bma2825

Looking to fly into Rome, drive to Florence and Venice, fly down to Calabria then travel back to Rome to come home. Do you think 12 or 14 days is enough time?

nytraveler

No.

Have you looked at train schedules and flights?

Have you mapped out what you want to do/see in each place and how long it will take?

You can of course get from one place to another in this amount of time - but how much you will actually see is another question.

What are your to dos in each place?

RonZ

Read this about driving in Italy, especially the ZTL part, driving restrictions in cities:

http://driventoit.blogspot.com.au/

And here are train schedules using italian city names:

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

Man_in_seat_61

Drive if you want to explore the countryside, forget driving if you want to see the cities.
Just go by train - www.trenitalia.com and (for Venice-Florence-Rome) competitor www.italotreno.it

No need to fly to Calabria, it' part of Italy, so just stay on the ground and take the train to avoid melting the ice caps unnecessarily - www.trenitalia.com - the journey is part of your vacation, not mere transportation.

bilboburgler

train makes more sense on all those journeys.

traveller1959

You need at least 4 full days for Rome and if you will see something in the vicinity (Ostia Antica, Tivoli) you need rather 6 days.

For Tuscany (Florence is just one city in Tuscany) you also need at least 4 days.

And Venice deserves at least 3 days.

And you need half days to travel between these destinations.

So, your time is already eaten up at this point and there is nothing left for Calabria.

Or you do an "It's-Thursday-it-must-be-Siena"-type of trip.

sandralist

It makes sense for your itinerary to fly to Calabria and despite Man in Seat 61's admirable concern for the ice caps (which I share), ground transportation (even trains) isn't automatically the best environmental choice in Italy for long distances, due to mountains and low passenger traffic, according to the most up-to-date science ( and I do wish people would follow the science on these issues, rather than commercial interests since the consequences are real).

Whether you will enjoy including all the destinations on your wish in the time you have depends on what you want to accomplish in each destination.

bvlenci

On the Rome-> Florence-> Venice route, the train is both cheaper and faster than driving. Besides that, in these cities, between limited traffic zones (ZTL) and scarse (and expensive) parking, a car is a nuisance rather than a convenience.

Where are you going in Calabria? It's a fairly big region. It's a big region, and any advice about getting there would depend on the actual destination. It's a long distance from Venice, and if you drive or take the train, you can count on the trip taking a whole day. If you're going to Lamezia Terme, there are direct Ryanair flights from Venice (or, rather, from Treviso, about 1/2 hour away by shuttle), and I probably would prefer that to a 12-hour train trip. If that's not where you're going, I don't think you'll find any direct flights, and the train once again might look attractive.

bvlenci

As far as splitting up your time, it would help to know your interests. Two weeks might very well be enough time for you. I could see, for example, 4 nights in Rome, 2 nights in Florence, 2 nights in Venice, 4 nights in Calabria, and a final night in Rome. It would depend on what you want to do in Calabria.

If you have an extra night, you can put it wherever your interests lie. If your flight home is in the evening, you might not need the final night in Rome.

bma2825

we will be moving my son into school - so the goal is to go out 2 weeks before and come home the day after we leave him off from Rome.

Thank you for your response. It's close to what I was thinking. My son has been to Italy before (Florence/Venice/Milan so he can guide us there. I guess I just need to figure out Rome and Calabria

Joy2

Fly into Venice or closest airport to Venice then take the train to Florence.
From Florence take the train to Rome.

You can travel by train to Calabria from Rome. Most trains to Calabiria from Rome connect in Naples.

Fly home from Calabria.

We did a family heritage trip to Calabria in 2013. Loved Calabria! We stayed in a small town Ricadi beach resort Bai Del Sole Via Vaticano. 2013 we flew into Calabria and flew home from Naples. We will visit again in September!

What ever you decide you will have a wonderful experience!