Boboli Gardens

These mid-sixteenth-century terraced gardens, behind the Palazzo Pitti, are a nice escape from the crowds in the centro storico. The gardens contain lots of sculptures, fountains and grand allées, making them a fun place to take kids. (Make a list of sights including the Neptune fountain, Egyptian obelisk and sculpture of the court dwarf Pietro Barbino and then make a game out of finding them together.) A fantastic café with a terrace is housed in a lime-green building originally constructed in 1775 for Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Hapsburg-Lorraine, hence its Germanic name: Kaffeehaus. Its hours vary, but it’s worth a stroll to the eastern edge of the gardens (near the exit to the Belvedere fort) to find out if it’s open.