Hey Everyone,
Heading to Italy in a few weeks with my family (wife/son 11)
Doing the touristy stuff (colosseu, vatican, ufizzi etc)
Looking for any tips/suggestions if youve been. I think we will be busy enough in Rome, but I worry a little about Florence for my son.
also any food recs would be very helpful. I have a big list of places but Im trying to narrow it down :)
Thanks in advance
Posted by
Saint Paul, Minnesota
2110 posts
Our grandson is 11 and has been with us to Italy twice when he was younger. So, thinking about what he would enjoy in Florence right now besides eating in restaurants, here's two ideas for you. One is La Specola, the museum of natural history --- I resisted visiting this museum for years but now that I've been I can tell you that it's fantastic and that Italians are unbelievably great at creating museums. The other idea would take a bit of advance research, but your son might get interested in the devastating 1966 flood in Florence and enjoy hunting down the flood markers on the sides of several buildings. There are videos on youtube of the flood, maps of where the swirling oily water was the deepest, books about how people at the time coped and cleaned up and about the angeli del fango (mud angels) who came from all over to help, plus of course all sorts of information online. If he got interested in other disasters that Florence has triumphed over, there is the Black Death and the Nazi occupation with the final blowing up of all the bridges except the Ponte Vecchio.
Hmmmmm, the Uffizi. It depends on what he is like. Our very patient older son would have been fine at age 11 despite zero interest in art, our younger son at 11 and both of our grandchildren at any age would go berserk in there and I would not inflict it on them. There is art all over Florence that can been seen without the crowded rooms and hallways of the Uffizi, and for less money, and with easy escape.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
17654 posts
Galileo Museum of Science
Leonardo da Vinci Museum
Stibbert Museum (ancient weapons and armors). Take a taxi here as it is away from the city center.
National Archeology Museum
Boboli Gardens
Museo delle carrozze (horse carriages)
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Excellent, this is helpful. We had a lot of that on our list.
What about food? Any restaurants?
Posted by
97 posts
We did a pizza and gelato making class at a vineyard near Florence. Our boys loved it! We used this company. Their selections have changed a bit since our visit, but we did have a very good experience with them. (After museums…, we all enjoyed something a bit more interactive.)
https://florencetown.com/en?_gl=1*gfhhxg*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgwOTg4NTQxOC4xNzc1MTcyMjEy*_ga_QSR46YFKWZ*czE3NzUxNzIyMTIkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzUxNzIyNTIkajIwJGwwJGgw