hope to create heaps more fantastic memories, have a WONDERFUL trip!! JT

and for a historical perspective- I travelled in Italy with two girlfriends when I was 17, many many years ago. My friends were Italian although born in Australia so we had our 'tours' with their Italian family members.
My standouts were, the Alps near Sondrio, Bormio, and into Switzerland. Assissi, and in Rome, St Peter's,particularly the hike up the cupola (fantastic), the catacombs below and the Pieta, and even the glimpse of the outside of the collosseum!
I was enthralled with the way of life, which was so different to home, cows wandering the mountains with cowbells, wild blueberries and strawberries to pick.. and my shopping was for a few leather goods, and hand woven rugs, a great cheese knife, a bottle of Galiano and 10kg of swiss chocolate!!
My daughter travelled with a friend when she was 18 (a few years ago) and loved the Roman Holiday places )as mentioned earlier,the places mentioned in Da Vinci Code books, and loved Venice) bought some beautiful glass pieces. And the food is fantastic! I will be travelling with my husband and younger two children in October and hope to create heaps more fantastic memories, have a WONDERFUL trip!! JT

What they didn’t like:
1. Getting up

very funny! Sounds like home!

I took my daughter to Italy when she was 16. We stayed with some friends who live near Lago di Trasimeno in Umbria. She went everywhere with these friends and enrolled in 'The University of Life'. She loved hanging out in the student haunts in Perugia; got a craving for the gelati in Cortona, fell in love with Isola Maggiore (ferry from Passignano). Everything about Italy and things Italian, especially the food, enthralled her. She went back to the UK determined to study Italian at University.

Oh yes, the hike up the dome in St. Peter's is fantastic altho if you are going in the summer it might be scary hot - do it first thing if that is the case. But even if you don't hike all the way up the dome, take the elevator up to the "catwalk" that circles the inside - gives you a great perspective on how amazing the structure is and the view down is wonderful.

I think wayfinder was traveling with my kids! Her description of their likes and dislikes is right on the money. It could be any teenagers.

As far as museums in limited doses, the irony is my daughter ended up getting a BFA and now goes to museums whenever she can. So I guess those limited doses had their impact!

most of the above, plus

visiting the colosseum,

sitting on the terrace of our apartment looking at the colosseum,

the food [for our then rather picky 14 yr old DS, the food was a revelation]

being able to go out and buy breakfast for the family and bring it back to the apartment [with no italian at all!]

the transvestite show in Rome [click on my name for the trip report if you want a fuller description !]

Easter sunday mass in St. Mark's, Venice

hunting for the picture of the "ugliest baby" in galleries and museums

climbing almost anything

spremuta [freshly squeezed juice]

boat trips in venice

anything with squid or squid ink in it. [DS - he liked the way it turned his teeth black]

insalata caprese [DD].

shopping [DD]

Just like at home, really.

Balloon ride. www.ballooningintuscany.com

Thomo7 I'm so thrilled that you mentioned the alps near Sondrio as some of your favourite spots in Italy since I'm from there and the area is probably still underrated from foreign tourists even though it's beautiful...When I go home from Milan if there are American tourists on the train they systematically get off at Varenna( maybe a reason why my area is off the beaten-path is that just before it there is gorgeous lake Como, so how could I blame tourists who stop there, but should they go just a bit norther they wouldn't be disappointed at all either.
So thanks you mentioned the area near Sondrio,northern Lombardy,which-by the way-is called Valtellina

Wow, so much to see and do. I have bookmarked everything and will definitely keep these close at hand. I am hoping that this inspires both my children to have passsion for travel and life. When youre so isolated in a country like Australia from all that Europe has to offer I think it means so much more.

Thought I would open this up again, we are going in September snd still interested in your thoughts. Im sure theres been plenty of travel since the last comments...

I'm a teacher, and went to Italy with a group of students, aged 15 and 16. We visited Pisa, Florence and Venice, and the things they loved most were a gondola ride and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We were lucky enough to be able to climb it, and all the kids mention it as one of the favourite things.

And they also loved giant icecreams in the Piazza de la Signoria, in Florence. One of the girls got a cone with 10 scoops!

I'm in the middle of my trip report now but our boys just loved seeing all the things they've studied in school. It is fun to see all those remarkable things in person. History becomes more fascinating for them.
Also , they love interacting with the Italian people who were so gracious and lovely the whole trip.
They enjoyed train travel as well, we took a day trip tp Pompeii and to Florence.
And the food and gelato!
Finally, I had heard peolple say it but just "hanging out" in Piazzas was very cool for them.

Piazza Farnese in Rome was so energetic one evening in Rome. There was an outdoor band and kids were dancing in the streets. My daughter loved watching it all.

My daughter also enjoyed going to the cat sanctuary in Rome - not just looking at the ruins, but going down into the offices where cats are fed and disabled cats are housed. It really made an impression on her.

Palazzo Valentini-Domus Romani is a great place to go. I highly recommend that for the kids...the whole family.

Im Rome, my boys liked the Colosseum and Pantheon. My sons were never thrilled about visiting churches, but my older son said that Sant Ignazio was the "real deal". He also like the Gesu. Most of the time, my husband and he would hang outside while I went in to the churches to look around. But this trip, my younger son wanted to come in each church with me. I'm not sure why - perhaps it was b/c they were cooler, perhaps he liked the quiet after the bustle of Rome. But he was happy to sit and take in the ambience of each church we visited.

My older son thought the lively Campo de Fiori was so neat to explore - he went out one night by himself. He also really liked that he could drink at 18 in Rome. He wasn't sure if he could get away with purchasing some wine or beer, and was tickled that he could.

For our Northern Italy trip, the Cinque Terre was a highlight. But not the walking paths. We went to the beach, and the boys discovered that they could walk to the end of hte beach, climb the cliffs about 15' to a ledge and jump in the water. They *loved* this - even my husband did this. I couldn't bear to watch; I buried my nose in a book on the beach while they did this.

We all also really liked Venice. The first views from the vaporetto down the Grand Canal: Wow. My older son admitted that the tromp l-oiel ceiling in a church in Dorsoduro was very cool. Here's a good example of how they liked wandering around here:

It was our first day and we arrived on an overnight flight where none of us got much sleep. We found our apartment, and the plan was that we would go to the San Marco Square, get some dinner, take a brief walk around the area and come back to the apartment for a very early bedtime. We were all pretty tired. On the way back to our apt., we got lost. We were walking over bridges, down narrow lanes and this was interestng but then we wanted to find our bearing and decided to just find the Grand Canal. We twisted and turned a bit more and saw water. Yay. Not so fast. We were soo lost - it wasnt' the Grand Canal - it was the other waterway - we were all the way up in Cannereggio! So we had to turn around and try to find our way back from all the way up there. My boys didn't complain once. (I might have complained once or twice, lol)

Gelato is a nice perk of Italy, too. My kids are not adventurous eaters, and we all liked being able to get *good* pizza wherever we were.

<<the amazing thing about Rome is that there is so much else that we didn't see.

Oh, I agree. I've now spent the same amount of time in London, Paris and Rome. Witht hat time, I do think I was able to see nearly everything I wanted to see in Paris and London - we had a nice amount of time to explore and felt we really did get a chance to see a lot.

The same amount of time just seems too short for Rome. There are so many beautiful palazzos, so many ornate churches. We didn't do any short excursions in Rome, so that makes the list longer of what I'd still like to see.

He also really liked that he could drink at 18 in Rome. He wasn't sure if he could get away with purchasing some wine or beer, and was tickled that he could.>>

lol, karens, i really don't think that the italians care too much about the age of their patrons, when it comes to serving alcohol. in fact, when we went to Rome with our kids the first time [DD was 18 i think, DS 15] they were surprised that DS WASN'T drinking beer or wine.

i am not surprised that you think that there is still a lot to see in Rome. I have a friend who has been 50+ times and still says that he hasn't seen it all.

Our trip is exactly 7 weeks away and our teens are getting very excited! All these places are being noted and are all very helpful... thanks!

This is such a great topic, wanted to add some tidbits from 2017.

My kids were 12 and 14. Of the five places we went, the kids would rate them this way:

1. Amalfi Coast - by far their favorite place. We stayed outside of Atrani and the kids could walk the road on their own to get to the beach.

2. Lucca - kids loved the "small" town, also more relaxing. We wished that we stayed a couple more days. Biking around the walls - they could do that on their own.

3. Venice - our first stop. We were so damn jet lagged even though we stayed up late that first day. it really took us 3 days to recover and by then it was time to go. We wish we had more time to explore. Kids liked getting lost.

4. Florence - what a beautiful place. my wife and I want to come back here alone. Kids liked it, especially seeing the David after I had gushed about it for weeks and weeks before we got there. Took a bike ride into the countryside, was a blast (Tuscany Bike Tours).

5. Rome - not a favorite, but it was hard because it was the last stop before Amalfi Coast and two weeks into our trip. It was really hot, mid 90's. We decided to bag the city one day and head out to the beach, but wouldn't you know it that it was a strike day. Colosseum was awesome, loved watching the vendors try to scam women with roses on the Spanish Steps and really enjoyed the Pantheon. Also paid for the early entrance to the Vatican/Sistine Chapel. That was so worth it.

I think that if we had started in Rome the kids would have liked it better. But when we talk about reconstructing the trip they said they would have cut Rome out completely.

I found that doing something active every 3 days was so important for my kids. They could only handle sightseeing so much. We did the bike trip, rented a boat for a day on Amalfi Coast (their #1 highlight), took the vaparettos all over Venice, went to a concert in Ravello. I did not realize the need then, but now I would have added more of these types of things to keep them moving. The beaches were great for them on Amalfi Coast. And of course we did eat lots of gelato, all the time. It was fun deciding where to eat gelato, after awhile my kids would pop into a store and come out and say, "no good, keep on moving."