We are going to Italy at the end of November with our 7 and 9 year olds. Plan to spend about 4 full days in Rome with a daytrip to Pompeii. Then we have about 5 full days before we head to Venice to fly out. I am considering staying in Siena for 4 days with day trips to Pisa and San Gimignano and then one night in Florence (none of us are very interested in art museums so we are looking at the davinci or galileo museums). Couple questions?
If we are staying in Siena is San Gimignano worth the day trip or is it pretty similar. Remember I am travelling with 7 and 9 year olds so I don't want to cram too much in but still want to see things of interest.
Should we just stay in Florence and do day trips to Siena and Pisa from there to avoid having to switch hotels. We are going to be sight seeing but also just taking it easy and enjoying family time. there will be a couple days we don't do day trips and will be our base city. Will there be parts of Florence where we can just find a plaza and let the kids play and take it easy from the sight seeing (just spend time together) or would that be better in Siena? Also, since it is November I am thinking Florence won't be as busy as in the summer. Would Siena be too quiet in November to spend a few days there on the days we don't do day trips?
Any other comments on our plan. Anything you would remove or add or recommend. We have to go to Pisa since my son is missing some school for this we decided to do his science fair project about the leaning tower (how far can it lean, what are the solutions, etc).