Originally Posted by
Perche
Venice is not the size of Rome or San Francisco, but anyone who thinks they've seen it by getting a gondola ride and going to San Marco and Academia, etc., is like someone coming to San Francisco and going to Fisherman's Wharf, or like going to New York and seeing Times Square and saying they took in NYC and SF. If your clients are bored after one day in Venice, they need a better itinerary.
You cannot get a sense of Venice in two nights, unless your idea of getting a sense of a place is very superficial. There is a difference between being a sightseer and doing a gondola ride, and experiencing Venice. You can't even do a good job visiting the ghetto in one day, much less getting to know the city.
You can't even get a decent sample of the unique venetian food in two nights.
A lot of peoples' travel preference is to move as quickly as possible and check boxes of things they saw off a list. To each his own, but I can't be of much help to folks insisting on that. Well, I guess I could, I know how the trains operate and where the big stuff is located
Sure you can see the "things" in Venice in a day. But you'll have no idea who built those things or why, and how any of those traditions do (or don't) carry on to the present day. Same with Florence and Rome (although maybe you can't check all the boxes in Rome in a day unless you hustle).
Honestly, next to none of my memories of Italy have anything to do with the major tourist sites. Oddly enough, what I remember are mostly the meals and the random exploration I did going from place to place. I can't recommend slow travel enough, but I acknowledge some just won't want to do that.