Hey guys,
I posted earlier about a six week trip to Spain and Italy that I would be taking with a friend. Due to some complications regarding work and vacation time, we only have three weeks and shall be spending it in italy (the three weeks does not including travel to and from italy). We shall be visiting in early June (I know its not the best time to go, but what can you do?) and are looking for the following from our trip:
I enjoy history and art, and couldn't bear to omit Rome or Florence from the itinerary. However, I would also like to experience some italian culture without following the throng of tourists that rush from site to site. My friend loves history like me, but would also like to enjoy some classic italian cuisine.
Based on these desires, we have fashioned a very rough itinerary of our three weeks in italy.

Venice- 3 days
Cinque Terre- 3 days
Bologna- 2 days
Florence- 3 days
Siena- 4 days (day trips- San Gimagnano, Volterra or Montepulciano?)
Rome- 5 days

Am I trying to fit too much into this trip? I highly value the advice and expertise of posters on this site and am looking forward to hearing your responses,

Thanks,
Alex

Hi Alex,

Do your days exclude travel days? I like to set up my itinerary like this:

Day 1 - Arrive in Venice (from N. America?)
Day 2 - Venice
Day 3 - Venice
Day 4 - Venice to Cinque Terre (this will eat up a big portion of the day)
Day 5 - Cinque Terre
Day 6 Cinque Terre
Day 7 - Cinque Terre to Bologna
Day 8 - Bologna
Day 9 - Bologna to Florence

etc..

This will give you an idea of how much actual time you will get in each place. We give ourselves about 1/2 a day to travel so we discount that day.

It is a faster pace than I like to travel, but I think its doable.

Happy Travels!

It's a bit busy but you can do it. I would start in Venice as you propose and then go to Bologna, CT, Florence, Tuscan countryside and Rome. Early June isn't a bad time to travel - better than July or August.

Most of your itinerary is best accomplished by train. Will you have a car for your day trips in Tuscany? If so, I would choose another base. A smaller town would allow you to get in and out of town more easily. And then take a day trip to Siena. If you won't have a car, Siena is a good base because of its public transportation options.

Keep a close watch on conditions in Cinque Terre. At least two towns were badly damaged by mudslides in fall rains. If you can't visit those towns you may want to shorten your stay in CT or skip it altogether.

Sounds like a nice trip - have fun planning.

I like it---very nice trip except Bologna should be after Venice and before CT.

From Venice to Bologna, make a little detour to see the mosaics in Ravenna, assuming that you are traveling by car.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57622914503405

We actually visited Ravenna as a day trip from Bologna, stopping in Faenza for its ceramics museum. It should be doable as part of the travel between Venice and Bologna.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57622914503405

Between Siena and Rome, don't miss the duomo in Orvieto.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57622914974923

Here is my proposed more detailed itinerary, let me know what you think..

0- Fly to Venice from NA
1- Arrive in Venice early
2- Venice
3- Venice
4- Travel to Bologna
5- Bologna
6- Bologna
7- Travel to Florence
8- Florence
9- Florence
10- Florence
11- Travel to Siena
12- Siena
13- Day trip to Lucca
14- Day trip to San Gimagnano
15- Day trip to Volterra/Montepulciano (which would you suggest)
16- Travel to Rome
17- Rome
18- Rome
19- Rome
20- Rome
21- Rome
Travel home

I have one more day avaliable

I'd spend the extra day/night in Orvieto before heading to Rome. It's really lovely and different from the other places you'll be seeing.

I like your new itinerary. You had originally been planning to go to the CT, which I don't really believe to be a great destination for lovers of art and history.

Stay an extra day in Venice, IMO. There are great day trips you can take on public transportation (Verona, Padova) or you can find plenty for art and history lovers to do right in the city. There are also the islands of the lagoon to visit.

Finally, for this post anyway, maybe rethink your Tuscany base. Siena to San Gimi and Volterra is OK, but not a great base for Lucca or Montepulciano.

Lucca can be done by train from Florence, and then you can do San Gimignano, Volterra and I guess Montepulciano would be OK. It's not my favorite, but plenty of people like it. How about Monte Oliveto Maggiore? Something different since you are visiting a number of towns already.

For me, the top art sites in this area are the interior of the Duomo in San Gimignano (I bring this up too often) and Arezzo for the Piero de San Francesco frescoes.

I hope this is helpful.

I meant to say "and then you can do SG, V. etc from Siena"

Siena to Monte Oliveto is 36 km.

Orvieto has a nice Duomo and some good food, but so do a hundred other towns in Italy. I wouldn't add an extra stay to my itinerary to go there.

good but Lucca from Florence is an easy train journey, you can even take a train or bus to Pisa if you want and then back to Florence. Not daft at all, I've seen the leaning tower at 10pm and it looks ok then

Lucca is much closer to Florence (80 km) than it is to Siena (115 km).

Yes, add another day to Florence and do Lucca as a daytrip by train from there. As bilbob says, you can even combine Pisa with Lucca on the same daytrip.

So will you have a car for daytripping in Tuscany? If so, pick the car up either at the Florence airport or in Siena. Without a car you can take the bus from Florence to Siena and thereby arrive in the historic center (as opposed to at the train station outside the walls from which you need to take a bus or a taxi into the center.)

I think Orvieto is worth a stop for overnight. there's the gorgeous Duomo with a chapel full of astonishing frecoes by Signorelli. Look in local shops for a beautiful book on the frescoes. But also there's a lot of caves in the mesa it sits on, which you can see on an undeeground tour. Some restaurants are in the caves. The views of the surrounding countryside are stunning. You can park a car in the free lot below the railroad station, take an escalator up to the station, and then a steep funicular up to the town which is a short, but fun, ride. There's a very deep well that descends about 400 feet as I recall near the funicular station, and for a fee you can take a winding staircase down into it. It's a much quieter town than many on the tourist circuit, and it's fun to wander the quiet streets and look at then pottery in the stores and have a good meal.