7 Day Rome Travel Guide w/Kids (Ages 10-15)
Accommodation:
Waldorf Astoria, Rome Cavalieri
Day 1:
Galleria Borghese. Jet lag.
Day 2:
Treasures of Rome Tour
This trip occurred before we met Carine of Unique Paris, who currently books our private guided tours. So I just found Maria from Rome Tours with Kids on Yelp, and it was an incredible experience! (PS I gotta say, don’t you love the name!!? I mean, there is no question as to what the company is about!) Hahaha.
A great overview of the city day. Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona. Maria kept the kids engages and looking all over and through churches for different historical symbols. She had prizes for answering her questions (even incorrectly) because her objective was to get them engaged and talking. This woman is brillant, I tell you!
Day 3:
Vatican and Sistine Chapel Tour.
Turns out, our kids are allergic to being quiet….. but so are all the other visitors to the Vatican. It’s not a quiet place, so no need to worry. And of course, we completely ignored the guards yelling “No photo! No photo!” inside the Sistine Chapel….because we just joined the throngs of others who were also ignoring them.
Maria was able to win my kids attention again through conversation— she has this amazing sneaky way of sliding some Roman history into the chat as we strolled through the paintings of some of the history’s most famous Italian artists – Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, Caravaggio and more.
We were also able to sneak through a special passage from the Sistine Chapel to the Basilica of St. Peter’s, where the Swiss Guards protect the entrance to the holy staircase of the Pope’s residence of the past century. (Today it’s used for meetings with ambassadors and other dignitaries of the world.)
Highlights of the Vatican Museum included: the Rooms of Raphael, the famous painted ceilings of the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and Michelangelo’s Pietà.
Day 4:
Beach Day. We took a break and went out on our own to drive around the city.
Day 5:
Ruins of Ancient Rome Tour
Our kids thought this was fascinating. We skipped the line and popped into the interior of the Colosseum, the grandest amphitheater of Roman Empire. It was hard for them to believe gladiators (who were actually slaves) fought brave battles against one another— OR ferocious animals imported from around the world…. all for the sake of the entertainment of the crowds of thousands in order to save their life.
Post-Colosseum, we walked over to the Roman Forum through the ancient streets and again Maria chatted with us about the history of the early Roman people. Our kids were literally pumped and all into it- again the prizes and the reward for staying in the conversation helped immensly. We saw the ruins of the Emperors' Palace, the Arch of Titus, ancient temples, and important political buildings from the time of the great Roman Empire. Maria *made* this trip for us, and we still have a little box filled with many of the prizes from our memorable 3 days with her.
Day 6:
We took train out to Florence to see Michaelangelo’s “David” and alsoThe Uffizi Museum.
(PSA: “David is NOT located inside the museum, it’s located inside the Galleria dell’Accademia. I tell you this because we were wandering through the Uffizi looking for a tall naked marble man, and there were some to be found, but not David.)
Back to the Uffizi. Its the most popular museum in Florence for Medieval and Renaissance masterpieces. It has been recently ranked by about different aspects of our art, in particular, how the subjects, the styles and the techniques changed throughout the centuries.
Ask your guide to focus on some interesting details of each painting, or choose a few on your own. A few ideas are:
“Annunciation” by Leonardo
“Medusa’s Head“ by Caravaggio
“Holy Family” by Michelangelo
“Birth of Venus” by Botticelli
“Madonna del Cardellino” by Raphael.
The Great thing about art is there are no right or wrong answers, so it’s easy to just say to your kids, “What Do You think is Going on in this Painting?” and let them tell you what they see.
Day 7:
Depart for home.