Italy for 10 days
 

Ok, just about to book a 11 day trip to Italy with a girlfriend. Leaving on Nov 4th from Canada and landing in Rome on the 5th

I'd like to get the most out of this trip (museums, cathedrals, scenery and wineries). I'm just starting to plan the itinerary.
Here are some considerations of where we want to go and where we'd like to go
Musts:
Rome
Florence
Winery tour, so I suppose Tuscany is best bet

What else would you suggest:
Milan (fashion show), Cinque Terres, Venice, Naples and Pompeii, Pise, ...

So for those who have travelled Italy, where do you think I must go and what itinerary do you suggest?
Thank you,
Genevieve

Hello Genevieve. You do mean this November I assume?

I would fly into Rome and stay there first.

Train from Rome to Florence (about a 90 minute train trip) and stay there next. You could take a winery tour while staying in Florence. If you do a search there have been some good recommendations by Fodorite's that have done this.

You could also take the bus from Florence to Siena for a day's visit while still staying in Florence.

You could than either train to Milan or to Venice. I love Milan but most people enjoy Venice more than Milan.

You could than fly home from Venice.

Or, since most flights depart Venice early in the morning you could fly into Venice and than Florence and Rome last and fly home from Rome. I say that as it does not sound like you have yet purchased your plane tickets.

If you chose Milan over Venice you could fly home from Venice.

Personally with 11 days (assume that is 10 nights in Italy) I would only want 3 different hotels maximum.

This is your first trip to Italy?

I think LoveItaly is right and you should stay in three places: Rome, Florence and Venice. I wouldn't spend your limited time on the winery tour, unless you are really keen on the subject, or go to Siena from Florence. Milan, Cinque Terre, Pisa and Naples are all good destinations for trips in the future when you will have a better idea of what you really want to see.

Getting a good feel for the first three cities will be rich and demanding enough for one visit.

Your flight is obviously already booked. Where do you fly home from? If you fly home from Rome, it might not be a bad idea to continue on from Rome when you arrive to your furthest point and work your way back.

Assuming 10 nights in Italy, maybe 3 nights Venice, train to Florence for 3 nights (do a wine daytrip from there...do a search here for options), train to Rome for 4 nights. That will just barely scratch the surface. You could easily keep it to just Florence (4 nights) and Rome (6 nights) if you prefer that.

Well Genevieve posted "just about to book", perhaps I misunderstood as I thought she was referring to the plane tickets.

Actually if it was my trip I too would stay in Florence 4 nights (take the train to Florence after arriving in Rome) and return to Rome for the last 6 nights if the departure flight is from Rome. But I tend to like a slower pace than a lot of travellers and again since I guess I misunderstood about the plane tickets being booked I made the suggestions that I did. But actually the OP did not state which airport they are departing from to get back to Canada.

Oop, you're right, LoveItaly. I read it quickly and thought it said just booked. Sorry about that...

If they aren't booked yet, definitely fly into one airport and out of another.

Hello SusanP, I am not sure if Genevieve meant she was going to book her plane tickets or rather her hotel rooms, even thought I have reread the original post. Anyway, we are on the same page it seems. Genevieve if you will post back regarding whether or not you have booked your plane tickets it would help us give some more experienced advise.

Thank you very much for this input. I have not yet booked. I was thinking about arriving in Rome but I haven't checked other cites in Italy. I will be departing from Ottawa, ON or Montreal, PQ. I can also make this a 12 day trip...

I have been in Italy about 15 years ago but on an organized trip through Europe so I barely visited Italy for 4 days (Venice, Florence and Rome).

This time, I definitively want to visit: Rome and Florence and ??? My friend has heard great things about Cinque Terres but I'm not sure if we could include it in our short trip. Plus, I absolutely want to visit a few wineries; therefore, I thought that area might be worth it?

I suppose we'll book hotels or B&B as we go or do you suggest I do that ahead of time?

Once again, all input is greatly appreciated!

November won't be a good time for Cinque Terre. You could do a daytrip from Florence to see some wineries. If you want more than one, you might want a private driver. I can highly recommend Luca Garrapa of www.hillsandroads.com. There is also a tour that does a winery that has been recommended a lot here, can't think of the name right now, but maybe somebody else can give the name.

I agree that you should visit maximum three places,if we are talking of cities like Rome, Venice and Firenze. There is so mucho to do in each of them and to take the pulse of each place that to stay less is like a sin .
One place I loved in my recent visit to Rome that for some reason I had never visited before is the Church of San Clemente, near the Coliseum. This is a remarkable place, this is not another church in Rome, for a 5 euro fee, you can go down and find out the levels, on which this church has been built. This XII century basilica has been built on top of a well perserved IVcentury church, and this one on top of a pagan temple. It is amazing. Also the
Church at ground level is amazing in itself it has a beautiful XII mosaic and much more. Do not miss it.

Genevieve, I mistyped on my 2:31p.m. post. I meant to type if you decide to go to Milan instead of Venice you can fly home from Milan.

Personally I would book your accomodations rather than trying to find rooms during your trip. I have been in Italy a lot when we didn't but that was due to two month trips so that makes quite a difference. With your time frame I wouldn't want to lose time trying to find a room for the night.

Perfect. Thank you for your input. Here's our latest info. We'll be in Italy for 12 days now (cause losing 1 day for travelling)

Landing on the 2nd of Nov. in Rome (staying for 4 or 5 nights). Then, taking the train to Florence (4 or 5 nights and while there take a full day road trip to visit wineries-btw Susan, thanks for the suggestion). Then, Venice (2nights) and fly back home from Venice.

Now, next question if I may: Any suggestion where I should stay while in Rome, Florence and Venice? Somewhere close to the action in Rome but something more relaxed in Florence and something else well located in Venice. I don't want to spend my budget on hotels so maybe something nice but reasonnably priced. Any ideas for a B&B in Florence or something really more local and worth trying?

Also, what are visits I MUST do while in these locations (meaning Cathedrals, Museums, etc.)

Thanks again, I'm so glad I can get your input!

Genevieve

I won't recommend the hotel that we stayed at in Florence, as the walls were made of tissue paper and the breakfast was abysmal.
In Venice, the hotel Ai do Mori was good. Very central, very easy to find.

http://www.hotelaidomori.com/

I would recommend in Fkorence the Hotel Casci and in Rome the Arco del Lauro b&b . Both great and not very expensive.

One item about flying into Rome and out of Venice - the planes leave Venice for North America at a very early hour, and I've heard it's a hassle getting to the airport at that time of morning. Any chance you can switch your trip, and fly into Venice and out of Rome?

We recently stayed in Florence (and Venice and Rome, BTW), and stayed in a lovely B&B, Casa dei Tintori. It's close to Santa Croce, but within walking distance of pretty much everything else. The hosts were wonderful, and the B&B is gorgeous. The prices vary depending on the size of the room and time of year, so check their website.

What's your idea of reasonably priced hotels or B&Bs?

One time I flew into Venice and out of Rome, and thought that was a perfect plan. Venice is kind of dreamy, so it suits jet lag quite well, and you don't have to jump right in figuring out train tickets, bus routes, car rentals, etc. On the other end, I love the energy of Rome, and a last night out in Rome seems like a great way to end an Italy trip.

Graziella, I visited San Clemente a few years ago, too - what an interesting place! I loved the mosaics (esp the Tree of Life over the altar, I believe) and the mysterious underground temple.

I can recommend these two places in Venice:
www.casamartini.it
small and charming little hotel; it was the family home for generations, and has a real Venetian feel. The owners will send you to out of the way (so out of the way we got lost, but no worries) restaurants and bars filled with locals. It is located near the Jewish ghetto.

Ca'Turelli, booked through:
www.veniceby.com
It is a small B&B, very comfortable (and nice large bathroom) in a convenient Dorsoduro location, on a little canal. Scroll the website under B&Bs and you will find it (and many more options).

In Rome we liked:
www.nicolasinn.com
Owned by an American woman and her Italian/French/Lebanese husband. They are super helpful. We liked the clean and contemporary decor, a surprise to find in this old building on a busy street near the Roman Forum. We found the location convenient for ancient Rome sites and other historical areas, and there were good casual restaurants right there.

Oh, I missed that you already had booked the flight into Rome. Never mind re: flying into Venice. It's all good!

I second Hotel Casci. I love the staff there. Very nice and incredibly helpful. They also have a good breakfast. Decor isn't great, but the rooms are very clean. Also a fantastic location about 2 blocks away from the Duomo.

In Rome, I stayed at Albergo Cesari located near the Pantheon. Walls were a bit thin, but the price was decent, location was great, nice staff, and very good breakfast as well.

As far as must sees, that list could go on and on. If you are into museums, check out the Roma Pass website or you can search Roma Pass on here for more info. In Florence, the two main museums are the Accademia and the Uffizi. I also liked the Bargello, Medici Chapels, and Santa Croce. There's also both the Vatican Museums and St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. The markets in both cities, all the piazzas, etc. I'd even list certain gelato places for my 'must see'. The list really could go on and on.

We haven't already booked our flights so I will see about flying into Venice and getting back to Canada from Rome. Thank you!

I will check out those hotels/B&B shortly. My idea of reasonalble hotel or B&B pricing is anywhere around $150US.

Now, here's a tough question: What would you say is a must to visit in these 3 cities?

Rome: Vatican city (St-Peters, Vatican Museum), Roman Forum, Colosseum, Pantheon, Borghese Gallary, National Museum of Rome.
Florence:
1 day of Winery tour
Accademia, Uffizi Gallery, Bargello, maybe 1 day trip to Siena?
Venice:
Grand Canal, St-Mark's Square and Church of Frari?

What should I skip, what would you suggest I add?
Geneviève

Hello Genevieve, since you haven't booked your plane tickets IF you can get a flight arriving in Venice and departing from Rome that would be the best. But if not don't worry about it as many travellers end up departing Italy from Venice but yes, most planes do depart early morning.

You have a nice list for your itinerary.

And SusanP's recommendation for a winery tour was the company I was trying to think of. Good friends used them and loved them and many other Fodorites have also.

If you decide to take a day trip from Florence to Siena do use the bus versus the train as the bus takes you into Siena.

An intinerary is good to have and than once in Italy you can make adjustments depending on your mood, the weather etc.

Do check as to when the various "must do's" are closed. For example the major museums in Florence are closed on Mondays.

Flying into Venice and out of Rome is great. Good decision.
I would suggest taking the Alilaguna ferry from Marco Polo airport to Venice proper. It is such a change of pace from travelling. You walk from the terminal to the ferry dock (about 600 metres), buy a ticket and then have this slightly dreamy transit to Venice. Magic, and the ferry will take you to San Marco.

I would suggest three nights in Venice, or maybe more, so you will have at least two full days there, and then train to Florence, which is a couple of hours, maybe three hours

It’s really hard to nominate “Must See” things in Venice, as it depends what you are into. San Marco, Doge Palace, Grand Canal, the Piazza are all big ticket things that you would not want to miss, and the Piazza and San Marco become very crowded around 10:00 AM when the day tourists arrive, so it’s worth going there early. I love the Frari church, and I also love just meandering around. The Rialto markets are fun, and it is good to go there really early in the morning – think 6:00 AM when the fish is being unloaded and the stalls are setting up, and it is worth missing the hotel breakfast to do this.

Have breakfast the way Venetians do – a coffee and a croissant standing at the bar – it’ll cost you about 3 Euro.

The Guggenheim is great if you like modern art, and the Academe if you like more classical.

Get a copy of “Venice” by Jan Morris – arguably the best English language book about Venice, and freely available second hand. And at the risk of being named an idiot, or worse, I think that Rick Steve’s Venice book is not that bad in terms of guided walks.

Genevieve, I have only been to Rome and Florence once and it was last year. But here are a few things that might help.

In Rome we stayed at a nice B&B called Roma B&B www.roma-bandb.it It was out a ways, but a block from a bus that takes you straight to the Vatican. Cost was 90 euro a night with a nice breakfast.

We took buses everywhere in Rome and had no problems. We went to the Vatican, Forum, Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, etc.

We took the train to Florence and splurged a little and stayed at Hotel La Scaletta www.hotellascaletta.it which was one block from Ponte Vechio. Large rooms and wonderful terraces overlooking the Duomo. It was 120 euro a night cash. They also have a lower cost facility www.florenceoldbridge.com I would recommend reservations for Galleria Accademia and the Uffizi,otherwise it takes forever to get in. We used TickItlay for the tickets. Again, we used the local buses to go everywhere, or walked.

All of Italy was wonderful, but I particularly loved Florence and would go back in a heart beat. I hope this helps and have a wonderful time!

Racer042

The must-sees depend on what you like.

We like art and architecture. On our recent trip (repeat visits) to Venice, Florence and Rome, here were some places that we made sure to visit, which you didn't mention on your list:

Venice
- Just walking around and enjoying the canals and the old buildings
- The museum in San Marco. While walking through San Marco, you MUST look around, and not just shuffle through - look up at the amazing mosaics, some of which date back to the original construction of the church - and down at the beautiful floor mosaics, in hundreds of different patterns
- Santa Maria dei Miracoli; beautiful little jewel-box church
- Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni; beautiful paintings by Corregio
- San Zaccharia - really cool crypt under the church
- Scuola Grande di San Rocco; many large paintings by Tintoretto

Florence
- Piazzale Michelangelo, high above the city with a great view. I went up here on my morning run, which made it even better - there was hardly anyone there
- Bargello has great statues, if you like statues

Rome
- San Luigi has several beautiful Caravaggios
- San Agostino has one beautiful Caravaggio
- Santa Maria sopra Minerva has Michelangelo's "Christ Carrying the Cross"
- Saint Peter in Chains has Michelangelo's "Moses"
- The National Museum of Rome is good, but I'd put it lower on the list, unless you really like mosaics
- Palazzo Barbarini has a nice group of paintings, including Raphael's "The Fornarina."

The good thing about visiting churches, or art in churches, is that you can visit them while on the way to something else, and you can enjoy them without spending hours doing so.

Genevieve,

If you can manage a day trip to Siena by bus, I'd recommend it. The SITA bus station in Florence is located right across the street from the main train station.

Since this is your first trip, I'd recommend checking out Ron in Rome's website www.roninrome.com. His website is EXTREMELY helpful for first time visitors to Rome as he gives step by step instructions on how to use the trains, how to use the buses, provides lists of markets, list of good gelato places (probably my favourite article of his), information on the Roma Pass, etc. It helped me a lot when I planned out my trip.

Also, I'd recommend seeing the Capitoline Museums before seeing the National Museums of Rome.

A nice budget hotel in Florence is Hotel Casci (www.hotelcasci.com).

I would also suggest an additional night in Venice. Fly into Venice, stay there 3 nights, train to Florence, stay there 3 nights with one daytrip to do your wineries, train to Rome and stay there for the last 5 nights. A perfect trip!

The Arco del Lauro b&b in Rome was mentioned by Graziellia5B but I can't get the website to work - does anyone know if it has closed down?

I also recommend flying into Venice and out of Rome as I think Rome is best seen at the end of the trip. It is a busy city and we like to end our trips there when it is on our itinerary.

Two nights in Venice is enough for me so I would suggest 2/5/4. I also find it to be the most expensive of the three so if you want more time there, stay late on the third day and take a train to Florence in time to arrive for dinner.

I agree with the recommendation of Luca Grappa for your winery tour in Tuscany. We have spent 6 days with Luca over the past 4 years and enjoyed every one. With one day for the wineries, you could take a bus to Siena for another and then enjoy two full days in Florence.

You can check Tourist House Ghilberti and Alloro B&B in Florence for good locations and reasonable prices. Hotel Balestri is another good option.

In Rome, Arco del Lauro has already been mentioned. Hotel Panda and Nicholas Inn are two other often recommended 3 star hotels with reasonable rates. Albergo Santa Chiara behind the Pantheon is another good option.

In Rome, look into the Roma Pass to save on entry fees. Book second class Eurostar trains between cities for fast connections.

Wow! Thank you for those responses! Looks like we're booking tonite and we'll be flying out of Ottawa into Venice and flying home from Rome. You guys were right on about flights being extremely early out of Rome when heading back to Ottawa. So, into Venice and out from Rome! Total of 12 days.

Should I also book the train between cities prior to our arrival or not? How about visits? I guess I should only book those on arrival right?

So, excited, can't wait!
Genevieve

I'll leave the train info for someone else here to explain as they'd be much better (and accurate) about giving advice on that.

In Florence, you will want to make reservations if you are planning on going to the Uffizi and Accademia. See if your hotel can make the reservations for you and they will send an email to you with the reservation number. You will not have to pre-pay. The reservations will be an additional 3-4 euro and I believe it is cash only. Then once you get to the museums, if you see there is little or no wait in the regular line, you can hop in that line and save yourself the extra charge for the reservations.

In Rome, if you plan on going to the Galleria Borghese, reservations are mandatory. Again, no pre-pay. You just get a number when you call or if you request for your hotel to do this for you.

If you buy a Roma pass, the Borghese (one of my favorite places in Rome and one of the very few which is actually capacity controlled) is one of the choices on the pass. The other can be used for Colosseum and Forum.

Wait until you arrive in Venice to buy train tickets then buy all of them at once from the station or any travel agency (no extra fees). Seat reservations are included in the fares on Eurostar trains.

You might get a good rate at Hotel Giorgone in November, a solid 4 star hotel in a nice area.

what kind of weather can we expect in the 3 cities?

We have often been there at that time of year and I would pack in layers so you can adjust and also definitely bring an umbrella and/or all weather jacket.