My husband & I (in our 60s) will visit Europe for the first time & spend 6 weeks in Italy. Arrive Rome Dec. 31, 2013 - depart Milan Feb. 14, 2014. My original itinerary was ambitious and fast paced. And then sanity set in. I have had to cut many places as I became exhausted just thinking about that level of travel. So now I will be in Rome (14 nights); Orvieto (4);Perugia(4); Florence (7); Verona(4);Venice(8) - To Milan for 2 nights to see The Last Supper and fly to Luxembourg to visit my son & family.

The decision was to stay put, slow down, see the beauty of art & architecture, meet people and have time just to relax, cook a meal in a rental apartment and enjoy.

I have just cut 2 nights in Ravenna because it was just too much for us. So the question is where to put those 2 nights. Perhaps 1 in Orvieto because it seems like a good place to wander and day trip to Civita de Bagnoregio. Perhaps the other in Florence so we can take day trips to Siena, Lucca, San Gimignano, Fiesole and still have time to see Florence and take it easy. The hundreds of reviews I read go from loving to hating the same place. I am hoping 8 nights in Venice is not too much time, but it is difficult to know when you have never been.

Any thoughts from the experts would be greatly appreciated.

You haven't mentioned whether you'll have a car for any of your days...

If no car, I would add the time to Florence and/or Perugia for the many day trip options using public transportation.

I would cut 2 from Verona, and spend them in Bologna. From there, spend a day doing a day trip to Ravenna.

Will you have a car while you're in Orvieto? It's a very small town with enough sightseeing for a day. If you have a car it's a good base town.

From Venice you can take day trips to Padua or Trieste or tour the Paladian homes in the area so 8 days would be fine.

Everyone does have different opinions so you do need to form your own and the way to do that is to allow enough time in each location. I find many people who hate a place do so because they did not give it enough time to see the beauty and fascination of that place. Florence is full of art and there are a lot of people who do not enjoy looking at art.

Add your extra days to Florence as there are good train and bus connections to other places.

I would also cut somewhere and spend a few days in Bologna. It's a great city and the bread basket area for fresh foods & farms.

I personally think 7 nights in Florence and 8 nights in Venice is a bit too long. I have never been to Rome so can't comment. But if you are hoping to just settle in to a city, get to know people, hang out, see the sites in more detail then sounds like a good plan.

When we visited Italy we just had two weeks so we rented a car and traveled from Milan, to Florence and the entire Tuscany region (San Gimignano, Siena, etc) spending a night or two in each place. We took a train to Venice and stayed a week (because we had a time share - but a week was a little too long). I would have liked more time to see the Lake Como area and Cinque Terra.

With 6 weeks I think it'd be fun to see more or the entire northern part of Italy rather than stay in just a few places.

Eight nites in Venice and and I also think four in Perugia are too many. Perugia is very small, and once you've seen it and Assisi, not much else to do. Even if you want to take the train to Padua from Venice for a day (and you should), you'll still have six full days in Venice is which, IMO, too many for a first trrip

I like nanabee's idea of adding some nites to Bologna, where you can day trip to Ravenna and Ferrara.

OTOH, I think your time in Florence is about right, particularly if you're into art and architecture.

as others say, Venice is probably a couple of days 2 long and Rome could be shortened. Ravenna needs 2 nights. Your choices are more time in Tuscany or more in the Po valley. Bologna offers a good option for 4 days (including train trip to Ravenna) and other cities around. Trips from Florence would be great

Also, question whether you really need fourteen nites in Rome. One thing you don't have is any time in Napoli and surroundings, and I would put the Bay of Naples near the top of my list of things to do in Italy.

I would cut one week out of Rome, and add Siena as a base. For the area between Rome and Florence, a car would be very useful, although winter weather might be a problem.

Here are the pictures of a car tour we did in under three weeks:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...14974923/show/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...14855341/show/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...14730403/show/

The pictures are geo-tagged so that places of interest can be related to the bases that you might use.

Without knowing whether you will have a car, I really can't give any useful advice. As others have said, Orvieto is fine as a base, if you'll have a car. If not, I wouldn't suggest spending so much time there.

Perugia is a great base if you won't have a car, but there are more charming towns if you will be driving.

It would also help to know a bit more about your interests, something a little more specific than "art and architecture".

I think sticking with mainly cities makes sense for a trip in midwinter - with cold weather and short day. But agree that you can use fewer days in Rome and perhaps explore a few other towns.