The best things to do with kids in Italy

Traveling with kids is never easy – yet always rewarding. And visiting Italy as a family offers much more of the latter than the former.

You’ll quickly find that the Italians are as child-loving as you’ve heard, taking their time to show patience and genuine hospitality to traveling families. The best things to do in Italy with kids range from treasure-hunting through Roman ruins to castle-building on sandy beaches. Add brilliant food to the mix – and you’ve got the perfect recipe for an unforgettable family trip.

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Here’s all you need to know about traveling in Italy with children.

Is Italy good for kids?

Overall, yes – very. While you’ll find relatively few child-specific sights in Italy, museums and major attractions cater to visitors of all ages – and generally provide discounted or even free admission for children. Many also engage young minds through smartphone apps, touchscreen gadgets, audio guides and dedicated tours.

Eating out as a family in Italy is a breeze, as well. Children are welcome in most restaurants, and classic Italian fare of pizza, pasta and gelato will always appeal to young palates. While kids’ menus are rare, it’s usually fine to request a mezza porzione (half portion).

Getting around can be hard work in cities, where you’ll have to contend with steps, cobbled streets and darting scooters. Such conditions are not ideal if you’re pushing a stroller.

Where in Italy is best with kids?

Rome and Lazio offer ancient ruins and sensational pizza. Tuscany has fabulous rental villas and outdoor pursuits. Campania offers subterranean ruins in Naples, Pompeii and Vesuvius. Puglia and Calabria are full of beaches, welcoming towns and glorious food. Sicily and Sardinia are replete with volcanoes, dazzling beaches and water sports. The Dolomites are home to family-friendly ski resorts, and in summer, hiking and biking.

Best things to do in Italy with babies and toddlers

Hang out in parks, piazzas and playgrounds

Among the museums and monuments in Italy’s large cities, countless parks, piazzas and playgrounds are all perfect for running around. Historic open spaces like Villa Borghese in Rome, Florence’s Piazza della Repubblica and Piazza San Marco in Venice are prime spots for letting your tots off the leash.

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For older kids, there are several theme parks dotted around the country, including the ever-popular Gardaland near Lago di Garda.

Head to the beach

In summer, do what local families do and hit the beach. Once on the sand, bathing clubs rent out umbrellas and loungers, and provide toilets and bar facilities. You’ll find beaches throughout the country; many of the best are in Sardinia and the southern regions of Calabria and Puglia. Note that crowds peak in August, when it can be hard to find an open patch of sand.

Best things to do in Italy with young children

Mess about on or in the water

From swanning around in Venice on a gondola to cruising Lago di Garda or touring Capri’s coastline in a speedboat, getting out on Italy’s many bodies of water is a thrill for visitors of all ages. Older kids with a taste for adventure could try their hand at sea kayaking in the Aeolian Islands, or even white-water rafting in Calabria’s Raganello Canyon.

Get hands-on at Italy’s family-friendly museums

Museums are a good choice for rainy days. Child-friendly options include Explora, a colorful play-museum in Rome for under-12s, and the Gelato Museum Carpigiani near Bologna. Elsewhere, impressionable museumgoers can meet a mummy in Turin’s Museo Egizio, or go goggle-eyed at Milan’s Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia, Italy’s largest science museum.

Climb monuments for iconic views

Even if they’re a tad too impatient to learn about the history behind Italy’s iconic monuments, children will savor the chance to climb to the top of many of them. Pisa’s Leaning Tower is one for the family album, while the Campanile on Venice’s Piazza San Marco offers 360-degree views of the canal-crossed city. For more heavenly panoramas, climb the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, or the cupola of Brunelleschi’s landmark Duomo in Florence.

Get sporty in the mountains

The Dolomites in Veneto and Trentino–Alto Adige are a prime spot for sports year-round, with stunning scenery and activities for all ages and abilities. Places like recent Olympic host town Cortina d’Ampezzo, Val Gardena and Val Badia offer excellent family-friendly facilities such as skiing, sledding and snowboarding in the winter, and hiking and biking in the summer months.

Poke around ancient relics

Children and ancient ruins don’t always make for holiday bliss. But even the most hard-to-please kids will be impressed by Rome’s Colosseum or the ghostly remains of Pompeii. (Prepare for crowds, and pack plenty of sun protection.) For somewhere less crowded, try the southern city of Matera, where your kids can nose around ancient cave dwellings known as Sassi.

Go wildlife watching

It’s easy to spot majestic creatures at Rome’s zoo and Genoa’s aquarium – but Italy provides plenty of scope for wildlife encounters in the wild, too. If you’re lucky, you can spot dolphins plying the waters of Taranto during boat tours. Further north, Marsican brown bears, wolves and chamois roam Abruzzo’s remote national parks. You’re unlikely to see any of them...but the kids will find it fun to think they might.

Best things to do in Italy with tweens and teens

Venture up a volcano

Italy is one of only a handful of countries where you can scramble around on a volcano without setting off on an advanced expedition. Sure-footed teens will have no problems scaling Mt Vesuvius, mainland Europe’s only active volcano. In Sicily, famous Mt Etna and lesser-known Stromboli put on frequent fireworks displays. But when they’re quiet, you can explore their barren slopes on guided tours.

Explore underground

Italy’s subterranean attractions provide rich pickings for unforgettable adventures. In Rome and Naples, you can plunge into creepy catacombs to see where the early Christians buried their dead. In Perugia, tour the Rocca Paolina, an Etruscan and Roman fortress that lies beneath the city. Stalagmites and stalactites abound at spectacular cave networks throughout the country, including the Grotte di Frasassi in Le Marche, Tuscany’s Grotta del Vento, and the Grotte di Castellana in Puglia.

Become a football fan

Seeing one of Italy’s top football (soccer) teams in action can be a thrilling experience for the young (as well as the young at heart). To cheer on Juventus, head to Allianz Stadium in Turin. Fans of Milan’s two teams (AC Milan and Inter) should make for the San Siro Stadium, while supporters of Roma and archrival Lazio can catch their team at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. Check the clubs’ websites for match details; if you can’t make a game, you can take guided tours of all three stadiums.

More planning tips for your Italy family trip

Family-friendly accommodation is plentiful in Italy. Self-catering apartments are found throughout the country, while farm stays (agriturismi) provide ample space and sometimes the chance to pet animals. Seaside resort hotels are also well set up for families, with many offering babysitting services and access to private beaches.

Italy has an efficient train network, which makes traveling between cities fairly straightforward. Connections to popular seaside resorts are also pretty reliable, either by train or bus. For more remote rural areas, you’ll really need a car.