My wife and I are traveling in Italy with our three children (13, 11 and 9) arriving December 27th until January 7th (11 days on the ground). My wife and I have been to Italy a few times, but this will be a first trip to Europe for the kids. We fly into Zurich due to price options (and for kids to get a quick taste of Switzerland) so we'll stay there or Lucerne for a couple of days and then take a train to Florence with our final destination Rome. This leaves 8-9 days between Florence and Rome. We are looking for a fun, but educational trip. However, the kids' museum attention spans are limited so we don't want to bog them down. I'm thinking 2-3 nights in the Florence area (with day trips), 1-2 nights somewhere like Orvieto or somewhere else in Umbria and then the rest in the Rome area. Any suggestions on places to visit near Florence and in between there and Rome? I've thought about Pisa, but it honestly isn't very exciting. We could do a one night trip from Rome to Pompeii? I've also thought about an agriturismo, but I'm not sure if that's as interesting in the winter. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16211 posts
3 nights in Florence is barely enough to visit Florence. Increase the number of nights to Florence and Rome, and use the two cities as bases to everywhere else. Pisa is only 50-60 minutes from Florence by train and there are almost 60 trains a day in each direction, so no need to stay in Pisa. From Florence you can visit also Siena, Lucca, Arezzo, Pistoia, Bologna, and many more smaller towns. All are within one hour from Florence and there are frequent trains and buses.
Pompeii and Naples can be visited from Rome too.
You don't mention Venice, but it would be nice if you could go there for 2-3 nights before going to Florence.