Italy with Kids

Mine were a bit older (9 and 11) but we did the rowing class with Row Venice. Really fun!!

rowvenice.org

My mother and I enjoyed the 1-hour/1-mask painting session at Ca Macana, which is the same shop where I have purchased masks over the past 20 years. They were very friendly, demonstrated techniques, and allowed us to express ourselves. They seem to encourage families with children.

Pinocchio tours in Rome are great and make sites like the Forum and Colosseum come alive for kids. Row Venice is also great, as mentioned by another poster. Visit Murano while in Venice as the kids will love seeing glass making.

I find DK Eyewitness Guides great with kids as they are very visual. Far better for young ones to look at than RS or Lonely Planet.

Can anyone recommend any other tour companies that are good for young teens and their families? I tried Pinocchio but they are booked.

My rec.s for kids: climb up towers and domes, there is a carousel in Piazza della Republicca in Florence, gelato breaks, St. Peter's.

tbrenk73.....

www.rometourswithkids.com

They were the ones who put me onto pinocchio tours as they had no guides free (which says a lot in my opinion). They get excellent reviews on TripAdvisor.

My 8 year old grand daughter and I did the Pizza and Gelato Making Class with "Florencetown Tours". We both had a lot of fun.

Great stuff. Thanks for the suggestions!

-Squid

Don't know if your family would be into this sort of thing, but my husband and 15 year old son are going to Rome together soon, and they have a booking at Gladiator Training School! The session was booked through Viatours. After we booked it, I heard more about it from someone at my work who did it with their teenage kids. She was pretty skeptical about it going in, but turns out everyone, including her, had a blast. I watched the video about Gladiator Training School that is on the Viatours website and it was pretty young kids in the video, so I don't think it is a teenager thing necessarily.

In the process of researching this trip I saw some specifically kid-friendly tours in Rome offered by Dark Rome.

Kim

We took our kids a few years ago and they were the same age as your kids. We didn't do many tours (think only the Vatican). My kids loved everything about Italy. They loved climbing on every thing climb-able they could find, especially ruins. They still talk about climbing the Duomo in Florence and the Vatican in Rome (we let them have gelato first so the sugar rush helped them climb. And my daughter loves cappuccino, so the caffeine helped!). We did bring an umbrella stroller, and it was a BIG help. It's tons of walking, and saved us from carrying them. They took turns or rode together. Just make sure the wheels are sturdy enough for the cobblestones. I wish we brought one this past year when we went again when they were 10 and 7!

If you have girls, The Lizzie McGuire movie takes place in Rome. The book "Not for Parents Rome" by Lonely Planet has tons of good info. there are also "Past and Present" books available at the TI or book stores in Rome, that has overlays so the kids can see what things look like now, and what they used to look like. Also check out the website Ciao Bambino for suggestions with kids.

Rome also has a zoo, in case you are interested in spending a few hours watching your kids watch the animals.

Rometourswithkids was also booked for our time period. :(

Eating Italy Food Tours offers a Pizza School for kids class in Rome. It is aimed at kids between 5 and 11. We haven't done it but Eating Italy comes highly recommended by a close family friend and we'll be doing one of their food tours in May.

3 ideas for Rome: Largo Argentina, a plaza and bus hub, a few blocks from the pantheon, this is a fenced ruin area in the middle of the city, supposedly the place where Julius Caesar was stabbed, however, this area was the highlight for my kids as there are dozens of stray cats roaming around the area, jumping from pillar to pillar, basking in the Sun, and many people around the edges of the fence watching all of their hijinks. My kids loved loved loved this. And it's free.

An easy 20 minute train ride to another section of Rome Ostia Antica, ruins of the ancient port of Rome with open access for running, climbing, imagining. Rick Steve's had an audio guide but my children enjoyed being outside and "free" of the constraint of museum walls. Very quick (4 minute) walk from train station, very sunny (hot no shade/sunscreen/hat/bring water), cafeteria onsite (typical caf food).

Lastly, what stoked my kids' imagination at the beginning of our trip was Le Domus Romaine do Palozzo Valentino. Multimedia presentation, the best I have seen anywhere. Must make reservations way in advance (get English tour). Look it up on TripAdvisor, excellent reviews. Not the Vatican Museum, but still a terrific experience.

PS you parents will enjoy these sites as well as your children.

Once again, thank you for all the suggestions. The posts have either reassured me of what I thought would be fun or given me new ideas to check out. Thanks, again.

I looked into the DK eyewitness books, but there doesn't appear to be any for Italy as a whole, so if I bought them for each place we are going it would be over $100, a bit pricey for ebook. Shame.

We are going in May with two boys, age 2 and 4, and why we booked 2 Villas with pools ha. But really, I think kids will enjoy the trains, the ferries, the parks, and as someone mentioned the gelato! I feel it will be a lot of stimulation for kids. And usually there is some mini golf and stuff you can find!

The Borghese Gardens have a childrens train. This is a great place to rent the Surry covered bikes.
The zoo is in this garden too.