Written for wendyperrin.com
When I won Condé Nast Traveler’s Dream Trip contest, it was based on my essay about wanting to take my kids to Florence, a city I loved but that I didn’t think of as kid-friendly. Wendy and her WOW List expert Maria Landers from Concierge in Umbria crafted a great two-week trip for us—so great that Florence quickly became our family’s favorite destination, and we’ve now returned to the city every summer since the prize trip.
I write about all of our favorite things in Florence in this post, and our favorite restaurants here. But my advice to families heading to Florence for the first time? Embrace what Florence is known for—namely art, architecture, history and food. Here are my recommendations for how best to do that with kids:
Embrace the Art
Art is everywhere in Florence—in the public squares, in the museums, and even on street signs. Our kids loved the Bargello, Academia, and Uffizi Museums with Elvira, our extraordinary guide arranged by Concierge of Umbria. At each museum we were able to skip the long lines and we had decidedly kid-friendly tours, focusing on lesser-known important pieces, as well as the major works. We never spent more than an hour in any museum, and every stop involved not only seeing the art but also interacting with it. Elvira arranged scavenger hunts and sketching sessions for us around town. After my kids saw David, they went out to patio of the Academia and drew photos of what they thought Goliath looked like. And our private tour through the Uffizi’s Vasari Corridor was extraordinary. Our kids still remember the corridor above their heads every time they cross the Ponte Vecchio.
We’ve also done private art sessions. Context Travel (whose founder, Paul Bennett is another Trusted Travel Expert on Wendy’s WOW List) set up a fresco making session with a Florentine artist. And through Arte al Sole the kids had a sketching class combined with a scavenger hunt through the Boboli Gardens. The best thing about the Arte al Sole class? We, the parents, weren’t involved at all. We dropped the kids off with their art expert Andi and picked them up three hours later at the entrance to the gardens. It’s the only time we’ve separated from the kids in Europe and they loved it!
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When you do florence with the kids do you rent a flat or hotel? Any recommendations? We looking at taking our 3 kids… We are planning around a friends 10 year anniversary at L’andana but that would only be a few nights and we were thinking florence to expand the trip. Depending on circumstance I might even have the kids over there a week beyond my husband’s trip…
We stay at the Antica Torre di via Tornabuoni every year with our three kids. Lots of things I like about it: the location near the Ponte Santa Trinita; the view of the Duomo from the rooftop patio; and their family setup where they can easily combine two rooms for a family of five – not always the case at European hotels! And we love the front desk and breakfast staff.
Hey Eric,
I think I remember you’d recommended buying a cheap umbrella stroller in Italy and using the heck out of it, rather than bringing your own. Can you recommend a good place to buy one? This will be our first time in Italy, so I’m clueless as to where to look.
Thanks!
Laura
Great question Laura. In some cities it’s taken us a few hours to locate a store. Where in Italy are you starting?
We’ll be starting in Cinque Terre, but won’t look to pick up a stroller until we arrive in Florence.
I asked Georgette at Girl in Florence. She recommends renting a stroller from MammaMamma. Not sure if you can rent in Florence and return somewhere else though? If you want to buy, try a department store. That’s always where we start. La Rinascente and COIN are both in the center of the city. I can’t find strollers on their websites, but they likely have them?
Thanks so much for looking into this for us, we will try those! We’ll probably end up winging it (our daughter is at the age where half the time she doesn’t love being in the stroller anyway, and we do have a hipseat carrier as a backup). As a fail safe, I did find a Chicco store in central Florence too. 😀
Thanks again!
Laura
It looks great. We hadn’t considered Florence but we will now!
Hi! I’ve followed your advice and booked the Antica Torre for my families stay in Florence. I was wondering how we could try to contact your kid friendly guide Elvira? She sounds wonderful!
This is her: https://www.instagram.com/c_est_l_evi/?hl=en. Her email address is in her profile.