Tips for Enjoying Tuscany with a Toddler

Thanks for this guest post on enjoying Tuscany with toddlers to Amie O’Shaughnessy of Ciao Bambino, the travel site that brings you accomodation reviews and travel tips for enjoying your travels with the family.

Tuscany is touristy for a reason—fabulous food, incredible scenery, warm people that love children, fascinating history—the list goes on and on. When it comes to travel with a toddler—arguably the most difficult age range of all—touristy is a good thing because it means there is infrastructure to handle all of those visitors, which in turn means that parents have reliable resources to ensure travel goes as smoothly as possible. English is spoken almost everywhere—unless you speak Italian, the value of this cannot be underestimated as it ensures your needs and/or your kids needs are understood.

There are a few planning basics that should be in place to fully enjoy the region.

Stay in the countryside for a week or more
Keeping logistics to a minimum is key and nothing creates stress faster than packing and repacking multiple times during a relatively short trip. Moreover, most of the accommodations that are truly family-friendly with kitchens and private living space, have week-long stay requirements running from Saturday-to-Saturday. Happy toddlers are active toddlers and while most Italian cities have parks and piazzas that are great for running around, the countryside is ideal for young kids—especially in warmer summer months where swimming is a prime activity—and overall regional sightseeing is easier when you start from outside of the bigger cities. If time permits, plan on staying in Florence for 2-3 nights in addition to the week-long countryside stay.

Select appropriate accommodations
I wish there were as many great accommodations for families in other destinations as there are in Tuscany! What makes them work so well? For one thing, there are many different options to choose from at different quality levels and price points with room configurations that support families. Apartments with kitchen facilities, multiple bedrooms, plus a living room are easy to find. The key is to determine what other kinds of amenities you want—most properties have pools—other things that are worth considering are an onsite restaurant, fitness center, kids program, tennis, playground and/or staff that can help you do things. Independent villas are wonderful for a few families traveling together—but I prefer what we call “resort” options on Ciao Bambino for smaller groups—they are priced better for the quality than villas and families are not isolated from support and services.

Comprehensive amenity lists are outlined on every Ciao Bambino property profile page. To access an easy list of applicable accommodation options, search for “resorts” and Tuscany on our Extended Search page or you can sort by the accommodation category on our Italy Destinations page.

Set realistic goals for sightseeing
While main highways run through Tuscany and are efficient for getting across the region, most of the charming hilltop villages you will want to explore are down windy, narrow, and very slow roads.Things that look like they are in close proximity on a map may actually take quite a bit of time to get to due to the condition of the road. A classic example is exploring the Chianti towns of Gaiole, Greve, and Radda—the roads between these towns are incredibly slow—definitely worth it—but visiting just these 3 relatively nearby villages will take all day when you include lunch (not a fast affair in Italy), potty stops, parking, and of course, getting lost. A good map is a must—Touring Club Italiano has excellent, detailed maps (the key is maps that show small roads).

Favourite excursions
Italians are the best loiterers in the world and this is one of the things I love most about traveling in Tuscany. Travel in this region doesn’t have to be about “activities”—meaning structured things to do. Our best experiences in Tuscany when our son was very young are those where we explored an area or town without a particular agenda—when we were willing to simply sit in one place and let our son run in a piazza around us, giving us an amazing opportunity soak in the life around us. The reality is that toddlers will not appreciate Italian culture in a meaningful way (with the exception of gelato), therefore, the things on this list are about open space—knowing that happy toddlers are active toddlers—combined with something of interest for parents.

Siena
Once you get through the stress of parking in Siena, the reward is significant. The Piazza del Campo—the main public space in Siena—is one of the most beautiful, dramatic squares in Italy. You will be pleased and your toddler will be pleased by the car less, enormous space with hundreds of pigeons to chase.

Lucca
The historical center of Lucca lies within walls that are hundreds of years old—locals and tourists love to walk, run, and bike on the wide road that extends along the top of the walls. You can use a stroller or consider biking, as there are a number of bike rental shops that offer baby seats

Forte dei Marmi
Forte dei Marmi is an upscale, beach town on the border between Tuscany and Liguria. Unlike the better-known Cinque Terre which is not optimized for a toddler with cliffs, steps, and hazards—Forte dei Marmi has a broad, sandy, flat beach with little surf. The beach clubs are open during the summer months and allow families to enjoy the coast Italian-style with good food, coffee, and wine

Chianti Towns
The sad fact is that visiting hill towns in Chianti are a bit like visiting churches—they may all be extraordinary and different—but at a certain point they start to look the same. That said, there are many wonderful, small towns to explore and appreciate. Greve in Chianti is the one my clients raved most about over the years—the main square is picturesque and home to one of Italy’s oldest and most famous butcher shops, the Macelleria Falorni not to mention excellent wine tasting everywhere. Most of the towns are comprised of a center (centro) without cars, making exploration toddler-friendly (noting some towns are hilly with many steps.

Pienza
Pienza is in the Val D’Orcia (on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites)—a part of Tuscany where the landscape is unspoiled and dramatic.Pienza is a Renaissance town famous for pecorino cheese production. The views of the countryside from here are spectacular and cheese tasting is at every turn—fun for every age.

Florence is one of my favorite places on the planet, but it is not optimal with a toddler. Not impossible—but not amazing since it is very crowded and many of the top attractions like visiting museums and shopping are challenging with an impatient child. It is also worth noting that I intentionally left things off of the highlights list that would be great with school-age kids like Pisa and San Gimignano since the focus of this piece is toddlers.

One thing that is very kid-friendly about all of Italy is the food—the bottom line is that the very things that most kids love—pizza and pasta—are plentiful there. Restaurants do not have kid’s menus per se, but many will prepare whatever you want for your children (assuming it is Italian). The result is that finding kid-friendly restaurants is relatively unimportant. Note, parents should travel with a me-too type seat, since not all restaurants have high chairs.

Travels tips on Ciao Bambino has more general information on traveling with kids. Buon Viaggio!

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