Fellow travelers:

I will be traveling with my spouse to Italy from December 8th - 16th, 2006.
Our itinerary involves arriving in Milan, staying overnight, then traveling (by train) to Venice for three nights, Florence for two nights, then back to Milan.

My main concern is that we'd like to see Pisa, which I know is an hour train ride from Florence. Should we go to Pisa, then back to Florence, or go to Pisa on our last day in Florence and head straight back to Milan. My concern is back-tracking, and having our bags with us in Pisa.

Any suggestions towards this general trip itinerary would be appreciated.

Forget Pisa---you have a full plate.
Spend one more day in Florence and day trip by bus to Siena.

Sounds harsh to just say "forget Pisa",,,but there really isn't much to see there....and you will use up much time, effort and energy to get there just to view the tower for a few minutes.

If you do decide to go to Pisa, you can check your bags athe station in some lockers.

I'm with Bobthenavigator. I'd pick Siena over Pisa in a heartbeat.

If you really want to see Pisa, I think you should take time for that! Hopefully someone can answer the question about how best to manage the train riddes.

You sure do have a full plate. We went to Pisa on a tour bus, we were able to store our luggage under the bus. Pisa was nice, but it was just the leaning tower, the cathedral and the baptistery there. We also took a tour to Siena and San Gimignano, that was much more amazing and a lot more to see. Just my opinion. It was a tour offered by Gate 1 tours. It was enjoyable. You started at the bus station to meet your tour bus and they took you there and gave you some history on the bus ride, another tour guide told you about the area when you got there.

I know the tower is not a huge attraction, but don't we all heed that one picture of trying to hold it up??? I would not back track. As I mentioned before you can just store your bags at the station in Pisa. My daughter just got back last week and there were some train delays and cancellations that changed her plans significantly (weather related). I think I would rather be with my bags in a delay situation.