I want to visit Italy and from what I have read October is a good month to beat the crowds and weather. I only have 7-10 days to visit and wanted to know what a good plan would be. In a perfect world I would love to see not only the big guns like Rome, Florence, and Venice but would like a slice of the countryside or Capri. There is so much to see I need sugestions on how to narrow down the must sees. The tours that I have investigated sound painful but more econimical than setting up my own itinerary. I cant seem to find a really good price on air and needed some sugestions. I am willing to go at a different time of year to save money. I was also wondering if apartment rentals or hotels are a better bet. I am lost in a sea of confusion and dont want to plan my trip to fail, any help is much appreciated.

I am lost in a sea of confusion.

Tip #1: ricksteves.com;
Tip #2: In Italy, do not divulge your FT screen name;
Tip #3: Remember to pack this (http://antimonkeybutt.com/).

With 7-10 days, you can't really cover all the "must sees" in the whole country, so it would be better to focus your trip on 2-3 places and spend a few days in each. Personally I'd do Rome, either Florence or Venice, and a smaller town in Tuscany.

Capri is beautiful, but in my opinion it is really a beach destination, and it may or may not be warm enough in October to really enjoy the water.

In terms of prices, October is relatively inexpensive, but it will be cheaper if you can go between Nov and March (with the exception of the December holidays).

Sorry to disagree :confused: October, especially week-ends, are peak season here: historical cities (città d'arteas we say here) can be very crowded on saturdays/sundays. Sometimes we beat records of 90/100 thousands people in one day here in Venice in October (with good weather).
When it is too cold to go to beaches and the skiing season has not started yet, Italian families travel a lot during week-ends to Venice/Florence/Rome, to the countryside etc.

Venice is a small city, so avoid saturdays and sundays if you want to enjoy it !

I agree with ur disagreement, for example here is what Westin calls peak season in Rome



The Westin Excelsior, Rome
Peak Season
09/08/2008 - 10/19/2008
05/12/2008 - 06/22/2008
09/10/2007 - 10/21/2007
05/14/2007 - 06/24/2007

Tip #2: In Italy, do not divulge your FT screen name;


why :confused:

why :confused:

Do you think "monkeybutt" will command respect from the locals?? :)

Do you think "monkeybutt" will command respect from the locals?? :)

got it now :D

One thing I learned about traveling to Italy: there's no low season, just "high" and "higher".

Do you think "monkeybutt" will command respect from the locals?? :)
^ :D Thanks for the laugh!

Italy in December was nicely empty, and the weather was even nice for us.

Florence was my favorite, but I've heard it's awful when it's crowded.

lots of trade shows in sept/oct. huge tourist crowds.

dec-early march are not bad, excluding things like carnavale.

^ :D Thanks for the laugh!

Italy in December was nicely empty, and the weather was even nice for us.

Florence was my favorite, but I've heard it's awful when it's crowded.

I've been to Florence in late January, March and August.

By far, it's most enjoyable when least crowded in late January. August is the absolute worst anywhere in Italy.

I want to visit Italy and from what I have read October is a good month to beat the crowds and weather. I only have 7-10 days to visit and wanted to know what a good plan would be. In a perfect world I would love to see not only the big guns like Rome, Florence, and Venice but would like a slice of the countryside or Capri. There is so much to see I need sugestions on how to narrow down the must sees. The tours that I have investigated sound painful but more econimical than setting up my own itinerary. I cant seem to find a really good price on air and needed some sugestions. I am willing to go at a different time of year to save money. I was also wondering if apartment rentals or hotels are a better bet. I am lost in a sea of confusion and dont want to plan my trip to fail, any help is much appreciated.

Hello, I'm from Italy, so welcome to my beautifull country!! :)
What time of october are you planning? Hopefully you will be lucky and have plenty of sunshine, but bare in mind that it can be already rainy, especially in northern italy, whike I'd expect a nice and still quite warm weather in Rome and Capri (maybe a bit "too low season" for Capri...). However, if it was my first trip, I'd arrive at FCO Rome, spend 4 days there, then take fast eurostar to Firenze (1h 35m only, from Termini Station to central Firenze) and spend 3 days there, again Eurostar to Venice (about 2h 30m) to Santa Lucia station and spend rest 3 days there. Take the Alilaguna boat (avoid possible traffic congestion with bus or taxi) from Venice centre to the Marco Polo airport and fly back home from there.