Originally Posted by CO FF
Since the board is offering itinerary help for first-time visitors to Italy, I'll throw mine out there too:
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?
Not stupid, and it can be done. You can take the Leonardo express train right to Termini from the airport, then grab a train to Florence.
Another option is to take Air One from FCO on your arrival, or later and fly to Venice. We paid around $100, but well in advance. This is much more cumbersome, but doable. Only a 1 hr flight, and much faster than the train.
I would skip Naples and the south, and make it an independent trip. That would be way too much in my opinion. (We're doing Sorrento/Capri this August, in conjunction with Florence and Venice, but we know our way around now)
I think you have enough for the first time there. If not, and you need to find more, day trips from Florence are very reasonable and comfortable by bus or train. You can get to Pisa, Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano, etc.
For any other Italy flyers that may have missed this on the Budget board, a new airline started up serving Rome, Milan, MUC, Nice, Vienna, Lyon etc, called Blu-Express. Nice fares!
http://tinyurl.com/f3fhe