The Summers that Last a Lifetime

Some summers stay with us in vivid fragments long after childhood has passed, forming a sun-washed kaleidoscope of firsts. The first visit to the beach, the scent of salt and sunscreen forever ingrained in the senses; the sudden thrill of realising, for the first time, that you can float, paddle, swim.

These early sensations often become the beginning of a child's private map of the world. A new food tasted far from home, a skill learned at the hands of a local craftsman, a few phrases of the language remembered by the end of the trip. With properties in some of Europe's most culture-rich destinations, Rocco Forte Hotels creates the perfect conditions for these memories to take hold, transforming summer's fleeting firsts into formative memories full of giddy, unadulterated joy.

The First Swim

Sicily is a beautiful place to learn the language of water. The sea lies calm and crystal-clear, warm enough for tentative swims and gentle enough to build confidence. Older children might try scuba for the first time through Verdura Resort's Diving Centre, exploring rocky outcrops and volcanic reefs to spy grouper, moray eels and octopus.

If mountain air is preferred, Lake Starnberg in Munich offers another kind of summer baptism. A short drive from The Charles Hotel, its clear freshwater stretches through the Bavarian countryside, with picnic lawns, shallow swimming spots and panoramas of the Alps rising faintly in the distance.

The First Taste

Long before children remember the details of a destination, they often remember how it tasted. In Rome, Hotel de Russie offers a pizza-making class where budding chefs take over the kitchen, stretching dough, choosing toppings, watching it blister in the oven, then eating the delicious proof they can make something with their own hands.

The Italian thread carries north to Munich, often called Italy's most northern city for its long-held love of la dolce vita. Here, take a leisurely stroll through cobbled streets to Rischart on Marienplatz, a five-generation bakery opposite the Gothic town hall, where warm pretzels offer a first taste of the beloved local ritual.

The First Lesson

A holiday can also offer a way of learning without ever feeling like a lesson. Future history buffs can discover Greek mythology at Sicily’s UNESCO-protected Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, wandering between honey-coloured temples to Hera, Concordia and Zeus that have stood for more than 2,500 years. 

Alternatively, swap the classroom for the colosseum and encounter a different side of history at Rome’s Gladiator School, where children train in the techniques of the city’s ancient fighters, donning tunics and recreating tactics taught two millennia ago.

For those whose heroism runs more to princes and princesses than gladiators, Munich delivers its own magic. Neuschwanstein Castle, built high in the Bavarian Alps by King Ludwig II, with its swan motifs, soaring turrets and mountaintop setting are like taking a first step into a real-life fairytale. 

The First Adventure

Some firsts are felt in the whole body – heart racing as the world rushes past – stored somewhere deeper than conscious thought. For thrill seekers, Munich’s Olympic Stadium is the perfect setting for intrepid children to experience the exhilaration of their first roof climb, high above the city.  Elsewhere, a bracing horseback ride along Sicily's sun-kissed shores brings children closer to the landscape, while a first helicopter flight reveals the island’s volcanic heart from above, Mount Etna rising through the clouds.

Back on solid ground, a bicycle ride along the Appian Way, once one of the Roman Empire’s most important roads, is a child’s first taste of what it feels like to pedal through two thousand years of history. 

Then there are the adventures of a more unhurried variety. A first golf lesson carries its own quiet daring – the moment a child picks up the sport they have long watched a parent perfect, that first heart-thumping ‘thwack’ of the ball at the edge of the glittering Mediterranean on one of Verdura Resort’s championship courses. Or perhaps it's coming face to face with a brown bear, a sharp-beaked bird of prey, or feeding a fallow deer by hand in Wildpark Poing; a first encounter with the wild, and one of the most unexpected firsts Munich has to offer. First adventures, it turns out, come in all kinds of surprising forms, the trick is knowing where to find them.

This summer, let Rocco Forte Hotels be the setting for your little ones’ firsts: the swims, tastes, lessons and adventures that become cherished memories, ready to return years later, when they bring children of their own.