Our autumn road trip with kids from northern Italy into Swiss Ticino: Lake Como, Swissminiatur in Melide, and the Ponte dei Salti in Lavertezzo in the Verzasca Valley, with practical tips.
Liguria with kids without the Cinque Terre crowds: Bogliasco’s surf and gelato, Badalucco’s olive mills and agriturismo spa, Triora the witch village, and the mountains of Ormea an hour and a half away.
How we stayed in a small medieval castle in the Chianti hills near Florence with our kids: a tower dating to 1146, aperitivo on top of the tower, and a family pasta class on site.
Badalucco with kids: a painted medieval village in Liguria’s Valle Argentina, our stay at Agriturismo L’Adagio with a pool and spa, the Olio ROI olive mill, a picnic in the olive groves, Taggiasco gin and Triora.
Piedmont with kids beyond Turin and the Langhe: Ormea and the Val Tanaro, with chestnut forests, river trails, a forestry school, the Garessio market and the Ligurian coast close by.
An answer to overtourism for families: slow, off-season travel in a small Italian village, where you stay local and the money stays with the people who host you.