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.