Rome & Florence Accommodations for 8?

hey hey Bart
you don't say when this trip is and what your budget is.
you may need to look at 3 hotel rooms, which in europe they are small. with that many people more than one bathroom is a must.
cross-pollinate.com
look at both rome and florence. some are apartments that have three bedrooms/ 2 or 3 bathrooms
or look at BNB's in same place for all of you.
casarabatti.com has different rooms/apts for your group but separate rooms all in same place.
i would call or email them for what can accomodate you.
booking.com put in your info and see what there is
rome and florence are walkable if no mobility issues.
mybesttour.com
golf-cart-tour-rome.com
withlocals.com
eatingeurope.com
eatwith.com put in your city
theculturetrip.com/best markets in rome
cookly.me anyone wanna taking a cooking class?
sit at a cafe, people watch, relax with a glass of wine, rome around the back streets
don't forget gelato, go on a tasting mission which is the best
what's important for all to see, book ahead of time. most attractions are time and day reservations.
walk down side alleys for food, stay away from front row with waiters showing you in
we really liked carlo menta in trastevere (via della lungaretta). pizza, pasta dishes and dessert (tartufo), sit outside like a family style table
have a sit down discussion with all and they can research, put their wants and okay if i miss. so much to see and do.
hope this helps you with some decisions. good luck
aloha

Hi Bart, I don't have any specific accommodations to share with you but can recommend some tour companies. I'm actually heading there in less than a week with a friend and the kind people on this wonderful forum along with reading RS's Italy guide book helped. I discovered that in RS Italian guide book there's a section specifically listing tour companies or guides for each major cities. Take walks is a pretty popular company and I'm doing two of their tours in Rome: the Pristine Sistine and a coliseum tour. ttps://www.takewalks.com/rome-tours/ There's other tour companies out there that RS list in his book. For Rome most everyone has suggested that you stay in the Pantheon area of Rome because its easy to walk to most sites. If your 80 year old mom has no issues walking then maybe you won't need to take a Taxi or public transportation much.

Once you have your dates if its not to far in advance I suggest you go ahead and book your train from Rome to Florence and back. I'm made the mistake of not going ahead and booking sooner than later for a couple of my travel legs. Some trains are booked so then you need to leave earlier or way late.

The Florence Pass/ card which is not available at the moment anyways, isn't worth the cost unless you went and saw lots of the museums offered on the card. In most cases your not saving much $. For the Uffizi and the Accademia Gallerias you can either pay and go with a tour company that will show you the highlights or you can reserve your own time slots and go walk the museums yourself. Going earlier you avoid crowds in theory but It depends on what time of year your going. If its during wintertime then it won't be an issue unless it was say at Xmas or some holiday. https://www.uffizi.it/en/visit https://www.uffizi.it/en/tickets.

You and your family will have lots of fun when you go. For my 3 week trip with my friend I've planned it so we have just one reserved activity or less per day. Some days we have nothing specifically planned so we can just walk around and do whatever we want. I haven't booked it yet but also still deciding if we have the time. In Florence you and your family might enjoy taking a Pizza and Gelato making class. IF your teenagers like to cook or make pizza. There's also food specific tours if people love food and you might enjoy those. There's various places where people offer cooking classes.

Lastly and I didn't know this don't use Viatar to book any tours etc. I found out from people on here that it is a 3rd party website and you don't know what type of tour you'll get. Its better to just book directly with a company and give them all the money. Have fun and hope some of this info help. Other then my personal opinion most of what I wrote was info shared to me on here so I'm just repeating what was told to me. Buon Viaggio

I have organized two trips to Europe--one to Greece and the other most recently to Italy this past summer-for seven people. We did not have anyone as old as your mother but did have young adults (18 on recent trip, 20 on first).

A few things that worked well for us.

1. We rented apartments most of the time. They provide areas for people to gather which is critical for the success of group travel. We always had at least two bathrooms. Three is better but not always possible. If you rent hotel rooms, try to have at least one with a large balcony or terrace. When we were in Naxos, Greece we had four hotel rooms. The first night the suite with a roof top terrace was rented. That night we ended up at one point with everyone in our hotel room!

2. Consider not eating out every night. In Greece, we did take out about half the time. In Italy, we cooked about half the time. We had better kitchens in Italy (think dishwashers!) and our locations did not make take out as convenient (we were up on a hill, for example, in Lake Como without a car). In any case, we found that this combination of eating out and in worked well. It is less expensive but just as important does not require commitment of the whole night for dinner. Going out to dinner was then an occasion.

3. I planned the activities considering our group's interests. I always had more than we could do. Most of the time our group stuck together but not always. On our last trip, the young adults often wanted more beach time than my husband and I for example. I did not utilize tours very much on either trip but when I did it worked out well. For a group, it can be just as cheap to have a private tour as to pay for each person individually.

4. We decided when to leave each day collectively. Some days some people got going before others. In Venice, for example four of us went to the markets at 7:30 am while the others moved more slowly. When we came back with dinner, we all went to visit the islands. Other days there was no leeway if you wanted to go for the day. For example, we took ferries at Lake Como most days and their schedule dictated ours.

5. My daughter started a thread on our phones for the Italy trip. We shared fun things ahead of time (my husband introduced new Italian words) and anything critical too (our flights were delayed and I sent information and tickets for the duomo to everyone). We shared pictures and updates while on the trip and afterwards it has been fun reminiscing. It is much easier to coordinate while traveling if everyone has cell phone access. In Italy, our daughter and husband did not and it was tricky a couple of times. Make sure you have everyone's email address too--I sent tickets that way when we were delayed--after telling everyone I was doing so in a text.

Traveling with a group is definitely more work for the organizer but it is lots of fun. You create life time memories.

I've only traveled with 5, including my inlaws and our 15 mo. old. I have wonderful memories of that trip. As a compulsive overplanner, I suggest you ask everyone to prioritize their #1 and #2 want to sees at each place and make sure your itinerary includes at least everyone's #1, if they are reasonable(i.e. not asking to take a day trip from Florence to Cinque Terra). Also discuss everyone's expectations of what they want to eat. Obviously, people can split up if some want to eat out and others want to eat in. and decide how you will split costs of groceries.

Try something different - stay in monastery/convents. Plenty of rooms with 1-4 beds per room. Good price. My wife and I love them. Don‘t need to be Roman Catholic or even a Christian to stay in them. www.monasterystays.com