This is a first time trip to Italy in July. We will be there 15 days. Our itinerary is below...Any suggestions? Yes, we are contantly on the move, but we are ok with it. I have a few towns in there where we will relax.

3 nights Rome
2 nights Florence
3 nights Cinque Terra
1 night Milan (It looks like 8 hours on train with a switch in Milan, so we figured we spend a day there)
2 nights Venice
2 nights Sorrento - Flying from Venice
2 nights Rome

Why twice in Rome?
I would start in Venice and end in Rome and drop Milan.

I agree about consolidating your visit to Rome to once only. If you can't fly into Venice and out of Rome (or vice versa), then travel immediately to Florence, which is easily done with a change at Roma Termini.

If Cinque Terre is not yet taking visitors (I have no idea of current status) and you want to do some walking, you could head for the lakes (Como, Garda, Maggiore) or Tuscan countryside instead.

If you want to break the journey in Milan without staying overnight, Milano Centrale station used to have a luggage storage service.

Personal preference only - I would cut a night from Rome (4 only) and add it to one of your other stops.

As suggested, I would try to book flights into Venice and out of Rome. I would also drop either Cinque Terre or Sorrento. You are moving too frequently and you won't really have much time anywhere. What with the traveling, most of your two-night stays will result in only one day in those destinations.

hi sc

you say that you are ok with this pace, but have you thought out what it really means? for example, you will have at most 1 & 1/2 days in Venice - the half day once you get there from Milan [assuming you leave Milan after breakfast] and the next day. then you're off again to sorrento, giving yourselves the same amount of time there too.

the usual rule of thumb here is that you lose half a day every time you move- which in your case means that you are losing 3 whole days out of 15 - one fifth of you trip. and that doesn't include whatever time you are travelling on the first and last days. you can as dreamon points out ameliorate this somewhat by consolidating your days in Rome, but it's still a very full itinerary.

Though I love it dearly, the place that along with Sorrento doesn't really fit is Venice. I strongly suggest dropping one or the other. but if you keep venice in, you could do this:

Day 1 - fly into rome, catch train to Venice.
Day 2 - venice
Day 3 - Venice
day 4 - train to Milan
Day 5 - train to CT
Day 6 - CT
Day 7 - CT
Day 8 - train to Florence
Day 9 - florence
Day 10 - florence
Day 11- train to Rome
Days 12 - 15 - Rome.

This gives you gives you 3 full days in Rome and 2 everywhere else except Milan. it's still pretty full but gives you longer in each place.

Your current schedule:
Day 1: arr Rome; sleep Rome
Day 2: Rome
Day 3: Rome
Day 4: travel to Florence; sleep Florence
Day 5: Florence
Day 6: travel to Cinque Terre; sleep Cinque Terre
Day 7: Cinque Terre
Day 8: Cinque Terre
Day 9: travel to Milan; sleep Milan
Day 10: travel to Venice; sleep Venice
Day 11: Venice
Day 12: fly to Naples; travel to Sorrento; sleep Sorrento
Day 13: Sorrento
Day 14: travel to Rome; sleep Rome
Day 15: Rome
Day 16: travel home

I believe the train ride between Venice and Cinque Terre is closer to five hours. I would not waste the time from your busy schedule to make this stop in Milan. (Schedules for next summer are not yet posted online, so you may have seen very limited schedules if you check actual July 2012 dates. Use dates in the next week to check to see what the schedule might be.)

http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.html

Each two-night stay allows for only one full day at a location. Each time you change location, you will lose at least half a day to travel, checking in and out of hotels, making connections. I agree that if you must arrive and depart from Rome, move all those days together. This would also give you the option to add another night elsewhere in your trip.

The other option is to fly "multi-city", flying into Venice and then moving on to Cinque Terre, Florence, Sorrento, and flying home from Rome.

Thanks for all the replies. We are looking at our itinerary again with your suggestions.

What do you want to do while you are in Sorrento? Tour Pompeii? Visit Capri? Take a boat or bus or drive down the AC to Positano or Amalfi? Visit Paestum? Each of those things requires a day, so if you want to do more than one of them, you will need another day or so in Sorrento.

Drop Milan from this trip.

Definitely consolidate all of your time in Rome, preferably at the end, before flying home.
Best would be to fly into Venice and out of Rome. If you must fly into and out of Rome, go directly to either Venice or Sorrento.

Consider this:
Day 1 Fly into Rome. Take bus or train to Sorrento.
Day 2 Sorrento
Day 3 Sorrento
Day 4 fly to Venice
Day 5 Venice
Day 6 Venice
Day 7 train to CT
Day 8 CT
Day 9 CT
Day 10 Train to Florence
Day 11 Florence
Day 12 Florence (day trip to Siena)
Day 13 Train to Rome
Day 14 Rome
Day 15 Rome
Day 16 Fly home

How you allocate the days is up to your tastes in the CT and Florence. You may need only one day in the CT if you are not going to do hiking. You may only need one day in Florence if you want only to see two or three things. You need two days in Venice and two in Sorrento, just to see some of the basics. Also, whichever you go to first, you will be a bit jet lagged, so neeed a little more time. My itinerary is also really short changing Rome, so you could take a day from CT (unless you are really into hiking) and/or a day from Florence (if you don't want to go to Siena) and add one or two days to Rome.

Either way, you absolutely need more time in Sorrento and Venice, and remember, it will be quite hot, so you may move about a little more slowly than you expect.

Here is the good thing. No matter where you go, there is so much to see and it will be beautiful. You will have a wonderful time, so leaving something out is not bad at all.