First timer in tuscany - the drive!

[BeanyBops]

Hello, I'm taking my 5 year old to tuscany (with husband) this summer - we don't get to travel abroad often at all and this is our first time in Italy too!
We are flying in to Rome and decided to make the 3.5 hour drive further up to our agriturismo near Florence.

Can anyone recommend any fun or interesting places to break up the drive? We are looking at taking the coastal route but if there's any must see sights/towns on the way up, we could go inland.

Secondly - because I'm naive to anything that isn't a slightly chilly beach in Cornwall - if you have any other suggestions/tips for taking a young child to Italy or Italy in general, I would very much appreciate it!

Thank you!

One key thing to know: if you are turning onto a main road and see someone flash their lights, don’t see it as an indication to pull
it. The car in question will generally be speeding and it means: ‘Don’t even think about coming out, I’m not stopping!’

Oh my gosh, thank you, I would NOT have known this! You've probably just saved our lives.

It will be beautiful everywhere! I love Sienna and San Ginniammo. If it makes you feel any better we drove from Lancaster to Florence once with three kids under the age of eight and survived!!

Dont rely on the journey being the specified time. In the summer the motorways are very busy, If there is a crash, the entire thing can be shut down until it’s clear; we once spent four hours on the motorway you would be using in the July heat . Going back to the airport in these conditions can be very stressful, as you see the clock ticking and the traffic crawling.

I would fly to Pisa and relax.

I was going to suggest Siena and Sam Gimignano too! There are beautiful little places everywhere.
You’ll love Italy… they love kids there and really make you feel welcome in restaurants and cafes. We were walking in a little hilltop town once and my young daughter fell and hurt herself. All these older ladies came running to help. They couldn’t speak a word of English but soothed and comforted her, and fetched a plaster from one of their houses! So lovely!

To be fair, I’ve been stuck on British motorways many a time. Surely this can happen anywhere…

Are you planning on seeing Rome as well? Otherwise I don’t see why you don’t fly to Pisa instead.

It would certainly be worth getting a summary of Italian driving regulations, at least the official ones. How people actually drive is something else altogether, of course.
With a 5year old, a good place to stop off for a break might be a lakeside, either Lake Bolseno or Trasimeno. Look for a spiaggia (beach). It will give them a chance for a run around before getting back in the car.
When we did something similar near Florence in summer, we actually went over to having a siesta most days, from 12 to 3. We then did our main activity from 3pm onwards. It would have been too hot with a young child in those temperatures.
San Giminiano might be lovely, but it’s also horribly overcrowded in summer. Get there early if you’re going at all.
Siena‘s also lovely, but if you’re going mid-August there‘s a big horse race called the Palio and the town will also be busy (and closed off) then.
Are you renting the car in Rome from a reputable firm? We accidentally ended up with a crowd of rip-off merchants after booking via Easy Jet. They make their money by giving cheap offers and then simply refusing to pay back the security deposit. After I read the reviews I took preventative action when we returned the car by (politely) saying we would sue the butt off them if they didn’t give our deposit back, and all went smoothly, but lots of other people have lost hundreds of euros.

Could you get the train? I usually take the train everywhere in Italy, including to lake como, lake Garda, and between Pisa and Rome . I wouldn’t want to drive in Italy and I am not normally shy about driving abroad!

The trains are really efficient and cheap, so much cheaper than the UK that we travel business class if it’s available - so much easier with a young child too as you can walk about and bring games etc

I imagine that a car would be needed for a stay in an agriturismo.

We did it in April; it was lovely, we got flights to Pisa, spent two nights there and drove to Chianti; and did our daily trips from there. Feel like going again thinking of it

Hi all - I can definitely tell you guys are more experienced travellers than me, thank you!

I would much prefer to fly to pisa but unfortunately we are tied to school holidays and flying to pisa about doubles the price and makes the holiday close to not viable for us. We tried out a few alternate airports flying from our local, even the idea of stopping overnights on the way up and down to avoid the big drive, but ultimately flying to Rome and then driving up is probably our best option. Yes we need a car because we want to get about on day trips etc. To the lady who drove UK to Florence with 3 kids - there should be a shrine in your honour somewhere!

Appreciate the tip about not booking car hire with easyjet thank you.

And we are travelling in may, so temperatures agould be 20/22 I believe. Warm enough for us to be very happy but still comfortable to be out and about without my panicking about heat stroke for the 5 year old all day!