Stop dogpiling on Meg. She's a noob and she asked a noob question. I'm sure she's starting to see the error of her ways. I would like her to come back when she has better questions in hand, but you guys are going to scare her off. Ease up.

Meg, I won't pile on. Here's a starting point. Look up Rome and Venice, and maybe Florence if you are an art lover. Do a little reading on those and go to Expedia and Travelocity to get an idea of airfares. For a round number figure it will cost you $150/night for a hotel. Food, fun and shopping are the rest of your expenses. Try to plan to stay in each place a minimum of 2-3 nights. Look to trains or cheap airlines to get you between places. Enjoy the planning part of your trip because this is where you really get to dream grasshopper.

What's a noob? Doesn't sound very nice.

If you want to go cheap, though, you can get hotels with double rooms for 60-80 Euros per night ($80-100 USD), and may be able to go even cheaper with a double room in a hostel.

noob = newbie = a poster who is new to this forum, and perhaps to the Internet.

I don't think this was a TYPICAL newcomer's question, by any means!

This is how I would recommend you start, some of this are repeats of suggestions above

1st, figure out budget, total
2nd, figure out a time range, as short as X days, as long as X+Y days (may depend both on time available and on budget). Knowing time of year will also help, days are shorter in the winter, but gardens are in bloom and coastal resorts are at their best during the summer.

3rd, when you think of Italy, you must have some dreams in mind:
seeing the Sistine Chapel?
Seeing Michelangelo's 'David'?
Seeing Venice?
Amalfi Coast?

Click on Destinations at the top of this screen and you can get to lots of basic Fodors info on the major destinations in Italy, highlights of sightseeing, travel tips, etc.

Then, realize you only have X amount of time and money, and you have to limit what you will see. Also, every time you go from one city to another, you lose at least half a day, between the travel time, geting to and from train stations, etc. It can also be as much as 2/3 of a day if the travel is longer. For example, Rome to Venice by train is more than 4.5 hours. Rome to Florence about 90 minutes. It helps, really, to take a look at a map of Italy and see that you really ought to limit yourself to Rome and north, or Rome and south, on a first trip. If you will have 8-9 real days (not including transatlantic travel days, for example) then I'd say limit yourself to two major cities and take a daytrip or two. If you will have 10-12 real days, then 3 or possibly 4 stops at most. The train travel and packing and unpacking every few days isn't just time consuming, it's annoying.

Narrow some things down, not to a final decision, just with some ideas in mind, and then come back here. But don't be surprised or hurt if even your next set of ideas are criticized. However, if you want great advice, even if it's a bit heavy-handed sometimes, this IS the place.

That's right, it wasn't a typical newcomer's question. I think Meg is acting on a sudden whim...which isn't all bad.

Meg, if you're serious about such a trip, only you and your boyfriend can say what kind of trip you want. Do you want big city and exciting(Rome)? Tuscan countryside, charming and romantic, maybe in your own little farmhouse? Art museums (Florence) or cliffside beach towns dripping in vines and terraced gardens (Amalfi Coast or Italian Riviera)? You can't do them all in a week.

Like the others said, go read the "destinations" sections, then Google the ones you find interesting. You'll find web pages with many photos and descriptions of each area. Get some library books. The forums here contain many trip reports from people who've just returned from those areas.

One warning: Get your Christmas shopping done BEFORE you start all this research! It's addictive!

OK for a 7 day trip I would suggest Venice and Florence, or Venice and Rome taking the train between the two. Book open jaw ticket so you don't have to back-track on land.

$1,000 or $2,000 is quite a range in budget low to high. Is that for one person or two? Does that need to cover airfare and hotels or just food and siteseeing?

Once you subtract your arrival and departure days you will only have ~5 days for touring so you definitely need to review the <see everying> idea.

meg, <no offense im not on here to be lectured to, im not asking you to plan my trip> Actually when you post a question you are in fact inviting people to lecture & further you DID ask for us to plan your trip (re-read the title of your post).

meg, I am a little new here too and I am planning a trip to a place in Europe for the first time too. You really do have to accept the advice of the people who have written to you. You have asked a very general question and these Fodorites can not help you without some more information from yourself.

I would love to see everything too and I have longer time than you do but we have to be realistic, only in Fantasyland could we see all of Italy in a week.

meg, Please don't be discouraged or defensive. As you see there ARE many people who want to help plan your trip! But for us to give answers we do need to know what your budget per person is, what it needs to cover, and how much time you have. Not to mention, what you are interested in doing and seeing is very important.

For example you could skip the cities mentioned above and simply rent a house in the countryside for a week, if that suits you better.

As for a cruise, I'm not sure they are within your budget. But that is easy enough to find out by pricing a package in a travel magazine, with a travel agent, or on the internet somewhere.

I think 'meg' has decided she doesn't need our help.

I think maybe taking a cruise was more the point of the question.

meg is fairly new but has posted a lot, especially on the cruise forum -- so I think you may be right, suze.

A cruise is not an economical way to see Europe and with so little time on land isn't a good choice for major sightseeing either. But meg seems to really enjoy cruising - so maybe we should just leave her to it . . . .

thank you janis and suze that was my point, i just phrase it wrong, but now im getting all these messages, next time i will state my question better

Meg, Dear -- go to the bookstore and purchase a travel book on Italy (can be Fodors, Rough Guide, whatever). Read it. Digest it. Write out a rough plan. Post it here. We'll then comment. You'll revise your plan. You'll have a great time.