I am planning a 1st trip to Italy with sisters the beginning of June 2007. This is what we are thinking:

fly into Rome from Chicago 4-5? days (includes side trip to village where grandparents were born.) train to:

Florence: 2 nights train to: day stop Pisa

Cinques Terra: 3 nights train to;

Venice: 3 nights flight to

Milan: flight home

Any suggestions on this? Improvements?

Fly home from Venice---Delta has a good noon flight.
See Pisa, if you must, the same day you train to the CT--it is on the way.

Hi Julieann,

Sounds like a good first trip to me! I second Bob's advice to fly home from Venice, even if it costs a little more. It will save you a lot of time and you won't have to spend the last night in Milan.

Yes, see Pisa on the way to Cinque Terre, exactly what we did and it worked out perfectly. We had a choice of a 1 1/2 hour layover between trains in Pisa, or a 3 hour. 3 hours was plenty, even walking to and from the Tower. Be sure to take time and see the Duomo. I was very impressed with how beautiful it is!

Buon viaggio!

I understood that you could not fly from Venice to ORD, but had to go through Milan - This is not true?

Julieann,

You really should be able to fly home from Venice, although maybe a connecting flight. Look into it. You might connect in Milan or one of the other main airports such as Frankfurt, CDG Paris, etc.

Last time I returned from Venice, it was Venice-Frankfurt-LAX.

thanks - I figure it will be a connecting flight but the fewer "connections" the better!

Julieann,

Absolutely the less connections the better! One connection you have a decent chance of making - more than that and you can pretty much COUNT on major problems.

When I did fly back from Venice it was actually slightly less than returning from the same arrival city (Milan).