writersblock

My fiance and I will be honeymooning in Italy in January 2018. We chose Italy because this January we went to Rome for 10 days and fell in love with the City. We crammed a lot in, but at the same time nowhere near enough. We will be going back time and time again.

Our honeymoon will be for 15 days.

We both love the idea of Venice so we will be flying into Venice from the UK. We want to see St Mark's, Doge's palace, Murano/Burano/St Michele's and the Insane Asylum. We were then debating on a few days on Florence, one in Assisi, before Rome. However, we are wondering if this is a silly idea. In terms of our interests, they lie firmly in history. We are not huge art fans (we both appreciate art in churches but we don't really do many galleries). One of the main draws of Florence is taking a day trip to Luca or Sienna or Pisa. Are we best missing Florence off this trip and considering Tuscany for a later trip? (we would definitely do Tuscany some other time anyway, and another for the lakes). What about Assisi? It seems harder to go from Venice to Assisi than Florence to Assisi. Are we best off saving Assisi for another trip too?

I guess I am asking for advice from people who are seasoned Italy travelers and who also love Rome. Is Florence similar? Is it mostly for art lovers? We briefly considered Naples but I haven't read many great things about the place.

Things we adore about Rome: layer upon layer of history everywhere you look, the juxtaposition between modern life and ancient Rome, the splendor of the Vatican, the macabre catacombs. In short, Rome got into our blood. We love planning everything ourselves, taking our time to explore hidden nooks and crannies, and only having ourselves to please. We don't mind guided tours but we don't like to stick to ye olde stereotypical holidays.

I know we will love a trip back there to see things we didn't see the first time. And Venice will be amazing too. But are we selling it short by not sticking Florence and Assisi in there too?

Any advice would be appreciated.

bvlenci

Since you are committed to returning to Rome at other times in the future, it's no big loss to postpone Assisi and Florence. Assisi is fairly easy to fit between Florence and Rome, as there are some direct trains to Assisi from both cities.

Florence is not like either Rome or Venice. It's a pure Italian Renaissance city. Fortunately for you, some of its best art is in churches.

Since you'll be traveling from Venice to Rome, you could fairly easily stop over in Florence for a few hours to get inspiration for your next trip. Leave your bags at the left-luggage facility and stroll into the center, which is near the station. One of my favourite art churches, Santa Maria Novella, is actually right by the station.

Assisi has one big spectacular work of art, the frescoes in the upper Basilica of San Francesco. Apart from that, and its religious significance, it's a beautiful Umbrian hill town. You could take a day trip there from Rome if you begin to regret not having included it in your itinerary. It would be an incentive to return in the future, perhaps to explore the whole area with a car.

bilboburgler

I'd certainly keep to the towns in January

annhig

personally, [and I hate to disagree with bvl here] I think that you would find just stopping off in Florence en route from Venice to Florence quite frustrating; given the short day length and the time you'll be spending on the train, you wouldn't really have a lot of time for exploring even a small part of Florence.

With 15 days in total, I think that you could afford to spend 3-4 nights in Florence [which gives you 2-3 days there, depending on what time you get your trains] which would allow you enough time to get the feel of it, without feeling overwhelmed. And if you decided you wanted a change, you could do a day trip to Siena [best on the bus] or half a day in Pisa or Lucca [try the train] or an evening in Fiesole [again the bus].

That would still leave you 11 or so days to share between Venice and Rome.

Cheap train tickets on Trenitalia will soon be available [if they are not already] so it's worth making your minds up soon!

bvlenci

I thought I had replied to this yesterday. I see a reply was removed. If it was mine, I'm perplexed.

I'll try again...

I've done such a stopover in Florence with visiting relatives, but coming from Le Marche, where I live, en route to Rome. This is a considerably longer trip then Venice to Rome, but we had about seven hours in Florence. It's by no means an exhaustive visit, but for someone who plans to return to Italy multiple times in the future, and isn't sure he'd enjoy Florence, it's enough to get a feel for the city and I'm sure writersblock would decide to include Florence on a future trip.

Writersblock could fairly easily have 9 hours in Florence and be in Rome in time for dinner. Writersblock prefers to see art in churches, and it would be easy to fit a visit to two or three churches while in Florence, and also a nice stroll around the center of the city.

In my earlier response, I gave a suggested itinerary based on what we saw on our visit, but I'll wait to see if this post is removed before spending much time on that.

bilboburgler

bvl, I've seen other sensible comments removed, maybe the advertisers are kicking back..

vincenzo32951

Florence does have its charms, but missing it this time wouldn't be the end of the world. Now, if I were you ...

You've settled on Rome and Venice for sure, and seem to be open to a short stay in a 3rd place, right? I might consider a spin through Italy's prosecco area, since you're already in the that part off the country while in Venice. There are some great B&Bs, and it would present a nice change from the two cities. You probably would need to rent a car, however, to do that part of the trip. Just a thought.

bvlenci

It's possible it was removed in error. I once accidentally flagged a post for removal, on that other board that begins with a "T".

vincenzo32951

I triangled bv and bil for being too informative.

bvlenci

Vincenzo, I swear, I didn't triangle you!