Nutella

Signore Verde, I'll go along with everyone's Sorrento advice. But please do make a morning or afternoon visit to Amalfi and even better to Ravello for the beautiful view from the lookout terrace.
Your trip is really shaping up! If I weren't planning my own trip to Italy, I'd be really jealous LOL : )

Traveler863

Definitely agree with suec1, look into an open jaw ticket. These days they do not generally cost any more. If for some reason an open jaw doesn't price out well when ticketed together with your transatlantic portion look into buying a cheap one way ticket separately to hook back up for your return transatlantic flight. I will caution though with this arrangement that since it is not ticketed altogether on the same itinerary should one flight be late or cancelled neither airline has any responsibility to reaccomodate you and your transatlantic flight should it be missed will be handled the same as if you just didn't show up. That said, if you go for a separate internal ticket its best to do so the day before, this could work with seeing a city on your itinerary, such as Milan, so its not a lost night somewhere.
Yes October is a super time to visit! Have a great trip!

BigRuss

One honest opinion: Pisa is worth no more than a photo stop for the Tower, which seems to be all you want to see anyway. Siena is a much nicer town with a great central square and the best Duomo in Italy that I've seen (never been to Milan, but I've hit the other major cities), Florence included.

You can do Pompeii/Vesuvius on the way back to Rome and swapping the Rome/Amalfi portion of the trip makes much sense -- you get a nice battery recharge on the coast before bopping around Rome.

MrGreen

I almost couldn't believe this topic was still alive!
My trip is shaping up very nicely, thanks to the great advice I've gotten here.

As it now stands, We fly into Milan on an over-night flight. See the three or four items we are interested in and take a train over to Venice for two nights. After Venice, we will be spending four nights in Tuscany (somewhere near Florence, but not necessarily IN Florence) to see Florence, Sienna and a day-trip to Pisa/Lucca.
From Tuscany, we take the train to the Amalfi coast for three nights. From our base in this area, we will day-trip to Pompeii/Mt. Vesuvius and some of the coastal cities such as Positano, Sorrento, and Amalfi.
Next, we will spend four nights in Rome before our flight home. (I can't wait to see the Cappuccini Monks' crypt!!!)

I have been checking Expedia.com and the prices for open-jaw tickets are essentially the same as flying into and out of Milan or Rome.

We have not found our hotels, yet. That is the next big item to tackle. There are so many options that it is difficult to keep them organized. We are trying to stay on a budget, so we've been looking at the agriturismos (www.agriturismo.net is a great site.)in Tuscany to keep the hotel average around $100.00 per night. We are also looking into B&B's in Rome and Venice, as well as some religious institutions that offer accommodations. Any helpful suggestion in this area would be appreciated. Again, we are traveling the last two weeks in October so we will be in the "Shoulder season" in some areas, and low season for others.

Thanks again for all of the helpful comments!

Eloise

I'm not sure agriturismos will be very useful to you; by definition, they are outside cities. Also, many if not most are inaccessible without a car.

Accommodations in religious institutions are plentiful in Italy. Try typing <convent> and, separately, <Rome>, <Florence> and <Venice> into the search box and you will find many reviews.

mjs

I think your trip is coming together fairly well. I do think you are short changing Venice by at least a night as your current schedule has you in Venice less than 2 days and you will be quite tired by the time you reach Venice. Adding one day to your trip would help alot in my opinion. If you cannot add, I would consider taking away one day from Tuscany or Amalfi. Since you appear to be going in late October I would reduce Amalfi over Tuscany. Overall however it is a pretty decent schedule; especially if you could just add one more day to your vacation. Enjoy your trip and hopefully the experience will induce you to travel abroad again in a couple of years.

MrGreen

Well, I've either come to my senses or I've completely lost my mind, I'm not sure which.

Possible BIG change in plans. The more I looked at my itinerary, the more I felt like I needed to add a day or two to make it really complete. This was not a possibility. BUT it is entirely possible to split the trip into two parts.

The idea is to take two trips. One this year to see Northern Italy, including Venice, Florence and other places of interest. The second trip (possibly next year) for two weeks, to Southern Italy to include Rome, Pompeii, Amalfi coast, and Sicily.

I will focus on this year's trip to Northern Italy. What would you do if you had two weeks to spend in Northern Italy (no further South than Tuscany, please) for a first-time trip to Italy?

We want to see as much as possible. We are VERY energetic and like to fill every inch of our vacation with seeing the wonders that our destination has to offer. We love Castles, Churches and other great buildings. We like museums and historical places. We have several travel books on Italy, but the abundance of information is getting a little over-whelming. I just want to know what you would do.

Thanks!!!

Traveler863

Mr. Green,
Thats a very good decision. However, the problem with Italy is there are sooo many fascinating things to see and do, the cities, the countryside, even some real off the track things. You probably really need to do as much research as you can and decide. Italy is one place I've been to many many times and just can't get enough....you'll be back more than part 2! Trust me! Have a great trip whatever you decide!