Italy with fourteen year old grandson in July.

No specifics, just my general advice for traveling with a teen (gleaned from experience with both children and grandchildren).

• Get them involved, get them materials, have them watch a few videos or shows about the places, and have them pick out some things to do. Don't restrict it to the historic sights and museums, it could be shopping, an afternoon at a park, beach, or hiking.

• Do not think you need to entertain them 24 hours a day, let them help guide the day.

• Scale back your expectations, they are not going to want to go, go, go, and cram in two museums and a church in the morning and the Colosseum, forum, Nero's palace, 2 churches, and a museum in the afternoon. They will be just as happy with downtime, sitting in the hotel on their phone or watching TV, as they are walking into St. Peters.

• Related to the above...At that age (and sometimes mine) a Church looks like a church, and after a few paintings, they are just pictures of people, and one pile of rocks that might have been a temple 2000 years ago, just looks like a pile of rocks. Basically the fine points of the transition in style from pre-Renaissance religious artwork to the Renaissance, including the use of light and shadow along with a more realistic use of perspective....will not be fully appreciated. So selecting only a few great sights, and skipping lots of others, is a good strategy.

• Active may be a good option...the climb to the top of St. Peters Dome, riding bikes on the Appian way...depending on your Grandson.

• Find some fun activities that can carry through the trip. For example, a deep study into where the best gelato is, or pizza. I mean keep tasting notes, names of places, flavors, find one flavor to use as a standard (mine is pistachio). It will be a good excuse throughout the day to stop and take a break, and talk about something.

cpa, trying to produce an itinerary without knowing anything about or your grandson could be an exercise in futility! The best plans are based on personal interests and traveling styles versus someone else's. It also appears that you already have an idea of what the country has to offer, having been there before, and likely how Italy 'works', as far as transport?

I might suggest sitting down the grandson and crafting a plan together? Buy him a guidebook or two, encourage him to do some research on the 3 cities you've chosen, and make a list of the things he is interested in seeing/doing. He is more likely to engage with the trip if included in the decisions, and will be the recipient of a great learning opportunity in trip planning that he can use for travels in the future. You might even encourage him post questions to these forums himself. Let's just say that at a similar age, my parents felt their offspring were old enough to enjoy the same museums and cultural attractions that they did. Your teen may feel differently or have different interests than you do. As well, my grandparents would have not been in sort of physical shape to take on the sort of active pursuits as a teen could. You may be a younger Grandpa. :O)

Hotels: recommendations will depend on budget.

July will be very hot in Rome and Florence, and it'll be very busy in all 3. There is some urgency in making the wish-to-see list as some attractions require advance, timed-entry reservations that will sell out quickly, once tickets are available.

So, in addition to the suggestions above, what can you tell us about you and the young man?

Editing to add: I'm chuckling, Paul, 'cause my sister and myself were fascinated with art and history museums as pre-teens, and would have found the churches in Italy endlessly interesting, as I do now. I guess no child is the same, eh? :O)

For itinerary, so far as places to see, maybe a starter...considering some of my points above.

For Rome, maybe limit it to St. Peters, including the Dome climb, with a breeze through the the Vatican museum to see the Sistine Chapel; and then the Colosseum along with the Forum, for major sights. All the "Walk-by" sights (The piazzas, fountains, Pantheon, etc) can be done as you are wandering. If doing more than two full days in Rome, consider Ostica Antica or the Appian way. Skip a whole list of churches, the Borghese, and other museums.

For Florence, Plan the Accademia to see David, skip the Uffizi, consider the Duomo only if he really liked St. Peters Dome climb, and doing the same there. Maybe hit a market.

Venice, really not much more than wandering here for a 14 year old. Maybe St. Marks and the Doges Palace. You might also consider a boat ride out to Murano to see a glassmaking demo, or a trip to the Lido for some beach time.

Kathy: Editing to add: I'm chuckling, Paul, 'cause my sister and myself were fascinated with art and history museums as pre-teens, and would have found the churches in Italy endlessly interesting, I can only say what I would have as a 14 year old boy "Girls are weird"

Check out Sarah Murdoch’s website, adventureswithsarah.net, as she took one of her teenage sons to Venice and he did some kind of boating, I can’t remember whether it was rowing or learning how to steer a gondola, but apparently he loved it. In fact, they did quite a lot in Italy and her report might be helpful

Amanda, I think you’re referring to RowVenice.org - they give Venetian rowing lessons, and that would be a great idea for the grandson!

We took four teen grandchildren, three girls, one boy ( and their parents) to Tuscany for. week. They loved it all. Florence was a huge hit and they were in total awe when they saw “David.” Jaw dropping! All of them had studied art history through elementary and middle school.
They loved all the food, comparisons were made between different pizzas, pastas and gelatos.
They particularly liked Volterra. And Siena in the midst of preparations for the Palio was also a huge favorite; they all bought shirts for their favorite neighborhoods. They liked shopping in Florence, especially for leather. This was ten years ago, late June, and they all still talk about it especially when all the cousins get together.

There's a street-cat refuge in downtown Rome, at Torre Argentina. Entry is free; donations are appreciated. There's also a cat refuge in Venice, but it's rather obscurely located out on the Lido and is somewhat time-consuming to reach. I've only been to the Rome refuge.

To me, exploring the back canals in Venice is the best thing to do there after seeing San Marco (the church and the piazza) and any art museum(s) that are of interest. (I'm not big on history, though.) I think four nights in Venice is a great allotment, to allow for exploring. I recently spent nine nights there, but I was visiting practically every glass shop in the city as well as doing traditional tourist stuff.

Florence is larger than Venice; Rome is much larger than Florence. I'd think Rome would have more appeal to a 14-year-old boy unless he's unusually interested in art.

The three cities are linked by very fast trains.

Many folks find it easiest to fly into Venice and out of Rome on a multi-city ticket. Flights back from Venice to the US often leave so early that travelers need private, costly water-taxi service to the airport. If your home airport requires such an early departure, it makes sense to start the trip in Venice and fly home from Rome. Venice, though touristy in the most popular areas, is more laid back than Rome.

Thank you all for responding. Each response is very helpful. Now back to planning, what I hope will be a great trip for my grandson.

I took my teenage (13 and 15) boys to Rome last June. These are my lessons learned:

1. Even though we were prepared to go, go, go, they needed downtime to process and breathe, or even just get some extra sleep. I did stuff on my own so they could chill or occasionally sleep in late. While one part of my brain screamed "I'm spending all this money, we are going to see EVERYTHING." The other part of me said "This is a once in a life time opportunity and I don't want the memories to be mom as drill sergeant."
2. Gelato was a great incentive to get people moving. We would often walk a great distance to get to a gelato place (and see things) and then take a cab home. Definitely worth the money.
3. Pre-book as much as you can; don't waste time in lines.
4. We found walking tours are well worth the money. Definitely check that they have experience working with teens -- it really does matter.
5. We loved a food tour. Not as much talking "at" and a better insight into the culture.
6. We got a lot out of our visit to Castel Sant'Angelo.

Thank you, Anne. This past July we took our 15 year old granddaughter to Paris and had a great time. I've been there many times so it was easy to plan the trip. What's interesting, given the responses to this post, is she didn't want to stop going, which was fine with me. After the third day she told me I had an ungodly amount of energy, and I'm not a young man. It was great being on the go like that. My grandson on the other hand needs down time, which seems to be more normal. So all the advice given with the responses to my post is really helpful. I have to plan this trip a little differently. Thanks again to all.

In Venice, both naval/ maritime museums are fun. The Naval museum is all about warships, the maritime about ships generally, and there are some full size boats there.

On the north side of the Arsenale, there is a walkway that runs right along the wall. It starts near the Celestia vaporetto stop.

Take a look at the book Secret Venice by. Jonglez. All sorts of amusing small details, mostly missed by your average visitor. Like the fact that a canal runs right under the sacristy of San Stefano; you can pass under by boat.

We are about to leave on a three-week trip to Italy with my 15 yo. It is the first time for him to go, but not the first time for me or my husband.

Ask what they like. Do they like museums? What are they interested in? Also what is necessary for their mental health? What food do they like to eat?

For example, we looked through the Atlas Obscura website to find odd, little known places to see and found some places off the beaten path. If they like comic books, visit a comic book store (libreria di fumetti). (One of the largest comic-con in Europe is in Italy, so there are lots of fans there.) And even if they don’t speak the language, encourage them to use Google translate to talk with people.

I know my 15 yo’s travel speed and personality. So I have planned downtime, eating and places to visit based on what I think he might find interesting. Yes there are places I want to see, but I am limiting those and focusing on the highlights for him.

For me, the biggest impact on a teen is just being someplace new. My husband and I were both foreign exchange students in high school and the thing that made the most impact for us is just being someplace so different from home. New languages, smells, behaviors, that we learned to adapt. Seeing the “famous thing” was secondary. For us, we do travel to see the popular tourist places, but we also travel to meet people and get into unplanned adventures and I think these adventures can make teens realize how interesting the world is out there.

I can report on what was a hit when we return.

Another vote for Row Venice. When we did it precovid, it was a 90 minute experience, about 100 Euros for a small group, and was so much fun- it's much harder than it looks, and the back canals are so charming.
Oh, for teenage boys, the prisons usually have a fascination. And the outdoor markets to buy snacks, negotiating the transactions on their own.
Have a great trip.