Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When are you going? Also remember that it is Jubilee this year so Italy will be packed

People keep saying this but I checked the online records for last Jubilee year and it didn’t look like there was any spike in tourism. (My parents went that year as part of a diocesan sponsored tour of basilicas — they only did religious sites so didn’t do things like the coliseum or museums. I think a lot of the Jubilee visitors are religious pilgrims like that.). With the world economy in the crapper, flight prices rising, and the Pope’s health really uncertain (making it increasingly unlikely that there will be large masses presided over by a pooe), I’m not at all sure this is a bad year to go. I have no dog in the fight because we went last year, but I somewhat interested on whether these dire predictions will pan out.

Yes especially outside of Rome- which is already obviously a super popular tourist destination. No evidence that the net numbers will be higher than a usual year.

Anonymous wrote:When are you going? Also remember that it is Jubilee this year so Italy will be packed

People keep saying this but I checked the online records for last Jubilee year and it didn’t look like there was any spike in tourism. (My parents went that year as part of a diocesan sponsored tour of basilicas — they only did religious sites so didn’t do things like the coliseum or museums. I think a lot of the Jubilee visitors are religious pilgrims like that.). With the world economy in the crapper, flight prices rising, and the Pope’s health really uncertain (making it increasingly unlikely that there will be large masses presided over by a pooe), I’m not at all sure this is a bad year to go. I have no dog in the fight because we went last year, but I somewhat interested on whether these dire predictions will pan out.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all for the suggestions. I see the general consensus is to skip Milan. I added it to the itinerary since the flight out was cheap and didn't want to do a RT to Rome.

I definitely want to see Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice.

CT looked interesting but I'm not into hikes so I thought a day would be enough to just stroll around and just see the place that everyone talks about. Plan was to go to La Spezia from Florence and get the CT card for unlimited use on the trains and stay an hour or 2 in 4 of 5 the villages.

Since this would be our first visit and I don't know if I would ever be able to return, I tried to add everything that seemed interesting. But looks like I need to cut back or we will not enjoy it as much.

For Florence - do we really need the Brunelleschi pass? Or is all that too much for the kids? What about climbing the Duomo? Is it worth the half day? Or is it better to just wander out the city? I love architecture and admiring beautiful buildings (I love the Capitol Rotunda and the Library of Congress). Paintings not so much. My kids - When we went to NYC, kids liked the Wax museum, M&M store, and skating in the Rink more than Empire State building and waiting in line, to give an idea of what they might prefer. They did not like Central Park but enjoyed Times Square and Staten Island ferry.

What can I cut out in Florence? What is interesting in Modena besides the Ferrari museum? Both my kids are girls and none of us are into cars.

Any recommendations on stays in Tuscany?

Climbing the Duomo is up there on my list of life highlights, but not sure if tweens will appreciate it. Was at the top when church bells were ringing all over Florence and it was magical. If you have $$, please do some of these tours: https://www.contexttravel.com/cities/florence
and help your kids learn to love Renaissance art, science and history. For example: https://www.contexttravel.com/cities/florence/tours/uffizi-tour-for-kids-crash-course?display_currency=USD&page=2

Pisa is not much; basically look at the tower for a few minutes and that's it. I would follow the advice upthread and go to a small hill town in Tuscany. Have a picnic in the countryside, etc.

I found that a single day in Cinque Terre was the worst of all worlds. The towns get very crowded and you have no home base. It is difficult to find a place to relax or even use the bathroom when you are just there for the day.

When are you going? Also remember that it is Jubilee this year so Italy will be packed

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all for the suggestions. I see the general consensus is to skip Milan. I added it to the itinerary since the flight out was cheap and didn't want to do a RT to Rome.

I definitely want to see Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice.

CT looked interesting but I'm not into hikes so I thought a day would be enough to just stroll around and just see the place that everyone talks about. Plan was to go to La Spezia from Florence and get the CT card for unlimited use on the trains and stay an hour or 2 in 4 of 5 the villages.

Since this would be our first visit and I don't know if I would ever be able to return, I tried to add everything that seemed interesting. But looks like I need to cut back or we will not enjoy it as much.

For Florence - do we really need the Brunelleschi pass? Or is all that too much for the kids? What about climbing the Duomo? Is it worth the half day? Or is it better to just wander out the city? I love architecture and admiring beautiful buildings (I love the Capitol Rotunda and the Library of Congress). Paintings not so much. My kids - When we went to NYC, kids liked the Wax museum, M&M store, and skating in the Rink more than Empire State building and waiting in line, to give an idea of what they might prefer. They did not like Central Park but enjoyed Times Square and Staten Island ferry.

What can I cut out in Florence? What is interesting in Modena besides the Ferrari museum? Both my kids are girls and none of us are into cars.

Any recommendations on stays in Tuscany?

I think you are too influenced by lists of "must sees". This is like families or school groups coming to DC and trying to jam in every monument and museum in two days, or thinking you have to read every book on the 100 best books of 2024 end of year list. You can't do it all.

I have been to many of the must see places you want to see, but over a longer period of time and multiple visits. My favorite memories however are just watching a kid sitting on a parked scooter in Cortona making zoom zoom zoom noises, eating ice cream at an outdoor cafe while watching two groups of men with tape measures argue in the main square of San Gimignano over a fender bender, eating at a suburban pizzeria in Rome where there was no printed menu and everyone sat at one large shared table, and watching the World Cup at night on a big screen in the main square of a hilltop Tuscan town. You'll only get those kind of experiences if you stop rushing around.

“ My kids - When we went to NYC, kids liked the Wax museum, M&M store, and skating in the Rink more than Empire State building and waiting in line, to give an idea of what they might prefer.”

Of course they did. Because they are kids. And yet you still sound like you are planning an adults only or at least adults and older teens trip rather than one with tweens. You need to give up a few of the adult oriented things and put in some kid oriented things. You and your DH can plan to come back some day to see the other stuff. Your trip needs better adult/kid balance right now.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all for the suggestions. I see the general consensus is to skip Milan. I added it to the itinerary since the flight out was cheap and didn't want to do a RT to Rome.

I definitely want to see Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice.

CT looked interesting but I'm not into hikes so I thought a day would be enough to just stroll around and just see the place that everyone talks about. Plan was to go to La Spezia from Florence and get the CT card for unlimited use on the trains and stay an hour or 2 in 4 of 5 the villages.

Since this would be our first visit and I don't know if I would ever be able to return, I tried to add everything that seemed interesting. But looks like I need to cut back or we will not enjoy it as much.

For Florence - do we really need the Brunelleschi pass? Or is all that too much for the kids? What about climbing the Duomo? Is it worth the half day? Or is it better to just wander out the city? I love architecture and admiring beautiful buildings (I love the Capitol Rotunda and the Library of Congress). Paintings not so much. My kids - When we went to NYC, kids liked the Wax museum, M&M store, and skating in the Rink more than Empire State building and waiting in line, to give an idea of what they might prefer. They did not like Central Park but enjoyed Times Square and Staten Island ferry.

What can I cut out in Florence? What is interesting in Modena besides the Ferrari museum? Both my kids are girls and none of us are into cars.

Any recommendations on stays in Tuscany?

Why do you think you'll never return? Your kids are young - who knows where they will go.

I'd pick two areas and have a good time there instead of trying to see everything all at once. We spent two weeks in Tuscany and only saw a fraction of it. We still haven't been to Pisa. Build in much more downtime to swim, eat gelato and visit markets. In your itinerary there will be a lot of people and a lot of waiting in line. Check out photos of overtourism in Venice and see if that is what you want.

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.

Anonymous wrote:If you are going in summer, rome florence and venice will be packed and hot as hell. If easter, will also be packed. Stay at an agriturismo with a pool or in florence, for example, at a hotel oltrarno w pool. You and the kids will want to take a break. There is only so much you can see in a day, especially with awful crowds & mass tourists. To enjoy italy, you have to relax and get out of city centers. Also, do you know many museums are open early (bargello — 8 am) or open late (uffizi, palazzo vecchio). Stagger your visits to avoid the tour bus crowds. Have a long lunch and relax by pool or walking in countryside.

Was hoping to go end of April or May but looks like the week before and after Easter would be a bad time to go.

How unpredictable is the weather in Italy in April? Is it better to go in May - mid May to Memorial weekend?
Or do first two weeks of April?

Hotels are pricey for April though.

Op here. Thank you all for the suggestions. I see the general consensus is to skip Milan. I added it to the itinerary since the flight out was cheap and didn't want to do a RT to Rome.

I definitely want to see Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice.

CT looked interesting but I'm not into hikes so I thought a day would be enough to just stroll around and just see the place that everyone talks about. Plan was to go to La Spezia from Florence and get the CT card for unlimited use on the trains and stay an hour or 2 in 4 of 5 the villages.

Since this would be our first visit and I don't know if I would ever be able to return, I tried to add everything that seemed interesting. But looks like I need to cut back or we will not enjoy it as much.

For Florence - do we really need the Brunelleschi pass? Or is all that too much for the kids? What about climbing the Duomo? Is it worth the half day? Or is it better to just wander out the city? I love architecture and admiring beautiful buildings (I love the Capitol Rotunda and the Library of Congress). Paintings not so much. My kids - When we went to NYC, kids liked the Wax museum, M&M store, and skating in the Rink more than Empire State building and waiting in line, to give an idea of what they might prefer. They did not like Central Park but enjoyed Times Square and Staten Island ferry.

What can I cut out in Florence? What is interesting in Modena besides the Ferrari museum? Both my kids are girls and none of us are into cars.

Any recommendations on stays in Tuscany?

I find that my family gets bored of just doing cities- it's nice to relax and get away from cities too sometimes. We went last year with our kids (5,7,and 9) and did the following:

- Florence (2 nights)
- Cinque Terre (3 nights)
- Modena (4 nights)

We LOVED Modena. It was the perfect speed for us with tons of history, architecture, and food.

If you are going in summer, rome florence and venice will be packed and hot as hell. If easter, will also be packed. Stay at an agriturismo with a pool or in florence, for example, at a hotel oltrarno w pool. You and the kids will want to take a break. There is only so much you can see in a day, especially with awful crowds & mass tourists. To enjoy italy, you have to relax and get out of city centers. Also, do you know many museums are open early (bargello — 8 am) or open late (uffizi, palazzo vecchio). Stagger your visits to avoid the tour bus crowds. Have a long lunch and relax by pool or walking in countryside.

I would skip Cinque Terre and either Milan or Venice - if you're flying out of Milan then I would go there, spend another day or 2 and see the Last Supper and actually spend a bit of time there. We did 6 days in Rome (one was a day trip to Pompeii), 5 in Florence (one day to Tuscany, we skipped Pisa bc its a touristy hellhole that I have no desire to return to), 3 nights in Lake Como and then 3 in Milan. Our day trip to Tuscany included Sienna, a visit to a farm/vineyard restaurant, and San Gimignano. It was a great mix and a nice day with much less walking for the kids.

My kids really enjoyed Milan - we live in NYC and Milan feels a lot more like a modern city where people live and work, not a relic of the past. They LOVE history and were super into Rome and Florence but it was nice to show them that Italy has a lot of modern vibrancy as well. I think you'd really want more than 1 day in Venice, which is basically what you have. I was just there for 6 days and couldn't spent another week easily.

We went when my kids were 8-13 and we had an ambitious itinerary not too dissimilar to yours but built in a lot of downtime as well - we booked hotels in Florence and Lake Como with pools so we could let the kids relax a bit. We did't book too much in the way of meals out and just grabbed sandwiches or pizza for meals rather than long meals at night, but we did schedule some lunches for downtime midday. We stayed mostly in small hotels or bed & breakfasts that included breakfast so we ate a lot in the mornings.

Also highly recommend booking private tours as your budget allows, they will give you almost instant access to sites and also know the best ways to visit them to avoid crowds. We had fabulous ones in Rome, Florence and Pompeii. See if you can do the nighttime tour of the Colosseum, it's the only one that allows you to go under the arena. We did the Tuscany day trip with a small group and also booked a pizza and gelato making class on TripAdvisor which my kids felt was a highlight. It was just outside of Rome in the tuscan hills and was super fun but took most of an afternoon and evening.

Anonymous wrote:Who does Cinque terra for 1 day? Why would you do that? It takes hours just to get there and the whole point is that its relaxing. There are some cute cities around there too but you didnt list them.

Rome is reasonable. Same with Florence. Then it goes off the rails. You can't do any of those other towns in less than a day. Most of them would be better with 2 days each. Maybe you mean just pick one hill town for the day? I don't remember which one is closest by but San Giminano is probably the most unique to do a day trip to.

I disagree you need more days for Venice. You may really like it and cut Milan instead but honestly there is nothing to "see" in terms of tour in Venice. You wander through the streets and you enjoy a gondola ride while window shopping and take an hour to enjoy St. Marks having sweets. I really am not sure how people spend 4 days in Venice? I suppose if you really wanted to do glassblowing and see the "beach" where locals hang out around Venice that adds another day but you can tour Rome to your heart's content as well as Florence but you don't tour in Venice. You enjoy the sights of Venice and for enjoying sights of a very small area, you don't need that much time. We did it in a day and loved it. Could we have stayed extra? Sure. Did we have to? No. I would have loved to stay 3 months but you know... short of living there, you can enjoy Venice based on your plans just fine. I would however make sure that between Milan and Venice, you are where you are going to be happiest - some would prefer one or the other - it's very different in ambiance. IF you were to say trek around Italy to see as much as you can, I would keep Milan. We do that - go see everything as much as possible because we likely won't return - there are so many beautiful sights in the world. But of course, you can always return as well to re-visit more in depth on a second trip as well.

Day 2 in Florence makes me want to cry. Way too much.