children

Nick Here is an idea that will allow the kids to run around and have fun while you put your feet up and have a glass of wine. Bring a frizbee, yoyo or soft inflatable ball or other packable outdoor toy. Pick a piazza near your hotel and let them run around while you sit at a cafe. This is also valuable people watching time, a key to observing the culture and rhythm of Italian life.
Keep museums at a minimum. Rome HOHO bus is not the best anymore. Sorrento, take a small boat ride of some kind. Blue Grotto? Or other small group boat tour. Let me think more about kid friendly Italian activities beside eating pizza and gelato! Bobbie

Thanks Bobbie, keep that thinking cap on!

Things my kids liked on all our trips, no matter when or where: 1) Swimming - in a pool in Tuscany, Lake Como, even Ireland & Denmark! 2) Climbing man made things - i.e. to the top of St. Peter's in Rome or the tower in Siena. Be sure to count the steps to see if the tourist info brochure is correct (my son had to go up and down twice in a church in Denmark to see who war right). 3) A camera with instructions to "get up close" or "pictures of graffiti", etc. 4) Being "out in the country" - don't do all cities all the time, get into the smaller towns. 5) Being allowed to occasionally wander from us - from our first trip when the youngest was 9 we let them do things they would never be allowed to do in Atlanta - walk 2 blocks (together) to the corner bakery for fresh bread in the morning, wander the square and look into different shops, etc. while we sat with a glass of wine, go to the gelato place next to our hotel in Rome WITHOUT us. 6) Ice cream every day twice a day. Generally speaking - being treated a little more like traveling partners instead of just children. While I was the one to plan where we were going and how long to stay in each place, I did NOT plan each day's itinerary. Except for arrival day when I would have a rough plan, we would review each night at dinner what we did that day, discuss what else to see and do, and would make the final plan the next morning at breakfast. We had GREAT trips and you will too!

Karen has some great suggestions. My kids (and nieces and nephews) have enjoyed the time spent outside of the big cities more than the time in them. And daily ice cream is a MUST.

Souvenir shops. Kids that age love them. Try to find ones that have cafes near by for you! To that end, they should have their own spending money and should conduct their own transactions. In addition to the ice cream, they should also conduct scientific studies into the differences between American candy and Italian candy.

A friend in his late 20's told me that his family planned a trip to Italy when he was 12. They let him plan the whole itinerary. He said he remembers more about what they saw and did than any of his subsequent trips. Other friends took their grandson (12 or 13) to Rome and Florence. He had studied Greek and Roman mythology in school that year and loved finding and identifying the various figures in sculpture and painting. Climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa (a day or half-day trip from Florence) can be lots of fun if you don't have vertigo. There are lovely green lawns to loll on (no frisbees allowed though) while adults can enjoy the church and baptistry too.

On the Italy page there is a thread about teenagers in Italy. A lot of the suggestions mentioned there also work great for preteens: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/70761/teenagers-in-italy.html

From Maureen "And daily ice cream is a MUST." Heck, I'm an adult and daily ice cream/gelato on vacation is a must. So many possible flavor combinations, so little time. Sigh.

In 2008 we went to Gladiator School in Rome. You get a little tour of their museum which has some genuine but mostly repro gladiator things. Then they give you a little costume to wear (not to keep). They teach you some moves with a wooden sword and then you try out your moves by fighting each other or your gladiator. We also got a snack of water and melon, followed by some training with the trident and net. They let us use metal swords but maybe that was because we are adults. It is good for kids; in fact there was a large group of American schoolchildren in for their training as we were leaving. We booked through Viator, which I hesitate to recommend because I've had trouble with them multiple times. Here is the website http://www.gsr-roma.com/gladiatori/htm/gladiatori.html Our gladiators spoke English well enough that you could try phoning or emailing them, perhaps you could book direct rather than through Viator. It was a truly fun, even for three adults ages 38,37, and 41!

I am not going to offer specific locations because every kid is different and what one kids might love another might find boring and I don't know your kids But what a 10 & 12 year old enjoys doing in Grosse Pointe Farms will be fun to do in Rome. What they hate doing in MI won't be any more fun in Italy. What I would do is get a bunch of travel books (buy or library) give them to the kids and have them make a wish list. Having them feel like they choose the itinerary instead of being dragged along to what mom and dad wanted to do will go a long way to making it fun. And odds are they will want to do many of the same things you want to do anyway. More than anything else what 10 & 12 year olds enjoy doing is getting to make choices for themselves instead of being told what to do. There is a risk in this. They may decided that some places you want to go to doesn't sound all that much fun. Maybe even the Vatican. What you can do then is some bartering. Yes, you can spend as much time as you wish exploring the Colosseum, but mom and dad want to see where the pope lives. But figure anything that they aren't all that interested should be done relatively quickly. I would also plan to do things that don't interest them much first thing in the morning before everyone is tired and grumpy with something high on there list to follow. E.g. "We are going to spend 2 hours at this art museum and then go to the ruins you two want to check out" Know they will time you with their watches and accept that if at 2:05 you are still in the museum any whining is your fault not theirs, but you should not tolerate any at 1:55. more

* more * I would also let them budget their own spending money. You can to let them hold it. Or if you are worried about them losing it a piece of paper that says how much they have works fine. But "you have 15 Euros to spend on ice cream and anything else you want today" IMHO works better than needing to approve or disapprove of each and every purchase. When the money is gone for the day they don't have anymore spending money that day. Figure there might be some complaining when on the first day they go thru their allowance before lunch and they have to watch mom and dad eating gelato, but it is all part of the learning process of budgeting. I would recommend what ever their daily allowance for fun stuff/gelato/ video games is the exact same daily budget mom and dad each have for gelato, wine and other stuff. With meals being separate. Everyone having the same budget is fair and won't get the same complaints if the kids can't buy what they want but mom and dad get to buy what ever they want. How much you drag the kids to thing not on their list really is a judgment call of how important it is to see what ever it is and how important it is that your kids feel like they had a great time with mom and dad on vacation. Personally I consider the latter more important.

Our kids enjoyed anything to do with climbing, hiking, water, or animals. They also enjoyed (embarassingly) anything medieval torture related and bone chapels. Italian food works well, even for picky kids. Our kids happily existed on pizza for every meal and regular gelato breaks.