HELP WITH ITALY
 

I am planning on taking 2 weeks in August, I want to do Rome, Naples,Amalfi,Taormina, and Palermo... any thoughts and or suggestions...

Sounds like a good stsrt. Do some research - use the destination pages on the Fodors site and do a search for each of the places you want to visit. Think about how much time you want to spend in each place. We were in Sicily in Sept. and spend 3 days in Palermo (could have spent longer) and 3 in Taormina (about right). Spend 5 days in Rome if you can. I'd eliminate Naples and spend the rest of the time on the Amalfi Coast. Two weeks is a bit short to do all of the locations justice.

I would also recommend skipping Naples. In my opinion, it wasn't anything worth seeing. I would save time for a day trip to Pompei though!

Also, when planning, keep in mind that a lot of things close down in August. I went last June and a friend went last August and we had completely different experiences because August is when Italians vacation.

First - I hope you like very hot weather and mobs of people.

Second - I think you're trying to cover too much territory. I would put together a day by day itinerary including actual details of transit from the appropriate websites. I think you'll be surprised how little time you'll have in each place once you factor in travel between cities.

Gasp -- Too hot in Rome in August!