Hello,
We are going to Italy in July - for three weeks. Could someone advise on activities that would be of interest to a 11 year old boy? Are there any festivals that might be fun? We have access to a vehicle. We also love music so we are seeking any music festivals.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Posted by
Tampa, FL, USA
1054 posts
Siena - Palio Horse Race on July 2. Maybe not the race itself if you don't like crowds but there are practice trials in the days before and parade.
Monteriggioni - Festa Medievale (Medieval Festival) July 18-20 and 25-27
Pistoia - Giostra dell'Orso (Joust of the Bear) July 25
I'm sure Roberto will chime in with some other things in the region.
Posted by
OP
Canada
4 posts
Thank you Robert. :) Those are great suggestions as we are staying right in Siena for a week so the horse racing should be perfect. We will be staying after Siena in Bolsena on the lake closer to the end of July but we have a car so we can do trips. Do you know if there any toy stores in the Tuscany region that have stood out? Of course my son will want to check out toys. He's still into that. :)
Posted by
Gettysburg, PA
1589 posts
Pistoia Blues Festival starts 14 July.
Posted by
OP
Canada
4 posts
Blues fest sounds like fun! :)
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
388 posts
These are good suggestions. Here is another website you can visit for more on events and festivals:
http://www.discovertuscany.com/tuscany-events/
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16240 posts
Certaldo: 16-20 July.
Annual Mercantia Festival of street artists and performers: magicians, acrobats, musicians, fire eaters...you name it and it's be there.
Posted by
Piedmont Triad, NC
176 posts
We were in Tuscany when my son was 14 - he got bored so I put him in charge of doing a web search. He found a water park in Cecina, so off we went. I think we were the only Americans there that day, although I did hear a few British accents. It was a great day - we had so much fun together and it was a truly "local" experience! Here is the website…http://www.acquavillage.it/en/
My kids also enjoyed riding bikes on the walls in Lucca, climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, visiting the Leonardo DaVinci museum in Vinci, and hanging out at the pool at the villa. They got very tired of churches and art, but liked Siena. We had fun looking at the flags for the different sections of town. And of course, we had gelato every day! They also really enjoyed going to the grocery store and looking at all the different foods - it was great fun to see if the stores carried any of their favorite foods from home:)
I hope you have a great trip!