Since the board is offering itinerary help for first-time visitors to Italy, I'll throw mine out there too:

Mon Aug 7 -- late afternoon arrival @ FCO
Thur Aug 17 -- morning departure VCE

We're on AA award tix. We need to be in Rome for dinner on Aug 11, and on Sat. Aug 12. Other than that, we're flexible.

We were planning to use Aug 13-16 to see Florence & Venice, but I'm concerned that I'm packing too much into 4 days - and leaving us too much time in Rome.

So, (a) how stupid is it to take the train from Rome to Florence immediately on our arrival on the 7th (I'm flying in to LHR, so I can't get a BA flight to Florence w/o going to LGW), spend 3 full days in Florence, double back to Rome on Friday morning the 11th, and then go to Venice on the evening of the 14th? (b) is Naples worth a day or two? (c) if not, where else should we try to go?

My wife's idea of a vacation is to sightsee until I drop from exhaustion (and then sit around and read while I recuperate). No beach time or anything like that...

Hotels will be SPG awards (currently booked at Excelsior in Rome & FLorence, and Europe e Regina in Venice - but dates may change...).

TIA!