After a week of aggressive sightseeing, we were all excited for a little R&R by the sea. We left Pisa and caught the train to the Tuscan seaside town of Marina di Pietrasanta. We had another rental house for the week, this one through VRBO.

As soon as we got to the house, we dropped our bags and walked to the nearest alimentari (little grocery store). We had 4 cranky adults and 5 cranky kids. We bought wine, water, potato chips and fruit… probably some other stuff too, but everyone needed an immediate pick me up. Much to our delight, the alimentari offered to drive our purchase up to our house for us – thank goodness, because we had a lot of water that would have been difficult to carry.

The next morning, we all woke up very excited to hit the beach. We had not packed beach towels in our luggage to save space, and I was very confident that we would have no trouble finding beach towels in a beach town. Wrong. We ended up buying the ONLY beach towels we could find – at a Quicksilver store in town. They were massively overpriced, but while in the shop, we learned that there were surfing lessons there a few times a day. Our friends’ oldest son ended up signing up for some for the week, and it was one of his favorite parts of the trip.

A few weeks/months prior to our trip, I reached out via Facebook Messenger to Bagno Roma Garden, one of the local beach clubs. I wanted to reserve a beach spot for our families for the week. Debora, the owner, didn’t have a way to accept an international payment for the necessary reservation deposit, so she just told me not to worry – we could pay when we arrived.

I wish I had taken more pictures of Roma Garden. Debora and her family were so kind and welcoming, the pool was loved by the kids, and the onsite bar and restaurant never ran out of Gelato or Aperol Spritz 🙂 The food was amazing too.

Every day, we would walk the 0.8 miles from our VRBO house to Bagno Roma Garden. Our beach spot for the week was a large tent which included a few lounge chairs, a table with chairs, and a few sling chairs – ample space for 9 people. We spent our days relaxing in the sun, swimming in the pool, playing in the sand, and eating countless gelatos.

We usually left the beach around 4pm. We all would take turns getting ourselves and the kids ready for the evening whilst simultaneously indulging in a lengthy aperitivo hour a casa. Even though we had a full kitchen, we ate out every night because – vacation.

I love an organized Italian beach. Having an assigned spot with chairs, clean bathrooms, a nearby bar for drinks and snacks, sometimes a pool, and a cared for beach usually with an accompanying Salvataggio (beach lifeguard) feels indulgent every time. Often, on a Family Adventure, it is hard for me to relax since I am in charge of all the plans and logistics, but sunbathing. on a beach. in Italy….. it soothes my soul every time.

After a lovely week of sun tans and relaxation, our friends departed on the train to Rome and the airport and their flight home. We had another 2 days in Italy – a quick train ride to Bologna to spend some time with our Zio Stefano.

What We Say About Marina di Pietrasanta

Our second day trip from Florence was to Pisa. It was really not a day trip but a stopover on the way to our final destination of the vacation. We checked out of our Airbnb, and with all our luggage in tow, caught the train to Pisa. We used the deposito bagagli again at the Pisa train station and set off on foot for the Tower.

It’s a nearly 1.5 mile (2km) walk from the train station to the Piazza del Duomo where the Leaning Tower leans. I’ll be honest – not a single person in our group of 9 was having a good day that day. It was hot. It was crowded. The kids were cranky. The adults were cranky.

By the time we got there, enthusiasm had waned significantly. We tried to get a group shot – the group wasn’t having it.

Not long before our trip that year, I had reconnected with a childhood friend of mine. Her parents and my parents were friends in the ’70’s when my parents lived in Bologna. When we started spending our summer vacations in Italy when I was a child, she would often come and spend a few days at the beach with us.

I knew she worked at the Pisa Tourist Office in the Piazza del Duomo. I hadn’t told her we were coming to Pisa that day because I really didn’t know if I would have a chance to see her, but when we found ourselves standing right outside of the Tourist Office trying to get the failed group shot, I went in to see if she was working. And she was! It was a fun surprise.

She recommended lunch at alabona, and everyone’s moods did improve after a few large glasses of wine, lemon sodas and heaping bowls of pasta with ragu di cinghiale (boar) and of course, another round of gelato.

Then it was back on the train to our next destination – the Tuscan beach town of Marina di Pietrasanta!

What We Say About Pisa

Using Florence as our base, we made two day trips via train. The first – Siena. The kids LOVE riding on the train, and it’s so much easier than trying to find parking for a rental car.

The walking route from the train station in Siena is unremarkable until you get to the medieval wall and pass through Porta Camollia. It’s a pretty impressive entrance to this historical city center, and once through, the streets carry on the majesty.

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Like all self-respecting tourists, we made the Piazza del Campo our 1st stop. We entered the Piazza from Vicolo S. Pietro for the wow factor – descent down stairs in a tiny alleyway and then BAM! We hung out in the Piazza for a while, trying to imagine the Palio and taking it all in. The kids wanted to buy tickets to climb the bell tower, but there was a lengthy wait, so we passed.

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We spent the rest of the day walking around Siena, taking in the scenery, visiting the Duomo, and occupying the kids by identifying all the contrade symbols as we passed from neighborhood to neighborhood in the city. The flags are the most obvious, but you can spot contrade symbols on plaques on the walls, sculptures, mosaics, and even light fixtures.

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During lunch at Osteria La Chiacchera, we asked the kids to design a symbol for their own contrada. It was a great activity that kept them occupied until the food came.

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To my kids, all the churches eventually start to look the same. While they enjoy the cool temperatures inside and a break from the hot summer sun, they do get bored pretty easily. A sure way to get them excited about visiting a church – challenging them to find relics inside. The Siena Duomo has a window in the floor that visitors can peer through to see relics of Siena’s patron saints.

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What We Say About Siena

After a busy 3 days in Rome, it was time to head to the next stop, and base for a few days, Florence. We started the day wishing J a Happy Birthday! Turning 40 in Italy is pretty great, but if you get to be that lucky, you do have to wear embarrassing birthday flair all day.

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We took a Frecciarosa train to Firenze, a short 1 hour and 15 minute ride. When we arrived, it was still too early in the day to check-in to our AirBnb, so we used the train station Deposito Bagagli. Many train stations in Italy offer this service, especially the ones in the larger cities. For a small fee per bag, you can check your luggage for a period of time into a secure location – great for exploring the city unencumbered by heavy luggage.

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After we dropped our bags, we made a beeline to the Mercato Centrale for lunch. Located on the ground floor of the historic San Lorenzo market, the space has been reimagined as a food court with stalls, shops, and open, communal seating.

Properly fueled for the day, we set off on another self-guided walking tour: The Duomo and Baptistry – Piazza della Signoria & Palazzo Vecchio – Ponte Vecchio – Basilica di Santa Maria Novella. It was excruciatingly hot in Florence that day. Since my motto is “when the kids get cranky – get gelato”, we stopped for gelato a few times. Once at Perché no! and the 2nd time at an emergency bar somewhere on Via della Scala.

With 5 kids under the age of 10, we knew that lots of art and museums were not in the cards for this visit to Florence. We did not go into the Uffizi or the Duomo, and that’s OK. We did show the kids the replica of the David in the Piazza outside of the Palazzo Vecchio (see below: it left quite the impression), and we spent time checking out the sculptures in the nearby Loggia dei Lanzi.

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We wrapped up our afternoon walking tour back at the train station, picked up all our luggage, and grabbed taxis to our Airbnb. This apartment was located a bit outside of the city center and is owned by an American family now living in Florence. The girls and I picked up a birthday torta for J, and we held a mini birthday party with the kids.

The adults had bigger plans for celebrating a 40th birthday in Florence! After EXTENSIVE research and review reading, both families agreed that we felt comfortable enough getting a babysitter for the kids from International Babysitters so that we could have an adults only night. We were nervous, the kids were nervous, but it worked out just fine.

We celebrated J with a birthday dinner at Locale Firenze. The restaurant is located in a former Palazzo, and the cocktails and food were incredible. We had SUCH a spectacular evening!

For our 2nd day in Florence, we made the bold decision to take the kids on a Chianti Wine Tour with Viator. We spent a leisurely morning in the Airbnb letting the Dad’s catch up on some work and then made our way to meet the bus for our tour. Even though these types of tourist tours aren’t my favorite, we knew it would be our safest option to do some wine tasting.

The tour stopped at two wineries – Riseccoli and Poggio Amorelli. Both wineries are family owned, and the group was led through a wine tasting at both locations that was also accompanied by locals meats, breads and cheeses. They also provided alcohol free beverages for the kids and allowed them to snack even though they obviously weren’t wine tasting. The bus also stopped for visits in the towns of Greve in Chianti and Castellina in Chianti for exploring and shopping. We obviously got the kids ice creams in both places 🙂

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One day when the girls are older, we’ll take them back to Florence. We’ll visit the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, talk about the Medici family, explore the Boboli Gardens and climb to the top of the Duomo. But for this trip, for their ages, this was just right.

What We Say About Florence

When J and I decided to start a family, we knew that our willingness to travel internationally with small kids (and ALL THEIR GEAR) in tow would likely diminish, but we also knew that there would come a time when the challenges would be outweighed by the desire to introduce the love of travel to our girls. We set a goal. When all naps were dropped and strollers were no longer needed, we would take the girls to Italy.

In the summer of 2018, we did just that. Big Sis was 7 and Lil Sis was 4. We even somehow convinced some of our best friends to come with us – with their 5, 7 and 10 year old kids in tow too! The 2-week itinerary – Rome, Florence, Siena, Pisa and a beach week at Marina di Pietrasanta.

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Our departure day was a Friday the 13th. We should have known better. Our 6:45pm flight didn’t take off until 2:15am. A 7.5 hour delay of which only a small portion was spent in the terminal. The rest of the time, we were on board the aircraft. There was an error with the freight weighing/flight balancing software, then people wanted to get off the plane because they feared we wouldn’t be able to take off safely, then a “conflict resolution officer” came on board to calm down some angry passengers…..and then the delay was so lengthy that the crew was now beyond their regulated flying window, and so we had to wait for a new crew to arrive.

The girls were hungry, exhausted and BEYOND cranky. They refused all food on the airplane…..and also pretty much refused to sleep as well. I personally feel that they have never recovered from the “trauma” of this travel day, and the memory of it has contributed to their less than enthusiastic approach to transatlantic flights ever since.

We finally arrived in Milan at 3:30pm. We rushed through passport control and baggage claim in a mad dash to catch the 4:15 train from the airport to Milano Centrale, the main train station. We knew we had missed our reserved Frecciarosa train to Rome that departed at 2pm by a mile, but unlike our 2019 trip when there were no more train reservations to be found, thankfully on this trip we were able to buy new tickets on the next available train to Rome.

We bought some panini, waters and a beer – our first real meal in 24 hours and headed to Rome.

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We made it to Rome by 9:30pm. We happily splurged on a taxi to the delightful AirBnb where our friends were waiting for us with cold white wine and collapsed in bed.

This wasn’t just my girls’ first trip to Italy, it was also the first time for our friends, the E Family. Mom E shared with me her must-sees list during the planning of the trip, and I did my best to work them all into the planned itinerary.

Our first morning in Rome was spent on a self-guided walking tour through part of the historical city center. Piazza Navona – Pantheon – Trevi Fountain – Campo Dei Fiori.

The original plan for the morning was to walk all the way to the Spanish Steps and then to eat lunch at Forno in Campo Dei Fiori on our way back to the AirBnb, but the kids were getting tired and didn’t want to go any further to the Steps. So what did we do? We popped into a nearby Gelateria, of course. Never underestimate the power of a morning gelato to reenergize tired little legs.

When we got to Forno for lunch, it was closed. GAH! We looked around the piazza and settled on Obica. The kids were happy with pizzas, and the adults shared mozzarella in all preparations and the first of MANY Aperol Spritz.

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After lunch, we headed back to the apartment for naps for most. Dad E and I went out for a caffè and then to buy bus tickets for the afternoon outing. That afternoon, we all jumped on the public bus down to Piazza Venezia and then walked over to Trastevere for dinner. I always prefer to walk everywhere in foreign cities because there’s always so much to see around every corner, but sometimes the distance is just too far, so it’s helpful to be able to get closer to a certain neighborhood using public transit.

Along the way to dinner at Ristorante La Gattabuia, we just casually passed ancient ruins along with the Temple of Hercules and La Bocca della Verità. I just love that about Rome. We also ended up having a spontaneous pre-dinner aperitivo at Bar 404 Name Not Found along the way to test out its claim to fame.

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We were up early the next morning to catch the bus to the Colosseum and the Forum. I don’t normally sign up for guided tours when abroad, but with 5 kids in the group, we wanted to make our visit to this famous site worth it for everyone – with minimal whining and maximum excitement. Mom E did some research and found a private family tour geared towards kids from LivItaly Tours that included NOT waiting in line. Our guide Melanie spoke excellent English and was fantastic with kids. She brought along a bag of tricks to keep them entertained – a scavenger hunt, stamps, activity pages, and cardboard glasses that use an app on your personal phone to turn the Colosseum and the Forum into a Virtual Reality experience.

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After our tour wrapped up, the kids were VERY hungry. We strategically did some souvenir shopping on the way to lunch to prevent meltdowns. It’s amazing how a sword, 3 purses and a replica of the Colosseum can instantly boost moods.

We ended up going back to the Airbnb every day after lunch for naps and showers. Rome was VERY hot that week, and we did a ton of walking outside most days. We encouraged the kids to lie down and nap or at least rest because we were often up late each night. This is one of the reasons I love renting apartments when traveling – while the kids napped the adults can hang out in a separate space.

In the afternoon, we descended upon Up-Sunset Bar on the roof of the department store Rinascente to meet up with my Italian sister Maria Pia. The summer I was 17, I lived with Maria Pia and her family as an exchange student. I had last seen her in 2008, and we were so excited for her to meet my girls. There were more Spritz for us and pizzette for the kids while we all enjoyed the spectacular sunset over Rome.

For dinner, we tried to find the Rome location of the famous Neapolitan Pizza joint Da Michele with no luck, so we just stopped at another pizzeria that looked decent. We made up for that tiny snafu with a visit to the Trevi Fountain lit up at night and a gelato nightcap at San Crispino while we waited out a thunderstorm. We got back to the AirBnb around 11pm that night – eek!

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On our final day in Rome, the E family set off to do a tour of the Vatican Museums, but we didn’t feel our girls were ready just yet for that. Instead, J and I took the girls to St. Peter’s Basilica, amidst a crowd of people that seems unbelievable now. When visiting St. Peter’s and the Vatican it is important to remember that there is a strict dress code. The Swiss Guards will deny you entry if you do not adhere to them. I always bring along a scarf or light cardigan to wear to cover my shoulders. Make sure your shorts and/or skirt aren’t too short either.

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We spent the afternoon exploring Castel Sant’Angelo. In all my previous visits to Rome, I had always admired Castel Sant’Angelo from the outside, but I had never been in. It is well worth a visit, and as a bonus, there are 360 degree views of Rome from the top!

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We had a final gelato in Rome at Gelateria del Teatro before we headed back to the Airbnb. I personally think this is the most delicious gelato in Rome, and everyone always loves watching the behind the scenes action from the large window.

We met back up with the E Family at the Airbnb that evening to begin the always unpleasant task of packing. After 3 days in Rome, we were off in the morning to Florence!

Rome is my favorite place in the world, and it’s always so difficult to leave. When the Pandemic subsides, and we can all travel freely again, I do believe Rome will be one of the first places I visit. She has my heart.

What We Say About Rome