Your Guide to the City...

Italy with Children: Where to Stay?
Researching and booking a hotel or vacation rental can be a daunting task for every traveller, but the stakes are especially high when travelling abroad with children. We hope these carefully selected suggestions for lodging help you to find the perfect situation for your family holiday in Italy. Meanwhile, I'm dreaming of the Imperial Hotel Tramontano in Sorrento. The original birthplace of Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso, this historic hotel inspired many other famous literati throughout history and today offers a happy haven for families exploring Naples and the Amalfi Coast. 

Hotels in other regions:

Rome and Lazio   Florence and Tuscany   Milan and Lombardy  Turin and Piedmont
Genoa and Liguria   Perugia and Umbria   Naples and Campania  Venice and Veneto         

Visiting Florence with Kids
By Shannon Venable

Navigating the crowded streets of Florence with kids in tow can be a challenge for families traveling to this famous Renaissance city. With careful planning, however, Florence has much to offer curious little minds in an environment in which museums and sites are increasingly providing unique exhibits and educational programs designed just for children.

When staying in the city during peak months such as the summer, the Oltrarno district just across the river from the Ponte Vecchio can be much less crowded and offers a variety of delicious less-touristy dining choices, as well as convenient supermarkets. The Oltrarno is also much easier to access by car than many of the neighborhoods across the river with very restricted traffic limitations, although parking is expensive. Nearby must-see sites with kids include the Boboli Gardens at Palazzo Pitti, with plenty of wide open space for the little ones to run around and let their imaginations fly, these legendary gardens are also the perfect place for a picnic (there is a supermarket directly across the street). During the summer, my daughters and I like to peek in the courtyard of Palazzo Pitti on our way home from dinner to catch a glimpse of the musical performances produced here. Only after stopping first at our favorite Gelateria Santa Trinità directly across from the Ponte Santa Trinità -- try the dark chocolate (fondente). Read more...

Florence and Tuscany family hotels and holiday rentals

Florence family-friendly restaurants

Florence kids' activities

______________________________________________________________________

Featured Sponsor

Arte al Sole: A Tuscan Cultural Adventure for International Children is a summer day camp in the Lucca hills offering children an opportunity to explore the art, science, history and culture of the region through a fun, engaging curriculum in English. The program is expanding for the summer of 2010 to include an additional one-week session in Umbria.


________________________________________________________________________

10 Best Things for Kids to Do in Venice
By Barbara Rogers
23 October 2009

Collect Lions, Make Masks, Get Lost in a Garden Maze...

Children may remember the little delights and pleasures of this quirky city long after they have forgotten the must-see sights.

Kids are immediately enchanted by Venice, where everything not only looks different, but is different. Buildings are candy colored, streets are water, boats replace cars and high tide floods the main square. So it’s only fitting that the places to go and things to do here should be a little off-beat, too. Of course, like everyone else who has ever come to Venice, begin in the city’s great big family room – Piazza San Marco.

Go Inside St. Mark's – It’s free, and you can reserve a spot to avoid the lines (visit www.alata.it/eng/BOOKING/sanmarco.asp to reserve). Although kids may not always have the patience required of visiting churches, this one has enough to keep them interested, especially if you can plan your visit for later in the day when the crowds have diminished or – better yet, around noon, when people go to lunch and the sun reflects on all the thousands of gold mosaic pieces in glittering glory. Be sure to climb the stairs from the atrium, following signs to Loggia dei Cavalli to stand beside the giant horses on the balcony and look down into St. Mark’s Square.

Tour the Grand Canal by Vaporetto – The best view of the palaces is from the canal, and much of it doesn’t have embankments to walk, so the water is the only way to see some of them. Board near the Doge’s palace and ride the entire circle to get a view of the whole city.

Snap Pictures of the Most Unusual Uses for Boats – A Grand Canal Tour should locate several, but this is a good quest while wandering, too. Among those to look for are boats that replace a grocery store (in the sestiere of Dorsoduro, just off Campo San Barnaba), a taxi, a garbage truck, a hearse, even a DHL or UPS truck. Read more...