Florence/Tuscany w/teens itinerary help

For Tuscan villages stay out there rather than commuting from Florence. You need more time in Rome. Hotel Palazzo Navona in Rome is wonderful.

To be honest, I think you would be spending more time changing locations than actually seeing/doing anything as your itinerary now stands. Remember, you lose 1/2 to 3/4 day when you change locations. Having toured through Tuscany via car a few times, it's wonderful if you are into wine , beautiful scenery and a slower pace. With two teenagers however, that may be a bit on the dull side. With the current itinerary you only have part of the afternoon, evening and 1 day in Florence - too short IMO. In order to maximize your time in Tuscany and cut down on the wear and tear, I would base yourselves in Florence and do a couple of day trips - Siena, Pisa, San Gimignano and Lucca are all easily reachable via bus or train - thus eliminating the need to rent a car for what amounts to a very short period of time. There is plenty in these cities to interest everyone - great wine, great food, great art, history,,people watching and of course, shopping.

You are exactly right- we should just base ourselves in Florence....as i read your post it hit me that we would lose so much time trying to check in/check out of 2 places in 4 short days! Makes sense to do day trips and then justvtake the train into Rome. Any suggestions on places to stay in floremce or must see day trips to Tuscany? I think Airbnb/Vrbo may be a more Affordable option since there are 4 of us I don’t want to pay more than $300-350/nt but preferably less.

I definitely agree that an apartment would be ideal. It's been 3 years since we rented an apartment in Florence, but the last time we were there we rented this:

http://www.florenceandtuscany.com/scheda.php?id_app=331

An apartment at the top of one of the towers. There is no elevator and it's a bit of a hike to get to the apartment, but the views are truly incredible! It was, hands down, our family's favorite place we stayed in Italy!

The owners were incredibly nice and you could tell that they really thought about the needs of travelers. The bathrooms were lovely and the apartment was very well equipped - with the best wifi we had on the whole trip!

Two other recommendations for what they are worth:
If you want leather jackets - JanniDerma does incredible work - not inexpensive but honestly the most beautiful coats and jackets!

Restaurants: Used an app called Eat Italy by Elizabeth Helman - ex pat food writer who has lived in Italy for over 20 years. Every restaurant (and we did about 10 or so on our trip from her app) was absolutely spot on in terms of her descriptions and were the best meals we had!
Good luck and enjoy!!

The apartment is beautiful and the app is great information! Thank you for sharing both.

You are so welcome - enjoy your trip!!!!