I was there a few year ago with my wife and kids. We stayed in an airbnb on Venice. You can spend the day around the outskirts and avoid most of the cruise ship

I was there a few year ago with my wife and kids. We stayed in an airbnb on Venice. You can spend the day around the outskirts and avoid most of the cruise ship tourists. At night you have the island to yourself to explore. We also visited Murano which was almost deserted. I actually enjoyed Venice much more than Florence. Italy is a big place and there's tons to see. Make Venice just a couple days of your trip and you'll probably enjoy it. (Aside, to me it's tour groups that are the worst, with bus loads and cruise loads being the most egregious example. I've seen this everywhere I've been a tourist. A destination that can easily handle a stream of individuals or families becomes overwhelmed when 20+ tourists arrive all at once. Venice would definitely be helped by a metering system.)