Venice is magic-just walking around is fantastic. Make sure to take a gondola ride at night. Pricey, but worth it.

Rome-the Colosseum and the Vatican were my favorites. St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel are not to be missed. Get tickets ahead of time on-line for the Colosseum and the Sistine. Again, just walking around the city is amazing. Rome has the best water you will ever drink and it is available at fountains throughout the city.

Florence- David by Michelangelo. Do not miss it. The most beautiful art I have ever seen. Florence has many piazzas that have street magicians and such. Also, the Ponte Vecchio is a fun place for an evening. Get advance tickets for David, as well.

Milan has the Last Supper and not much else. I wouldn't spend any time there after seeing the Last Supper. You must have tickets.

If you get a chance, go to Pisa. It's a fun day trip and even an 8 year old will be awed by the tower. I was not expecting much more than a tourist trap but I found the tower to be incredibly beautiful.

We went two years ago and are going back in the fall.

Linda

Venice - I agree with walking around. It is wonderful to get "lost" there. We skipped the gondola ride. We don't regret it. We did take the vaporetto, both at night and in the day and that was good for us. You can also go to Murano and see the glass sculptures or to Burano where you can see lace. we enjoyed the lace museum there and watching the women make it in the museum - my daughter would have enjoyed that when she was 8, my sons not so much.

Florence - if your child is interested in science you might want to look at that. There may be some parts of it that are not interesting to an 8 year old, but other parts will be.

I picked this up from Rick Steves - try gelato when you can. It really isn't very much and it was fun to see who had the best pistachio gelato in Italy. My husband on the other hand tried all different flavors.

I recommend Rick Steves audio tours. he has some humor in them though an 8 year may not get it all, and it is probably good that he/she wouldn't get it ALL though I wouldn't have any problems with my former 8 year olds listening to the tours. The great thing about them when it was just DH and I was being able to stop a "tour" at any kind and get something to eat or go to the bathroom and then return to the tour when we were ready. I also downloaded other tours, but they were usually more stuffy than Rick is.

Get some really good art books from the library if you don't know much about art (another tip from Rick). Teach your 8 yea old about it in small doses. That makes the art even more interesting. One thing you could teach him is perspective. Then as you study the art when you go you can ask his opinion about how well the artist did with perspective. don't forget to learn about mosaics as well.

If you go to the Vatican and st peters and you have an active 8 year old climb up to the top of the cupola. That was one of the first things we did in Italy and it was amazing to see all the things inside and then to look over Rome from the top. You can hike all the way or take the elevator part way and hike the rest depending on your fitness and fatigue. If you get there late enough in the day you will have to use the elevator for the first part as they won't let you walk up all the way. It costs more, but for us it ended up being perfect.

Don't miss the Colesseum in Rome! Also, the Pantheon and gelato in Piazza Navona.