My wife and I have never been to Italy, but we're going to visit our daughter in Bonn in June, so that's our departure point. Plan to spend a week with her in Germany and then 8 or more days in Italy. In general, we plan for 2-3 days in Rome, 2 in Venice and 2 in Tuscany or Florence, and we also would like to do one night in Salzburg. But we have flexibility in how long we stay (because we don't have a return flight scheduled yet, hoping for LH FC to open up).

I could really use some pro advice on general direction and method of travel before planning the nitty-gritty details. Leaving Bonn (or Frankfurt) on Friday afternoon/evening, would someone recommend we start with Rome, and then proceed northwards? Or start in Salzburg, then Venice, then southward toward Rome, or some different combination of the above. Use overnight train to/from Rome, or Salzburg, or Venice, or fly? Make Salzburg a completely separate trip? Fly from Rome to Venice. We had planned to take trains within Italy, but uncertain about the destinations that are at the peripherals of our journeys. Was planning to take overnight train from Frankfurt to Rome (3 of us), but daughter's German friends laugh and say we should just fly.

We normally have our trips planned out in great detail months in advance, but I'm panicking now because this trip is not because of intense time pressure/constraints this spring. The options/considerations are overwhelming and takes time to sort through them all (just choosing a rail pass or point-to-point is mentally taxing to one who's not been there before). So any suggestions or recommendations would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks for any and all help.