Planning a family trip to Italy? TripNest turns it into its own app: 10 narrated story podcasts about Italy for the drive, games and a quiz for the kids, an audio phrasebook, and the day-by-day plan and map the whole family shares.
What the city sounded like 2,000 years ago
Imagine waking up in Rome when the Colosseum was brand new. Bakers are shouting, carts are rattling on stone, and someone is complaining about the price of olives. We'll follow one Roman kid through a whole ordinary, extraordinary day.
Pompeii and the mountain next door
One day in AD 79, Mount Vesuvius covered the town of Pompeii in ash - and accidentally saved it for us. There are bread loaves still in the ovens and dogs painted on doorsteps. We'll walk the streets and read the messages people scratched on the walls.
How Venice was built on water
Venice stands on millions of wooden poles hammered into mud in a lagoon. There are no cars, so post, groceries and even ambulances travel by boat. Find out how people decided to build a whole city in the sea - and how they keep it standing.
The Renaissance in Florence
Five hundred years ago, Florence was full of people trying to invent flying machines, paint perfect faces and build the biggest dome anyone had ever seen. Leonardo filled notebooks with mirror writing. We'll find out what they were all so excited about.
Where Italy's most famous food came from
Why does every region of Italy have its own pasta shape? Who put the first tomato on a pizza? And how do you order gelato like you've done it a hundred times before? Bring an appetite to this one.
The Romans were brilliant builders
The Romans built roads so straight and strong that some are still used today, and aqueducts that carried water for miles using nothing but a gentle slope. We'll find out how an arch holds up a bridge and why Roman concrete lasted so long.
Italy loves a performance
In Venice, people have worn painted masks at Carnival for centuries. In opera houses, singers fill huge halls with no microphone at all. Learn what the masks mean, and try the trick that helps singers be heard at the very back.
Fishing boats, cliffs and coloured houses
Along Italy's coast, houses are painted bright pink, yellow and blue - and there's a good reason why. We'll meet fishing families who head out before dawn, and find out what lives in the warm, clear water below the cliffs.
The Alps, the Dolomites and the people who live there
In northern Italy the peaks turn pink at sunset and some villages are easier to reach by cable car than by road. Hear about marmots whistling warnings across the valley and the mountain passes that travellers have used for thousands of years.
Everyday life in Italy today
What do Italian kids do after school? Football in the square, homework, and then the passeggiata - an evening walk where the whole town comes out to say hello. We'll compare an Italian day with yours and see which bits you'd like to borrow.
Milan / Venice / Naples
Mount Etna / Stromboli / Mount Vesuvius
Rome / Florence / Milan / Venice
The Italy podcast has 10 narrated story episodes for the car or the plane: A Day in Ancient Rome, The Town That Stopped, The City That Floats, Paint, Marble and Big Ideas, Pizza, Pasta and Proper Gelato, Roads, Arches and Running Water, Masks, Music and Carnival, Down to the Sea, Up in the Mountains and Calcio and the Evening Stroll.
"Grazie", said GRAHT-tsee-eh. It's one of the phrases in the Italy audio phrasebook, recorded so the kids can hear it before they try it.
112 (Emergency (all services)), 118 (Ambulance) and 115 (Fire). TripNest puts it in your trip's contacts page next to your own contacts.
Every trip starts free: the day-by-day plan, map and contacts. Premium adds the Italy podcasts, kids' games and the audio phrasebook for $24, once per trip - no subscription.
No. Your trip is one link that opens on everyone's phone, grandparents included, without an account. You can add it to your home screen so it works offline once you land.