Are there any attractions we can reserve tickets for before we get there. For example, I know fr the Leaning Tower of Pisa - you can save time by booking online. Are there any others we can save time on? Does te Colosseum have tickets to go inside?

By the way - these are the cities in question: Sorrento, Capri, Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa

In Florence, absolutely: for the Uffizi (almost a necessity, unless you want to stand in line for hours); also for the Accademia (Michelangelo's "David&quot, although some people say that if you go early in the morning or just before closing the lines are not so bad.

There are a number of agencies that sell advance tickets on line. The Uffizi itself only takes telephone reservations.

Rome - Borghese gallery, during the off season, a day or 2 in advance is enough, but during busy time, probably further in advance is necessary.
Same with Uffizi and academia in FLorence.

Do you think reservations for the Colosseum is necessary? I know you can reservce tickets, but you have to specify a time - and that is the part that worries me. what if we are a bit late? you loose your tickets and money. But if the lines are hours long for the colosseum - then i guess it would be worth it?

What about going to the top of the leaning tower of pisa? Is it somethine that is really a must-do? What are the views like from atop? I was thinking, perhaps, it looks prettier from afar?

We didn't make a reservation for the Colisseum (didn't even know you could do that!) and only waited about 5-10 mins. to get in. I've heard that some people join tour groups once they get there to shorten their wait time because tour groups get in faster.

As for the Leaning Tower, we didn't make reservations either. We had read in the Rick Steves Guide that you can just show up when they first open and you might be able to get a spot right away. If not, then you'll probably get a spot for a couple of hours later. They post a schedule of all the available times at the ticket office and every time slot was still open at when we purchased our ticket at 10 AM on a Monday.

For Florence, we made reservations for the Uffizi and Accademia by phone. We were very glad we made reservations for the Uffizi because the lines were so long. We ended up not using our Accademia reservations because there were no lines for our 10:00 AM time slot.

For Rome, we made reservations for the Borghese Gallery by phone also.

Finally, we made a reservation for St. Mark's Basilica at www.alata.it. Reservations are not required, but because we had a reservation, we were able to by-pass about 10-15 mins. worth of waiting.