Kathie

Thanks for your ideas, annhig. Only one night for Sienna? I thought it would be worth more time than that.

PalenQ

Ok you want to spend all your time in one base - that's neat too but a week IMO is too long for the average tourist to spend in say a very compact Venice. Verona would be good for a few days. Bologna is one of the most underrated cities anywhere IMO - if not for Florence and Venice and Rome it would stand out - said to have the most medieval listed buildings of any city center in Italy.

So with 21 days I'd base in at least 4-5 places. Siena is nice but unless doing day trips out it may not have much of interest for a several day stay.

yestravel

Agree that Siena is worth a day.

From Venice, don't miss Padua. The Scrovegni Chapel is fantastic & Padua is a great little town to check out. http://www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it/index.php/en/

I really enjoyed Verona. There is much to see beyond the Romeo and Juliet schtick. Also nice is Vicenza with its Palladian architecture.

While it's great not to move around alot, I find some towns much more enjoyable early in the am and later in the day after all the daytrippers have gone. That is defintiely true for Verona.

I loved Bologna and a side trip to Ravenna to to see the mosaics which are truly magnificient.

Florence is fabulous, but the couple times we have been there it has been so jam packed that it really detracted from our visit. You could barely walk over the Ponte Vecchio. We'll be there again in a few weeks and are hoping not to face the crowds. We'll see. We'll also be in Lucca for a week this fall and I have read & heard only wonderful things about it.

Really you can't go wrong whatever combinations you pick. Italy is the best!

sdtravels

If you see Venice, Florence and Rome only, you will have had a great trip. Anything else you add should be on the way from one to the next so as to avoid backtracking and wasting time. I agree with PalenQ that a week in Venice is a bit much. 4 days/3 nights was fine for me. We will return to Italy because we didn't have time for Cinque Terre or the Amalfi Coast. I don't think you would be able to fit them into your trip.

Leely2

I agree that you are spoiled for choice, especially as you seem to have a decent amount of time for a good sampling of "the Big Three" + ???

I would probably pick a smaller town/little city--in Tuscany as suggested by annhig or elsewhere (Umbria? Le Marche, never been, though I'd like to, the Veneto?) for your other stop with a car. Just to balance out the hectic-ness of Rome, Florence and Venice.

Kathie

Thanks everyone. That was our thought as well that we would have the Big three and maybe two smaller places, but which ones?

We won't have a week in Venice, five nights (four days) which seems about right to me.

yestravel, I am also concerned about how crowded Florence is. And yet, I hesitate to skip it. Tough I suppose we could choose three smaller cities/towns and skip Florence this trip. Would that be crazy to do?

The more I read about Bologna, the more interesting it sounds. And I like the sound of Lucca. This is just a first trip - I'm sure there will be many more.

thursdaysd

You're really getting ahead with the planning, Kathie, aren't you off to Peru soon?

I am about to go back to Italy for the fifth time, and I have yet to go to Florence. Won't get there this time either. I'm going back to Venice, where I had no trouble filling five days last time, and to Ferrara, which I'll use as a base for Ravenna and Bologna, and taking a first look at Trieste. My first trip was Stresa, Rome and Ferrara, and I really liked the lakes.

Kathie

Hi thursdays! Yes, we are off to Peru in November.

If we are going to use miles for flights, I need to plan 11 months ahead. Getting the hotels with points isn't a problem, but flights are. It seems exceptionally difficult to get flights to Italy.

As you know, I have often skipped the must-see places in a country to visit the more obscure. Not that any of the places mentioned are obscure. I may look more into the idea of no Florence this trip, just three small places between Venice and Rome.

Thanks for your thoughts.

thursdaysd

BTW, if it doesn't have to be literally between Venice and Rome, besides the lakes you could consider the Dolomites. Bolanzo is a nice town, and I enjoyed my stay in Castlerotto, although there was a bit too much sun for my taste at the end of June (shortage of shade if you're hiking).

yestravel

We could not get direct lfights to Italy for this trip. Our FF tixs to Italy are via Zurich.
Florence has so much to offer that it is hard to skip. We didn't go to Florence until after several trips to Italy & obviously have fond memories (despite the crowds) or wouldn't be giving it another try. (I'll let you know how crowded it is in October.) So yes, I think you can skip it on your first trip. And with Rome & Venice as your bookends maybe seeing some of the smaller towns might make for a nice complement. Bologna with a side to Ravenna and perhaps Ferrara where I have yet to get to would be nice. Or base in Bologna and west go towards Modena and Parma. I have not done it, but did read about what sounded like wonderful food tours to those 2 cities. Another town I really liked alot is Mantova. I think the place I least liked in Italy is the lake areas.

thursdaysd

Whether you like the lakes might depend on how crowded they were? I did the round trip to Locarno and enjoyed the views and the castle. Also really enjoyed visiting Isola Madre, I wrote at the time that it was magical.

annhig

Thanks for your ideas, annhig. Only one night for Sienna? I thought it would be worth more time than that.>>

by and of itself, yes, but on this trip, [as on all others] compromises have to be made, and IMO just spending one night there and one in Orvieto would make more sense in the context of this trip.

As you say, you are going to be coming back.