We are planning a March trip to Italy. It will be our first time there and just our second trip to Europe.Our itinerary so far is:

Arrive Rome mid-day, spend 3 nights
Train to Venice, spend 3 nights (reservations at Orseolo Locanda - yeah!)

Then, train to Florence or perhaps Siena. At this point we have 4 nights left in Italy and we are flying out of Rome. My 13-year old would really like to see Pisa, and my husband would like to see a little of Tuscany. Any ideas for this leg of our trip? I'm beginning to lean toward Siena as a base since it would make more sense to rent a car and explore from there than if Florence was our base. How long will it take to get to Pisa from Siena? Thanks for any suggestions.

My group used Florence as a base and then went to Sienna and Pisa in one day. Truth be told the only reasons to see Pisa are the Cathedral and the tower, otherwise the town is very grungy. Florence and Sienna are much nicer.

It has become very,very fashionable to recommend Siena as an alternative to the tourist-infested Florence. I disagree with this, vehemently! There is a reason that Florence is crowded...THERE IS NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT IN THE WORLD. It is the cradle of the Renaissance, and has more great art and architecture per square foot than ANY OTHER PLACE IN THE WORLD. (Yes, I am very biassed.)

Siena is a lovely Tuscan town, but this is like going to England and skipping London for some some small town like Bath. (Well, Siena isn't as interesting as Bath...)Especially for a first visit to Italy.

Besides in March, Florence WILL NOT BE CROWDED AT ALL. It is a great time to experience this lovely town without hordes of tourists. (It may be cold, and possibly wet, but that is also true of Siena. So take advantage of the vastly superior museums and other indoor activities in Florence.)

Anecdote: after 2 trips to Italy with lots of time in Florence, my SO and I took a vacation to see "the rest of Tuscany", so we planned to skip F and just stay in smaller towns. After a couple days of this, one night we looked at each other and both said "Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Yes, let's go back to Florence!" And we very happily did.

Florence is more touristed for the same reason that thiefs rob banks: they go where the good stuff is!

You can still do Pisa, if desired, and Siena, if you really want to. It's easy to rent a car for just a day in Florence...that way you don't have to worry about parking. But if you only have 4 days, you will barely scratch the surface in Florence, so I'd suggest 1 day trip max...

Sorry to be so emphatic and blunt but I think that people who miss Florence for Siena just don't know what they are missing. Once you fall in love with Italy, you can spend your next vacation in a (2nd tier) town like Siena...

Suki,
I wonder...why don't you get an open-jaw ticket and fly into Rome and out of Venice rather than go all the way back to Rome again?

I haven't been to Siena yet (going in May to visit my daugher who will be at the University there Spring Quarter), but agree that you shouldn't miss Florence. But with 4 nights you could either do 2 in Florence and 2 in Siena, or you could go to Siena as a daytrip from Florence.

Research Florence and Siena as much as you can and then decide based on your preferences. We spent 3 nights in Florence and 1 night in Siena in June, even though after much research my heart told me I would prefer Siena, everyone said you have to stay in Florence because of all the great art museums, etc. etc. Well, I hated Florence, and loved Siena, and I was so so glad that I had at least 1 night in Siena, and although I appreciated the amazing eye-opening Renaissance art in Florence, I just hate the crowded, smoggy, trafficky city of Florence, it just overwhelmed me.

So I really think if you research well you can go with your gut feeling. I ignored my gut feeling and regretted it. Next time when I return to Italy, I will stay in Siena, or in a similar smaller, more tranquil town, and I will do Florence as a day-trip, or if necessary, I will do Florence as 2 day-trips, but I wouldn't stay there again.

I fell in love with Siena as soon as we arrived, and it felt like such a good fit for me. I could have spent a week there, doing other places as day trips. But even after 3 nights in Florence, I just couldn't get used to Florence, I was relieved when we left.

So get all the guide books, look at the pictures, read everyone's conflicting viewpoints, and then go with your gut feelings! They will be right for you.

Here's a clue. Do you long to go to places like New York City, Los Angeles, etc.; do you long for a little B&B in the country; do you love small towns; the answers to these questions may help you decide where you would be happiest as a base. As for me, when I'm in the city I can't wait to get away, I always feel overwhelmed. I love small towns and they always call me back.

Of course, there's always this dilemma...is Florence a big city or a small town? The answer to that depends on where you're from! I live in the suburbs now, but I grew up in a small town, so anything bigger than that feels like a big city to me! It just doesn't feel like home.

Florence, Florence. Florence. We have never seen any smog there. It is NOT a big city at all. It is the cradle of Western art and culture. The sights and the people are wonderful. Even in August/September - top tourist times, the crowds aren't that bad, except for the top tourist attractions which you can try and do early in the morning and avoid any trouble at all. If you truly want a small town feeling Sienna isn't the answer either. I think you would be terribly disappointed with Sienna.

Despite my strong opinions, I wanted to say that Melissajoy has some very good points, and some good advice. If you really think about the places you've visited that you really love, that will help you with the answer.
Florence is really just the size of a small town--it is easily walkable, everywhere. But it does get lots of tourists, and that turns some people off completely. It is best to go during the off-season, because the summer months are pretty unbearable. (I suspect that's when Melissajoy was there?)
But do note that Florence will just not have those crowds in March. (Unless Easter is in March next year (I haven't checked) Italy is always crowded from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday--this will be true of Rome, Florence and Venice. But Siena too...in fact EVERYTHING will be crowded, so make reservations early.
(When we were there during Easter Week, we went to Bologna to escape the crazy tourists--it was wonderful, but not for a first trip.)

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. Tashak, I appreciate your bluntness and your passion. I am going to think this over a bit more, but I think that perhaps Florence is right for us. My girls (ages 17 and 14) love cities, but my husband is more a small-town guy. For instance, he preferred Amboise and the Loire Valley to Paris. However, I hope we have many more European trips ahead of us, and we can accomodate his preferences a little more after those pesky children don't want to come with us anymore! By the way,we will be in Italy the week between Palm Sunday and Easter. I was thinking of reversing the order of our trip and heading right to Florence the weekend of Palm Sunday and ending up in Rome on Good Friday. I am thinking that Rome must be crazy Easter weekend though, and Florence just a little less so. Any thoughts on this?

Suki,
Just another thought on this...we stayed at a place in Florence that was outside of town in the hills, but could walk into the city center, so it was like having the best of both worlds. It's called Villa Belvedere. They even have a pool, a beautiful garden, great views, decent restaurant, and a great St. Bernard named Ben. It was a good place to relax after a long day of site-seeing.

Also, make sure you get reservations for the museums before you go--otherwise the lines are enormous.

We were there with my daughter when she was 13...and she's going back...so be forewarned (LOL).

I'll temper this discussion just a bit. I was in Florence and Siena in March and the crowds were absolutely NOTHING compared to what I have seen pictures of during peak season. I didn't find Florence smoggy or trafficky at all and would hardly compare it to NYC or LA! Siena felt like an empty small town to me, we hardly saw anyone at all and there were maybe 10 people in the duomo there with us. But Florence did not have a "big city feeling" in the least.

That said, I would at least visit Siena, maybe even for a night, but would not drop Florence from the list entirely, there's just too much to see there to pass it up.

Suki- even though some people do not think Pisa is worth a trip, it is if your children want to go.
Both of mine had that as a priority, so we did the train from Rome.they had a fun time, and my son did that standard hold up the torre pose

From Florence it is about an hour to Pisa .
the Torre was still closed to public when we were there, but if you want a pretty view and the torre is too crowded , go up to the very top under the dome of the Bapistry and look out one of the small windows, the torre is stunning from there.

Have fun!!!!

Hi Suki,
I hope others will be of more help about the best itinerary for "Holy Week". As you can imagine, it is a VERY big tourist time in Italy-- people do want to be in Rome, but while they are they they go all over Italy. But I saw it from the "sidelines". (On this trip, we were probably the only people going to Italy who didn't realize that it was Holy Week. So, foolishly, we had booked a hotel for our first night in Rome (before Palm Sunday) but thought we'd just arrange things when we arrived. Silly, silly mistake. Even before Palm Sunday, we couldn't get a room in Florence, at any price. Finally our hotel concierge helped us, and we did get a reasonable and good place-- apparently having a hotel vouch for you was useful...or maybe he just had a connection. We decided to skip Venice because rooms were impossible there, too. After Easter, we did go back to Rome, but we missed the big week.

That said, a couple things to keep in mind:
Florence and Venice are actually small towns, and you can do most things on foot. So you may have to worry about crowded museums and streets, but you won't be stuck in traffic. However Venice is really crazy when there are crowds, because there are limited places to go-- just a few big squares, narrow walking paths and canals. It seems that everyone in Venice wants to be in the Piazza San Marco!

Florence (and Siena) also has narrow streets, but in Florence the sites are relatively well spread out for pedestrians. And there are some amazing museums that get no crowds at all-- the Bargello & the Museum of the Duomo, for example. There are a zillion (OK, I exaggerate, but not much) churches with amazing art that literally changed western art too. (If you email me at [email protected], I'll send you my personal strategy for avoiding crowds at places like the Uffizi and the Sistine Chapel, too. But I'm not publishing this one on the web!)

Finally, Rome will have the most tourists this week, and there are some pluses and minuses. It is a big city, so in some ways can handle it better. (Bigger streets, more open spaces and squares). But the traffic in Rome will be horrible, and that means lots of buses, noise and pollution. And in Rome you will probably have to take public transit to various places, and that will be super-crowded (and pickpockets will be out in force...but if you are careful this is no big deal..)

Again, the decision is yours...but my personal decision would be Rome first, because I hate traffic and buses more than I hate streets crowded with people. And I think Rome will be really, really crazy by Good Friday. (But if you want to be in Rome for religious reasons, it's a trade-off you will be prepared to make.)

My general advice: book everything early, and be sure to reconfirm. Get faxes from the hotels if possible, not just from travel agents. Find out what time the hotels expects you to arrive, and if you are going to be late, CALL THEM. (WE lost hotels because we were 30 minutes late...and sometimes got rooms 5 minutes after a person with a reservation did not show! REALLY!! (But these were pensiones, not regular hotels...perhaps if you have hotels with guaranteed arrival and a deposit, you won't have this problem. )

Trains are really crowded too, so book early, and arrive early at the station. Despite our first class tickets, there were no seats available on some of the trains. Travel as light as possible, because when there are crowds, you don't want to be burdened with more luggage than you absolutely need. (One rollaboard size carryon per person really should be enough for a trip this length...and maybe an extra empty duffle bag for any purchases and souvenirs.

Finally, arrive at the airport early. This week is a prime time for overbooking flights, and if you are late they will just bump you! (Happened to large numbers of people on our flight...fortunately for us, we were unusually and atypically early for our flight!)

I've written too long...BASTA!