family vacation to Italy mid June 2021

Wow, you need a tour organizer -- 11 people -- 250 lb + of luggage. You need a small bus. You are not going to be able to rental a vehicle bigger enough for your group so you may have to consider 3 vans if you self drive. Given Puglia and the cave you might want to consider flying into Naples and returning home from Rome. Pick up your rentals cars in Naples and drop in Rome. That is a lot of distance to cover. You should look into finding an Agriturismo that would accommodate your group in the area of Puglia. Solve some problems especially related to parking. Serve as a base and do your day trips from there. Then come to Rome. Accommodation would be a big problem in Rome. May have to do a series of hotel rooms. It is my understanding that your local priest/church can arrange a Papal audience if available.

Hoping may be the operative word. However, at this time, I would not book anything requiring a deposit. You may have more confidence in traveling next year than I do. Good luck.

To begin with, I agree with Frank that it would be a good idea not to make any deposits on accommodations or whatever. At this point, no one knows what the travel situation will be like in June, and it may still not be possible to visit Italy.

It appears that your holiday is about two weeks long, and you've got a lot of sights on the list, which will be more challenging given the size of your group. I would recommend that you buy a copy of the RS Italy 2020 guidebook as that will provide lots of information on sightseeing, transportation, hotels, towns to visit, etc. However keep in mind that some of the information in the book will no doubt be different when travel resumes. RS provides guidebook updates on the website.

"Renting a vehicle that would fit all of us" will be somewhat problematic, as you'll need a very large vehicle to accommodate a group of that size, or perhaps two large vehicles. Hiring a private driver with a large enough vehicle is going to be expensive, so you might also consider using public transit. Also keep in mind that each driver listed on a rental vehicle contract must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit which is used in conjunction with your home D.L.'s. You'll also have to be vigilant to avoid the ZTL (limited traffic zones) which exist in many towns in Italy. There are hefty fines for EACH pass through these areas, which you likely won't know about until several months after you return home. There are also some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of when using public transit, so it pays to do some research on the subject.

Good luck!

I have zero experience renting a car in Europe, but it has been mentioned here that above a certain size vehicle, the driver needs more than a standard driver's license. I don't know whether there is such a restriction in Italy--and perhaps your daughter and son-in-law already such licenses due to the size of their family, but it's something to check on.

If you are a group of 11 you need a little coach for the tour. With the new Covid rules (even if you are a family, so you can stay more packed) probably a 20-seats bus. In this case you need a driver, because a bus don't follow the same rules of a standard car, but this can make the holiday even easier because you are concerned only to enjoy the place.

European driving licences are standardized and a regular car licence will allow you to drive a vehicle that weighs 3500 kg or less and seats 8 passengers or less.

With such a large group I agree that you should look into renting a coach, it can be a good choice for parts of the trip. The group is a bit small for a private coach but you should at least check the price.

For the cooking component of your trip I would recommend Cooking with Us in Rome - www.CookWithusinRome.com
I had a great class with them. Their space is near the Vatican. Since it would only be your family they can tailor it to fit your needs.

I agree that you need the help of an expert travel agent. Fly to Rome and take a short connecting flight to Bari for your visit to Puglia. Our flights were inexpensive RT Rome/Bari. Save Rome for the end of the trip. You don’t have time to drive extra miles.
It is an interesting and beautiful area with blue green waters of the Adriatic Sea along the coast. With such a large group, I imagine that you will need a house to rent. Look at rentals for masserias. We stayed on the waterfront in Polignano a Mare but I think the masserias would be inland. There are many interesting hill towns to explore inland.
In Rome, I am guessing that you will need several apartments. Look at Elizabeth Minchillis’ blogs for food, cooking ideas. Buy her App EAT ROME,worth every penny! With such a large group, if you want to dine in a restaurant, this App wil give the information you need to make reservations in advance. In Rome, try to find a food walking tour just for your group. The one we did last December has gone out of business but there must be others. We especially enjoyed the food choices in the Jewish Ghetto neighborhood.

Have your daughter and husband traveled around the US with their family? My sister in law and her husband have 8 kids and did. They visited us a couple times with fewer kids and it takes forever to go anywhere (we have 3 kids ourselves). Moving around a lot doesn’t seem like it would work well.

I would find two locations for your two week trip-one in Rome and one outside it-perhaps the second in the country side with a pool where kids could run around.

We went to Greece with young adults children and ended up renting two cars (there were 7 of us). We were supposed to visit Italy last May and again had two cars rented (for part of trip). Vans even that fit 7 people are much more to rent than two cars. You could rent a van and a car but it would be cheaper to rent three cars.

Hi and welcome to the forum!
A 4th vote to engage the help of a professional planner to help you with the logistics. Keep in mind that your gang of 11 is roughly the size of small-group tours (abt. 12) plus you have the added complexity of a very diverse range of ages to accommodate. For instance, the Vatican Museums can be misery for very young, very short people. It's not a lot of fun when your view is limited to the backsides of a dense crowd of grownups!

Moving this group and their baggage around is another challenge that could benefit from a pro. While you've said that you don't want a driver, that may be your most efficient option with a group this size, maybe even the most economical given the number of vehicles you'd need to rent. I get it if the majority of the adults have zero interest in playing chauffeur and doing the homework regarding ZTLs and other ins-and-outs of driving in Italy.

As far as sightseeing, they must already have some sort of idea of what they want to see in Puglia to have chosen it in the first place? I do expect the third week of June to be hot in that part of The Boot so less versus more aggressive running about and changing of locations is advised. Remember as well that you will only move as fast as the slowest member of the family! Aside from what was mentioned, additional places to visit in Puglia and Rome? What are your group's shared interests?

One caution? With the range of ages you're working with, I think you'll find it easier not to expect to do everything together. Some age-appropriate play time is advised for the younger set who may not find museums and whatnot all that "fantastic." Another caution is not to stay too far away from the attractions you plan to see. Being within easy access of your accommodation for naps, cooling off and down time when patience frays will make things more pleasant for all. :O)

(A wave to Ron! I sure do miss your excellent, sadly defunct blog!)

We too have a family trip planned to Italy for summer, 2021 for 10 of us. The suggestion above about an agritourismo is a great idea and actually what we have planned for one of our weeks. Our kiddos ages will range from 6-15. We are looking at places that are working farms with farm animals, heated swimming pool, vinyards for the adults, and also has a restaurant and offers cooking lesson(s) onsite. We plan on renting two vans for the time we're on the farm which we think will work well as not everyone is going to want to do the same things each day. Here is a website for fun things to do with kids in Rome: https://santorinidave.com/family-travel-best-rome-kids

Good luck with your planning and hoping next summer we'll be traveling.

You might benefit from this Italy specialist, Italy Beyond the Obvious. She can plan your trip for you or coach you on DIY. Notice she has a special service for large groups. As others have said, there are a lot of logistics involved with a large multi-generational group. Some pro help will save money in the long run.

Beware, driving in Italy. These boards have countless posts of people that received traffic tickets as much as two years later. Three vehicles, you may get three tickets from driving in the wrong place. These tickets can cost hundreds of dollars.

If you rent vehicles, make sure that you familiarize your drivers with traffic laws and signs. Just driving into a zone will get you a ticket. Research as much as possible.

Also, consider taking the train.

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But as mentioned, I'd not be looking at any deposits in Italy until
things clear up. Good luck!

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Except fully refundable deposits, but keep a list of the cut off dates. That should mean you can book hotels. Then for those things with cost involved, you might look at Cancel for any reason trip insurance. Again keep an eye on the cut off dates. I just bought a policy for my up coming trip and it was silly cheap.