Italy with preteens

In Florence, the Museo Storia Naturale - La Specola. It is AMAZING. My 12 year old niece begged not to leave after we’d been there for 3 hours, so my SIL and my husband and I repaired to a local bar for a glass of wine while my brother spent another 2 hours with my niece exploring more. TL; dr it was a MASSIVE hit for this pre-teen. :-)

https://www.sma.unifi.it/vp-387-la-specola.html

The biological exhibits include amazing antique taxidermy, the skeleton of a human giant, thousands of insects, and very early human anatomy dioramas made by hand with thread and wire and wax. Wow!!!

(Also: the Zeffererelli version of Romeo and Juliet? Swooooonnnn. I feel her on that one. :-)

Italy has a relatively high rate of coeliac disease and increased awareness compared to a lot of other countries (they screen for it in primary school) so despite the diet being high in gluten it’s actually a good place to visit. GF pasta and bread are widely available.

Chiming to say that finding GF food in Italy is easier than where I live in the states. My friend that I traveled with cried in joy when we went in an Italian grocery store and saw all the options that she could have.

Taking a Pompeii tour with a working archeologist is the thing my pre-teen at the time loved most. I believe I found them on AirBnB experiences, but I'm sure there are others as well.

You are smart to start with the big three: Rome, Florence and Venice.

You have two weeks, I suggest
Rome 5 days
Florence 3-4 days
Venice 3 days

You still have a few more days, consider 2 days stay in Sorrento and visit it, Pompeii and Capri. If you can squeeze in The Amalfi Coast add another day.

You can do a day trip to Pisa from Florence, and also a day trip to Siena for a day.

There is a high speed train from Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice. The trains are fast and you should reserve seats on the train. You can do that before you go, if you know exactly when you plan to travel or do it once you are in Italy .

I traveled with kids from age 5 up to teens and had my teens read books about the country we planned to visit.
Italy is loaded with history, ancient, medieval and renaissance. The art museums in Florence are special. Also, the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica are amazing. The food is great in Italy as well.

You're doing the classic first Italian trip of Rome, Florence and Venice - and it's a classic for good reasons.

After Rome all Roman ruins will pale in comparison but Verona has a Roman arena and theater and also the Juliet balcony. (Yes, the balcony in Verona is a product of 70s advertising and there are no actual Romeo and Juliet sites in Verona.) But it sounds like it might be of interest to both of your kids and is easy to insert between Florence and Venice.

Pompeii is a long day trip from Rome but do-able. You might look into Ostia Antica which is essentially a "Roman ghost town" and is much closer to Rome. In June the heat and physical work of a large site should be taken into consideration.

Siena a great "taste of Tuscany" day trip from Florence and I always recommend it to people who have never been.

As others have said menus are well marked and waiters take their job and food seriously. I would print up cards in Italian explaining clearly that this is an allergy and not a preference for clarity but "sans glutena" options exist for pasta and pizza in many places.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

For perfume, visit the Santa Marina Novella Pharmacy in Florence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officina_Profumo-Farmaceutica_di_Santa_Maria_Novella

For fashion, your daughter may be interested in the Fortuny Museum (textiles) and Palazzo Mocenigo (costumes) in Venice.

A fun activity is a rowing lesson in Venice: https://rowvenice.org/venetian-rowing-lesson/

hey hey allie220
before planning activities and stops, figure out you flights and places to stay/how many days in each city. are there just 3 of you, i would look for an apartment (more room, beds for each - not a sofa bed, kitchenette, washer)
flying into venice and out of rome, look at multi-city not one ways. arrival and departure times are important with check-ins 3-4pm and check-outs 10-11am. venice is a nice place to get over jet-lag and relax plus many flights are early early morning. train to florence then to rome, just my own opinion.
june will be a busy & crowded month, HOT, high season. any accomodations make sure you have A/C. book ahead of time, see something you like & fits book it and no looking back.
another option to look at for your kids "likes to make them both happy" is fly into milan for a few days. train to verona then to venice.
perfumesociety.org scroll down to the many shops listed in milan
milanoexplorer.com/ milano fashion guide for districts. known for a global fashion scene
lots to make your daughter in ahh
museoalfaromero.com thiswaytoitaly.com 13 best car museums in italy
your son will enjoy this, compromising for both kids and hoping mom enjoys it to. take the train
visit some of the food markets (mercato papiniano or mercato settimanale "fauche"). love walking thru markets with so much to offer and view.
guruwalk.com free walking tours in milan
discoverwalks.com/ milan free walking tours
just some info you and your kids can do research what may interest them, bookmark it and all can decide. one thing is to pack light, they are in charge of their suitcases, washer comes in handy at places (i have brought small bottle of detergent to sink wash and hang overnight or while on a day adventure. good luck in your planning, have fun. ask away with more questions, here to help
aloha

Wow, what great recs! thank you so much.

My husband is coming with us... just forgot to mention him! And yes, we normally do Apartments and love "living like locals" in big cities. We've been traveling to Europe since they were 3 and 5, so they are well-traveled and have been to 7 countries so far, not too shabby! :)

We were in Spain in February 2025, and the GF options were wonderful... so happy that Italy will be just as easy.