FLORENCE

Ahhh.. the birthplace of the Renaissance, city of romance, love, and art… City that totally NOT great with a 4-year-old, for most of the same reasons as Rome. Bring your 12-year-olds.. your 16-year-old… but not 4. We made it work, and hopefully (if you must go to this city with a young child), these places and tips will help you out.

Stay.

We AirBnB’d it here in Florence.. (despite my wanting to stay in a hotel with a pool), as my husband thought location and close to the city center was vital. The AirBnB Via Pietrapiana, 20 we stayed at looks like it has been remodeled and improved since we visited in the summer of 2018. It was very nice when we stayed there as well.. Just a pain with stroller and no elevator, but we were finding that was common in Italy. It was blocks away from the Duomo and other sites, which was fabulous. It was also across the street from a little park Loggia del Pesce (Fish’s Lodge). It was tiny and sweet… but sadly filled with homeless people at the time, so we didn’t feel comfortable letting our daughter play there. (It may have changed, as there was construction happening while we were there.)

Eat.

Our hunt in Florence continued to find good, authentic food with kid-friendly atmosphere, after long, grueling days battling museum crowds and a screaming tot. With a 4-year-old, we couldn’t see paying loads of money for an expensive, tourist restaurant. We had dinner at Foody Farm: fairly inexpensive, no line at early dinner, kid-friendly, quick service, good “basket” food. And THEN we found a hidden gem that had both AMAZING food, wine, AND a sweet kid playroom: Fuoco Motto. (See pix left). AMAAAAAZING and worth the trek, as it did require a bit of walking. On the final night, after a week in Italy, we decided to change it from Italian to Asian cuisine and found the wonderful Firenzen Noodle Bar. The food was superb: definitely eclectic Asian w/ a hint of Florence. Our daughter loved the outdoor courtyard we sat in.. room to be active and play with a few toys, while not disturbing those dining indoors.

Play.

Florence felt a lot like Rome, in that there was a plethora of galleries, cathedrals, and museums, but far and few places for children to play. It really took some research to find those play-spaces, and a good amount of walking, but we did it! Here were our few favorites: The gorgeous, vintage carousel at Piazza Della Repubblica. We rode the merry-go-round there 3x! My daughter adored it! We also found a great park about 5-6 blocks from our Airbnb called Giardino di Borgo Allegri which was IDEAL! Almost two parks in one, this awesome play-place where we took our daughter daily had tons of small slides, climbing structures, and hidden in the back corner, a mini-soccer field and larger swing set. The seniors who volunteered her absolutely loved our daughter, and my husband enjoyed the little astroturf soccer field in the eastern corner of the park when it was open. We spend many mornings and evenings here to get our kid’s energy out safely (since you can’t trust those scooters in the piazzas!)

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