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:
Mon Aug 7 -- late afternoon arrival @ FCO
Thur Aug 17 -- morning departure VCE
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?
Hotels will be SPG awards (currently booked at Excelsior in Rome & FLorence, and Europe e Regina in Venice - but dates may change...).
TIA!
If you don't want to backtrack (wasting a bunch of time on trains) You might want to think about heading south first. Head down to see Pompeii, Amalfi, and Paestum (in the foreign film Bread and Tulips--worth renting). Then back to Rome for your days there, then up to Florence and then Venice.
You'll have less time in each of your places though. Overall, though, even with the back-tracking, I like the itinerary limiting to Rome, Florence and Venice. I am a big proponent of several days in each city at least.