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[quote=Anonymous]Hi - I think we've interacted before because I suggested a full day bus tour of Siena, Pisa, and San Gimignano with lunch.  I did that all day tour with a 10 and a 13 year old.  It was not a strenuous day because the bus took us from city to city.  The kids did sleep on the bus while I enjoyed the Tuscan scenery.  I would have liked an hour more in San Gimignano to see a museum and go up in a tower but that's not a very big deal.  I saw exactly what I wanted to see in Siena (the town square where the Palio is held) and I got to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa with my own eyes.  Pretty satisfactory.

Your Day 2 in Florence is too much.  Those things are too far apart for one day where you move around unguided.  You need to give up on a few of the listed sights.

We stayed near the  Uffizi and passed near the Duomo a couple of times before we actually went up in it.  I wanted to do the climb specifically to see the inner brickwork of the dome.  My college art history professor had worked onsite at the Duomo and was an insane Brunelleschi fan.  So this was more of a personal pilgrimage for me than a touristic sight.  The process of waiting in line is tedious and the view is not particularly amazing.  So the dome climb is skippable in my opinion.  But walking around the heart of Florence and understanding how the monuments relate to each other is fantastic.  It's worth taking leisurely walks around the Duomo and Baptistery.  And the Duomo's museum is very interesting.  I recommend it.

On our trip to Florence, we gave up on visiting the churches outside the civic center/Duomo area, the Bargello, the museum where David is, the Medici Corridor, and the Boboli Gardens.  No regrets.  Another time, maybe.

I visited the Dante museum with my kids.  I liked it but they were bored.  They did like the museum of Leonardo Da Vinci machines near the Uffizi.

I would skip Cinque Terre. Save it for another trip to Italy.

I'd spend more time in Venice.  I didn't have as much time as I wanted in the Doge's Palace (Canaletto exhibition) or the Murano Glass Museum.  My husband liked the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, which is like a mini East Wing of Nat'l Gallery of Art.  I liked riding the vaporetto water buses, especially up and down the Grand Canal at night.

I think your kids will be okay with most of the itinerary but I really hope they like art and history.  If not, you've overdone the "high culture".  Our solution was usually for my husband to split off early with our kids...often to gelato, sometimes to back to the hotel.  That might also work for your family.[/quote]

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