First time in Italy
 

Last summer, we spent nearly three weeks travelling by car through France, starting in Paris and ending up in Marseille and we had a fabulous time. My mom lives in Lyon so she helped us with our itinerary.

This May, our family plans on spending about the same time in Italy (it will be our first time visiting) and we do not know whether to do the more well travelled Rome-Florence-Venice route or vary it a bit and include more out-of-the-way places.

I know it is a broad question that I am asking, but any advice would help.

Thank you.

"we do not know whether to do the more well travelled Rome-Florence-Venice route or vary it a bit and include more out-of-the-way places."

Well, we don't know, either. It would depend on a lot of factors, none of which you have shared here.

Don't miss Cinque Terre if you can all hike a little bit. Stay a couple of nights. I'm partial to Corniglia for accomodations, and Monterosso for exploring. The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza is the best one.

I love Florence. It's gotten so cosmopolitan in the last 20 years.

Venice is unique and unmissable. I always recommend it be the place you fly out of, seeing it last. If you can go a bit offseason, so much the better.

Skip Pisa.

If you happen to be driving in Greve in Chianti, and you like beef... a lot... make a reservation at the Officina della Bistecca. It's a whole thing.

Italy is just the best.

Let me say just how excited we are for this trip. Also, please let me know what information I can provide to make answering easier.

We want to spend time in Rome and Venice but with three weeks, could our itinerary include places in the southern part of the country as well? Do we have enough time?

We can help you better if you tell us the interests, likes and dislikes of those in your group. Museums, high-end dining, sitting at cafes, old castles, hiking, watching sports, any certain eras of history? What are some of the things that you likes the most about your trip to France? Why do you want to go to Rome and Venice?

You could limit your trip to Rome and the area between Rome and Florence.

This is what we did in pictures, picking up a car at the Rome ariport and dropping it off in Rome proper.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7622914974923/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7622914855341/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7622914730403/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7622915079327/

Be aware that when we took this trip in the 90s, parking was already problematic in the towns, and it has gotten worse with ZTLs. On the other hand, the pictures will show that a car is undoubtedly convenient to see out-of-the-way places. We did not see Florence or Venice on that trip.

The Michelin Green Guide is good on what to see.

With 3 weeks, you can easily add a few more destinations to the main 3 and still spend a few days in each. If by "southern part of the country" you mean the Amalfi Coast, yes, that's certainly doable, and May is a great time to be anywhere in Italy. Suggestions on how to tweak your itinerary will depend on more input from you re interests and how you like to spend your time. Also, if kids are involved, knowing their age range would be helpful.

Yes agree with Holly - 3 weeks could include less beaten paths

Like from Florence rent a car and tool around Tuscany and its legendary hill towns

Or take train ton Cnque Terre

Or train Rome to Naples and Amalfi Coast.

Verona and Bologna are sweet cities between Venice and Florence by train.

Does this itinerary work?

Rome - 4 nights
Ravello - 3 nights (~ 3 hr. drive)
Lecce - 4 nights (~ 4 hr. drive)
Naples - 4 nights (~ 4 hrs. drive)
Bologna - 3 nights (~ 5 hrs. drive)
Venice - 3 nights (~ 2 hrs. drive)

Thanks

It looks like you're planning on driving for the entire trip. I would definitely discourage that, as trains in much of Italy are much faster and less stressful. IN particular, don't drive from Naples to Bologna - viamichelin puts that at 7 hours, and that's without stopping for gas, food, or bathroom breaks. The train will get you there in 3.5 hours or less. You also DO NOT want to have a car in Naples. Terrible drivers there. The train is easy from Bologna to Venice, as well, and trains will get you easily from Bologna to any other nearby places you want to visit. For the other parts of your trip, just know that the Amalfi Coast can have very heavy traffic on its narrow, winding cliffside roads, and parking is challenging in the little villages. It's often best to take the bus or the ferry between villages. I don't know about Lecce so can't comment on that leg of your trip.

I agree that driving is not the best plan for a trip like this. You will see a wholel ot of tarmac and then be faced with parking issues, including the odious ZTL issues and attendant steep fines. I'm not familiar with Lecce, either, but every other destination on your itinerary cries out for using the inexpensive and efficient rail system.

Many of the towns in Italy have ZTL which means you aren't allowed to drive in the center. That includes Rome, Florence, Bologna, etc.

Your itinerary doesn't make sense as it has you going to the Amalfi coast area (Naples/Ravello) twice which is backtracking. A waste of time. Ravello is up a cliffside so makes it more difficult to travel around the Amalfi coast.

An easier itinerary would be:

Fly to Rome - 4 nights
Train to Naples - 2-3 nights
Train/bus to Amalfi area - 3-4 nights
Rental car to Lecce - 4 nights
Drop car and train to Bologna - 3 nights
Train to Venice - 3 nights

Lecce seems to be out of the way and takes away from time I would want in the other cities. Is there something you must see in Lecce? I would want more time in Rome. Four nights give you only three sightseeing days and there is a lot to see in Rome.

only drive where trains are not good and you want to go thru countryside - heed warnings about cars being a liability in cities - having to even with a hotel in city centre park your car on outer edge of town centers. Trains are faster too.

Thanks everybody.

What we love about driving is that you can stop where you want as you drive from one destination to the other, making the journey almost as interesting as the destination.

We do want to see the southern "heel" part of Puglia, and Lecce looks wonderful. We can take day trips to Otranto and/or Gallipoli and also have some time relaxing at the beaches, which also look glorious. We may even add a day to our vacation so we can have some more time in this area.

We know there is much to see in Rome, but with three weeks, we want to be able to have a taste of the different parts of Italy in one trip and three weeks and this itinerary allows it, I think.

I do agree with taking a train from Rome to Naples and from Naples to the Amalfi area, but then rent a car for the remainder of the trip, dropping the car off in Venice.

Well it is not a trip I would want to do, but if it worked for your in France, I don't see why it wouldn't work for you in Italy.

Mix time staying in cities with time in the countryside, such as Tuscany, and Umbria.

Hi Sara,

We have been to Italy three times and have visited different parts of the country. I think your new itinerary looks good, but remember, you will be seeing less of each place you visit but will be able to see more places. I know that seems obvious, but there are those who feel the need to see most of what one place has to offer and others who want to experience different places but see less in each place. Each traveller has their own preference but I side with you.

Lecce and Bologna are just fantastic. If you have the time, you should visit Ascoli Piceno and/or Urbino as you drive from Lecce to Bologna.

Megane

>>>if it worked for your in France, I don't see why it wouldn't work for you in Italy.<<<

Suze - the difference is in Italy you aren't allowed to drive in many of the towns unless you are a resident. Most hill towns in Tuscany have ZTL, but so do Rome, Pisa, Florence, Bologna, etc. There are ZTL cameras everywhere. Some hotels have arrangements that allow you to drive in and drop off your luggage before you find parking in a garage somewhere. It's not in and out privileges to do day trips. Parking per day can be 40€ or so. Fines for driving into a ZTL are much higher. The rental cars charge about 40€ if they have to provide your info to the police because your car was caught on camera. The tickets can be 100-200€.

Also be aware the rental car insurance works differently (stricter) in Italy than in other countries. Be sure to read the fine print on whatever credit card you are using, or you will get hit for paying for insurance at the rental agency.

Don't think ZTLs are only in cities - they are also in small towns - Lucca, Montepulciano, etc - (just some examples)

Sorrento has a few ZTLs as well and there is no train on the Amalfi Coast. Best there is to use the ferries or sit in traffic on the Amalfi Coast road.

The only place the car makes sense to have (and is really useable at all) is in the countryside. Otherwise it is an unnecessary expense

Hopefully you do read up on the ZTLs as so many people go drive all over the place and then complain that Italy is out to get them when the fines are received. This is a very real thing and Italy used to be drivable everywhere but ZTLs were implemented for a very good reason: to try to preserve these ancients cities and towns and were built centuries ago and not suitable to withstand the impact from vehicles.

It really can't be stressed enough since you seem to not want to take the excellent advice about using the trains which are very fast, frequent and stress-free

I'm going to agree about driving. A car can be very much a handicap in Italian cities. The countryside driving is often great - but roads in towns and cities can be busy, narrow, retricted or all three. I've driven in many parts of Italy - and you are brave indeed if you want to try it in Naples (and to a lesser extent, Rome).

I take issue with ibobi and his "skip Pisa" advice. If you can see past the tourist tat around the tour, it is a very pleasant city with a great history. The "Campo dei Miracoli" is splendid

You may find this thread instructive:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...ia-Puglia.html

Yes to Pisa - short train ride from Florence or if driving you can park near the Leaning Tower area easily enough. If coming by train consider walking thru Pisa itself about a mile or bit more to the Leaning Tower area -not the dreamiest city but interesting and nice enough. Lucca could be a town twinned with Pisa - a train station near the Leaning Tower has hourly trains to Lucca - wonderful old walled town and then train from there back to Florence.

Re Pisa, the best way to see it, I suggest is by spending a night there. Get there in the late afternoon, check into hotel, and, having already made your booking to climb the leaning tower on

Opera della Primaziale Pisana: sito ufficiale ? Buy

make your way to the Campo dei Miracoli. by then all the hawkers etc should have disappeared and the monuments are beautifully illuminated.

If you have time go back in the morning to go inside the Baptistry and Duomo before the coaches arrive.

YES book a time for climbing Leaning Tower as it has small capacity - otherwise spend hours potentially in line. Great advice from annhig!

>>>Yes to Pisa - short train ride from Florence or if driving you can park near the Leaning Tower area easily enough<<<

Pisa has ZTL too.

Is not the Leaning Tower area outside the ZTL- it is on edge of town.

I recommended skip Pisa because I glimpsed the tower from the train, which was plenty for me; I don't need that particular Instagram selfie ;) I'm sure there are other things in the town and it's pleasant, but come on. Nobody is going to Pisa if the tower's not there. Plenty of better places to spend a night or even a train stop than to wade through yet another tourist crowd to snap a photo of yourself holding up the tower :)

<<Nobody is going to Pisa if the tower's not there. Plenty of better places to spend a night or even a train stop than to wade through yet another tourist crowd to snap a photo of yourself holding up the tower>>

I am so sorry to see that you dismiss one of the greatest group of renaissance buildings so casually, ibobi. Of course it's famous because of the tower but it is much more than that. It is not called the Campo dei Miracoli for nothing. Both the Duomo and the Baptistry are wonderful buildings in their own right and well worth going to see:

Campo dei Miracoli - Leaning Tower of Pisa

These buildings were constructed when most people in Europe were living in what were basically mud huts. In England we were still building massive Norman style castles yet in Italy they were designing and building these magnificent edifices. Do you have no sense of wonder when you see them? Do you not ponder how it was that happened? That someone had the vision to design them and others the skill to build them?

Perhaps one day you will go back and see what you missed.

I agree, annhig. Dismissing Pisa is shallow, especially if you didn't even bother to stop there.

Very compelling annhig. Took us years to decide to take the time to see Pisa but we were glad we did.

The interesting thing is that the British Museum has replicas of all the treasures from inside the Pisa Duomo.

its not as famous as the Duomo in Firenze but it's recognized in its own tight.

Also you can walk the wide street lined with cafes to the piazza with the civico, which is a nice Renaissance square.

Yes don't miss Pisa itself =spend a whole day there - do the Tower and then have lunch in town and wander around - not many other tourists really outside the Tower area.

Ibobi, You only saw Pisa from a train and are against travelers visiting there? It is much more than the Leaning Tower including the cathedral next to tne tower.

Thanks to all for taking the time and helping us. We will stick to the following itinerary provided by "kybourbon", but using the car from the Amalfi Coast to the end of our trip in Venice, as we would like to be able to stop along the way from Lecce at our leisure as there are some very wonderful places to see as we drive back, like Ascoli Piceno (thanks Megane) and maybe even Urbino.

Fly to Rome - 4 nights
Train to Naples - 2-3 nights
Train/bus to Amalfi area - 3-4 nights
Rental car to Lecce - 4 nights
Drive to Bologna - 3 nights
Drive to Venice - 3 nights

Not to add confusion to this thread, but my mom told me we should also look at Spain for three weeks as well (we have not been there either). According to her, with three weeks, we would have enough time to see Madrid, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Valencia and Barcelona, with time at the beach, or even include some parts of the north and eliminate one or two of the places just mentioned.

Should I start a new thread or have some of you been to both countries and can help me decide. I have no problem planning a new trip as I do love doing this.

Thanks

You should probably start a new thread. Plenty of people here have been to both countries, but I'm not sure how that would help you to decide.

NO! Don't skip Pisa! Sorry, ibobi, but I always feel the need to take up for her.

The Duomo has an amazing history and incredible art inside. The leaning tower was an OK climb even for me with asthma (you need reservations). Once you walk a block or two away from the Tower, you can find some good food in a nice university town. DH and I made Pisa a base (hotel was down by the river Arno) and really enjoyed it.

Sorry I skipped everything else.

yes, and we both stayed in the same hotel, didn't we TD, though at different times!

A nice thing about Pisa is that there are few tourists in town center and though IMO it is not that awesome it's a typical ancient Italian city. But ibobi is right too - unless seeing the Tower I would also skip Pisa if a first-time traveler on limited time.

Have been to both Spain and Italy. Stick with Italy for now since you've done all this research. Next trip can be Spain.
I've been to Spain once... to Italy more times than I can remember. If anyone asked me where I'd like to go now.... it would
be Italy. On the other hand.... you definitely should visit Spain (and Portugal !!) at some point.