Italy with a 13 year old

When in Rome, your daughter will probably enjoy the Colosseum and Forum. In addition, a hike or bike on the Appoan Way would be fun.

For perhaps the best gelato in Rome, check out Old Bridge, which is across the street from where people line up to get into the Vatican Museum.

At that age, they need to be exposed to history and art. Treat them like adults.

My kids loved Pompeii and the Blue Grotto in Capri. Also, they loved the Coliseum and the Sistine Chapel (they didn't want to leave until I explained all the art to them). In Florence, go to the top of the dome of the Doumo, my kids loved that.

In Siena, look into booking the "Gate of Heaven" tour in which you climb up into the top parts of the cathedral, and able to look into the cathedral from way up high inside it, and also out over into the city. The official link for the Siena cathedral is "operaduomo." Here's the link for that particular tour: https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/gate_of_heaven/. I also suggest looking into the Galileo Museum in Florence. Lots of interactive stuff there. I also kept a very active 19-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter happy on a trip to some of those (and other) locations in Italy a few years ago by making sure that they had at least one really high thing to climb every day. These included: in Pisa: the Leaning Tower; in Florence: the dome of the Duomo, and up the top tower of the Palazzo Vecchio; In Orvieto: up onto the palace ruins in Orvieto (near the top of the funicular); and in Rome: the Vittorio Emanuele II monument, the Coliseum (as high as we could go); the Spanish Steps.

I am planning a similar trip with my 14yo daughter.

We watched several of the Rick Steves videos together and they really sparked specific interests for her, that's how we decided to go to Siena.

Is your daughter a Twilight fan? One of the movies was filmed in Montepulciano, we are planning to visit there while staying in Siena. Volterra also has Twilight connections. Although a bit crazy there is enough other things to do in each town to makee the visits worth while.

jmauldinuu. thanks for the Gateway to heaven suggestion, looks very cool!

hey denise
when are your dates and how many nights in each city? Are your hotels/apartments booked?
check out withlocals.com, eatwith.com, mommamiatours.com, (click home scroll down to tours in southern italy), florencetown.com has a city bike tour, girlinflorence.com may have a painting ceramic class (enzo formisano - officina ceramica lab in florence), salvatore ferragamo museum to see lots of shoes, taste test gelato at different shops in italy, any festivals going on while you're there. read about places to reserve ahead of time, climbing duomo has many steps. walking around the piazzas, visit the markets, eatingeurope.com
on positano restaurant da vincenzo.it is in a cave (dessert tray to die for), la tagliata is family style and what mama makes that day, simplysorrento.com ceramic shop maybe classes for your daughter. in rome stroll around campo de fiori and piazza navona area, lots of "free entertainment", shops, bakeries, cafes to stop sit and people watch. reserach pays off.
you will have a great and enjoyable time.
aloha

Went to Florence and Rome with kids. Definitely the Duomo and Colosseum were hits. The forum wasn't. The Uffizi (if you do some art) wasn't but the Academia was. Just walking around was fun bc there's so much to see. They liked the Vatican (we did an abbreviated tour with the Roman Guy), and the Borghese gallery (its small, they got to take off and wander alone, the sculptures were interesting), and then after the Borghese we spent an afternoon doing gratuitous kid things in the park like bike rentals/riding, and then, ack, Segway rentals for 30 minutes (huge hit. Would never do this otherwise). The park around the Borghese, at least when we were there on a weekend, is full of people picnicking (we also picnicked with food bought at a little cafe in the park) and generally recreating, so it was a fun outdoor non-cultural afternoon (we went into the gallery at the 9am slot). Then we walked all the way from the park back to our apartment in Trastevere and although we'd walked by many of the sites already, we passed the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Pantheon, etc (and of course stopped for Gelato. We mostly went to a different gelato place every day, and compared through out the trip. Our second favorite was Fatamorgana in Rome. First favorite was in Amsterdam). Walking along the Arno in Florence was fun. The market eating place (cant remember the name) in Florence was fun (fresh farmer's market type place downstairs, and then upstairs one of those markets with many open restaurant and a large general seating area). You might be surprised how much she is stimulated by the newness. Mine are outdoorsy athletes too but the history, architecture and all that of European travel - just the novelty - was really fun for them

Your daughter may like the Mount Solaro chairlift to the top of the island.

http://www.capriseggiovia.it/en/index.html

Take a taxi up to Anacapri, while it won't save time, you won't be stuffed into one of the busses.

Other options on the island. DON'T do the scooters! The roads are very congested.

https://www.capri.com/en/getting-around