What to do in Florence with our precocious 14 year old daughter?

how long are you staying in Florence.. if museums,and churches etc . aren't her thing.. then perhaps no more then 2-3 days I hope..

lots of great window shopping in Florence if she likes high end fashion ...what teen doesn't?

Children, precocious and otherwise, need stimulation. How about a tour with a guide, an art history expert, who can open her eyes to what the art is about, how it was created, and after that she'll be able to appreciate it and want to see more. Include architecture, too. Maybe she'll join you in museums all day after this! People say Context Tours does a good job.

Florence is not just museums like New York City is not just museums. I grew up in Florence so that is where I was at the age of 14, and although our school would take us to a museum, palace, church or similar one morning a month on average, there are many other things available to fill a teenager day. I don't know what your daughter enjoys to do but whatever it is I'm sure it is available in Florence. Visiting historic sights with a guide is a good start. Also with a week there you can also take a day trip or two to nice places around Tuscany. Siena and San Gimignano are good places to visit.

Perhaps schedule some museum time for yourself while mom and daughter do something else, like leather shopping? A cooking class all together might be fun.

our daughter really enjoyed guided tours of uffizi and vatican museums when she was in 6th grade-the personality and ability of the guide is of paramount importance

Climb the Duomo. Shop the Ponte Vechio. Take a day trip trip Fisole and walk back. Consider the Galileo Museum which is full of science gadgets intended to entertain the rich (or at least is was in 2012). Check out the Bobboli Gardens. Climb the Palazzo Vechio from which you can see the Duomo. Take a daytrip to Lucca and bike the walls. Walk along the Arno. Take a day trip to Siena. Wander. Find the very best gelato. Visit the new market.

Depending upon her interests, the Galileo museum was cool (I visited for the first time a few weeks ago. It was late in the day and I don't think I quite appreciated as much as I would had I not been dog tired). I think Palazzo Vecchio could be worthwhile, I visited in 1999 and from that distant memory, I liked it. The perfume store on Via della Scala is a fun visit (I'm not stereotyping here that a teenage girl might like it, it's a neat historical interior and has been in business for hundreds of years. My wife and I happened upon this on our honeymoon and I stopped in for old times' sake on my recent solo trip. There seems to be a tea room attached now, I don't remember that from prior visits). Florence is a serious center for leather goods. For all I know they are made in China but the quality looks to be really good. Definitely climb the dome and the campanile, that was awesome! I think all the sights on the Duomo combo ticket are great, and very good value. Ponte Vecchio is great for window shopping, but I am not sure you are always going to get a great deal there.

Eat a delicious lunch at Quatro Leoni. Our niece spent a semester abroad during law school, lived in Florence where she ate there regularly. We took her there for her birthday lunch ten years later (while on a cruise), had the same waiter she'd recognized from the past! Smiles, hugs, great food and what a memory!

My all purpose guide for traveling with teens. Let them do the planning of part of the trip. People who are planning for other's enjoyment and have bought in to the experience are much nicer to travel with. I would not travel with a teenager who had to be entertained by me and my planning or would be pouty about things. Get a guide book and let her plan some of the time. We discovered the John Soanes Museum in London as well as the Aqueduct Parc in Rome because of my son's plans as well as the Specalo in Florence. We discovered the Cluny in Paris, climbed the towers of Notre Dame and went to the British Library in London because of our daughter. You may find you are exploring things you never would have thought of without her ideas.

Some things to consider for your own list: Palazzo Davinzati, a restored Renaissance home, the Musee San Marco where Fra Angelico painted devotional frescoes in the cells of the monks (his famous annunciation is here), climbing the Duomo, San Miniato a gorgeous church above Piazzale Michelangelo and a day trip to Siena where you might climb the Torre Mangia and visit the amazing Cathedral (far more interesting than the Duomo in florence)

Why Florence? Seriously. Why not the much more interesting Venice?

Anyway, back to Florence - easy to spend hours wandering through the market, some really good quality stuff, some schlock. You'll find that the decent quality shops behind the stalls have stalls too, not necessarily in front of the shop. I can't think of much to do after dark except dinner. You could day trip by train to Pisa and climb the tower. Siena's an easy day trip by bus and may be interesting to your ladies. The Pitti Palace is a European palace, though not on the grand scale and chock-full of art, so that may be a good compromise. Spend time in the Piazza della Signoria, there's some really good outdoor sculpture that you could admire while the "girls" have a hot chocolate break at one of the cafes.

We took some GREAT day trips out of Florence with WALKABOUT FLORENCE. They were fantastic, clean bus, great info, good food, visited wonderful towns in Tuscany for the day. If you decide to do this, book thru them on their website, no need to go thru a 3rd party. We also took a cooking class which was wonderful. We also enjoyed checking out the authentic leather shops and the leather school in Santa Croce Church. The Accademia Gallery where DAVID is can't be missed. There are some amazing restaurants and pizza places. Remember when gelato shopping, the big, colorful, fancy, fluffy, pretty gelato isn't the authentic real stuff . . . it is full of colors and artificial ingredients and can sit in those tubs for months. The real deal is plain, and the colors are dull as they add no dyes, the gelato also is flat in the tub (not piled up high and fluffy) -- we learned all this on one of our WALKABOUT FLORENCE day trips . . . the one that takes you to San Gimignano which has the best gelato (they win every year).

Just so blessed my daughter is like me and considers shopping a waste of time .

At 11 all she went on about was seeing Gailenos finger ! Lol

Academia? Ufizzi? Piazza Michelangelo? Ponte Vecchio? Duomo? I think a fourteen year old would have some appreciation for art at these great museums, If not it's a good starting point to get that interest. As for shopping nice leather shops but watch your prices in some of these shops. By the way the Academia with the David is a very fast not much besides the David there.

You have not specified the areas in which your child is "precocious" (defined as having developed abilities at an earlier age than usual) -- but I would think those would be where you would want to focus. If instead you just mean she gets whiny unless she is entertained ... then janettravels44 is on the right track about having her do some of the planning, so she will sometimes (but not always) be going somewhere SHE picked.

For take-home-to-friends shopping, the stalls around Central Market have lots of keyrings and €5 scarves.

People have already given great advice and suggestions. Here's one I haven't seen yet.

If you are going to be in Florence on March 25th, you will be able to enjoy the all day Florentine New Year celebration. Go to March on this link to learn more about it.

Oh, Tom, so much more than the David at the Accademia! The other Michelangelo sculptures, the small musical instruments gallery, the medieval and Renaissance picture galleries upstairs. It's a relatively small museum.

I would definitely involve her as much as possible, and perhaps consider that Florence is NOT the best choice. Ask her where SHE wants to go or where her friends have been and enjoyed, you might also want to go.

For palaces markets and shops and more "energy," perhaps Rome? There used to be guide books specifically for travelling with kiddies.

Go to the library and/or bookstore and see if there are any teen novels based in Florence - it will give her a connection when she gets there