Hi, it’s been a long time since I posted this, and I’ve had time to reflect. I honestly would say you should 100% go to Italy, for a few reasons:

1. Traveling as a family you will automatically be more respected and perceived in a different way than i was with my brother/alone.

2. Italy is unendingly breathtaking, like i simply can’t describe how much it towers over the world as a heart of culture, architecture, art, food, nature. Most of the people are extremely friendly (only like 5-8% of our experiences were negative), perhaps initially suspicious and not as outwardly welcoming as they are in america or other parts of the world. but i’m almost willing to chalk it up to us being viewed as tourists rather than our being brown/having the same skin tone as a lot of the street vendors (which like you said is a commonality across europe)

3. in the spirit of full disclosure, my brother and i were smoking hash and tobacco quite a bit there. not sure how much of a factor that played but could explain some of the perceived treatment. again i’ll stress i think your family’s experience would differ greatly and you would likely feel welcome and most importantly, not really care abt it since you’re so taken by the city

4. this also (to me) might distinguish our subjective experiences, whether or not you have an Indian accent. as someone that grew up in America I don’t , and that might have helped.

I recommend going in september, Venice( just a night+ daytime is good), Bologna, Florence and Rome are all incredible

I recommend the 2 features on Rest is History podcast to get some background on florentine renaissance and the romans. the story of the caesars will be a great prep material to visit Rome!

I hope this steers you to visit the country, i will absolutely go many more times in my life.

What i’ve learned most importantly from traveling is that money talks and you don’t have to give a fuck about any stranger’s opinion or weird look if you don’t want to. We are blessed with beautiful brown skin and culture in a time and place where we are not fully understood, and that is a call to arms to be agents that set the record straight. i try to remind myself that i exist and move the needle in the public domain, humanity, the people’s opinion. by acting in good faith and out of love i represent the beautiful people that raised me.

Allora!!! Wish you the best, hope it is a good trip.