Italy Itinerary - First Time Traveler
 

Hello Fellow Travelers,

My husband and I are trying to wrap up the details of our first trip to Italy in October of 2023. We have a 10 day itinerary and I'm worried we have too much crammed in a short period of time, but don't want to miss anything! What are your thoughts and recommendations?

Sunday - arrive in Rome early Sunday morning and are planning to just walk around city and become more familiar with the city. I would love to schedule golf cart tour, but all of them seem to only be available at the time we are arriving and not later in the day. Also considered a food tour, but read that a lot of restaurants are closed on Sundays.
Monday - early morning Vatican tour with LIV Tours and Scavi tour in the afternoon
Tuesday - boat tour to Amalfi coast and Positano with visit to Lemon orchard
Wednesday - Coliseum, Forum, and Hill (haven't picked tour yet - would like to do the one at night, but I've see how hard that one is to get booked and need alternates)
On Monday or Wednesday, we'd like to work in a Food Tour and a cooking class
Thursday - take train to Florence and spend day learning city and shopping in market ( or if something we still want to see in Rome, leave for Florence later in day)
Friday - Uffizi, Accademia, Duomo tours (haven't picked tour yet) (cooking class here possibly??)
Saturday - day tour to Siena and San Gimignano
Would love to work in a tour of a winery somewhere or tour with wine tasting, but not sure how with the time we have available (maybe on the way to Florence, stop at Siena/San Gimignano then and do wine tour on Saturday instead??)
Sunday - train to Venice and spend day walking around Venice (or if something we still want to see in Florence, leave for Venice later in the day)
Monday - Secret Itineraries Tour and Basilica
Tuesday - trip to Murano
I've had a more difficult time determining what to see in Venice. Reads lots of things about how great it is wandering the city, but I don't know how much time I should allow for that. We could leave for Venice on Monday morning and spend an extra day in Florence on Sunday to work in the wine tour.
Wednesday - fly home from Venice

Is this too much in a short period of time?
Thanks!!

You are basically covering the main touristy cities, Rome, Florence, Venice, which is fine. I feel you can add a stay in some Agrotourisme in lower Tuscany or a day in a small village. We stayed at Orvietto.
Portofino is a gem in Italian Riviera. Padava is also a day trip from Venice. Pisa and Lucca from Florence if you have time. You can only do that if you spend 2 days in Rome.. plus 1 day trip to Amalphi or Capri.
Regardless of any Itinerary, you will surely have a great time. I had decided that its enough of Italy, after my 4th visit, 4 years ago, to this beautiful country. Now I feel, Never say Never again..

Yes. Too much. See my notes above

While Parangkash's ideas might be nice, you don't have time to add anything else. In fact, I would suggest cutting down. I would save the Amalfi Coast for another trip. You have so little time in Rome as it is, no time for that. Plus, it's a very long, tiring day to go there.

I highly recommend that you DON'T do the night tour for the Colosseum. It's very dark and difficult to see anything, and you really have to watch where you're stepping because you can't see where you're going. The lights in the arches that you see in pictures does not penetrate inside.

I don't think you have time to add a cooking class on that day with the museums and Duomo in Florence, and I am someone who loves cooking classes.

With so little time in Venice, I would save Murano for another trip.

Paragkash, Thank you for your input! We are hoping this won't be our last visit and will get to enjoy some of these places again!

Alandavid and SusanP, I think you are probably right about skipping Amalfi this time. This was what we thought, but wanted to get confirmation before we just didn't go. Maybe we could add a cooking class to this day instead.
Thanks for your help!

I agree with Alandavid's comments....

Wandering around is hard work and can take up hours if not days.... it includes:
stopping for gelato
browsing in shops
sitting at an outdoor cafe or wine store to enjoy a glass of wine
stopping again for gelato
tossing coins in a fountain
admiring the work of street artists,
and stopping for gelato...

Lots of gelato and wine. Sounds great to me!

Another vote to skip the Amalfi Coast day trip.

Your list focuses on tourist activities. What I don't see is "Sit on a piazza with an interesting view, enjoy a nice lunch or afternoon rest stop with a glass of wine." Or the absolute requirement to "Get some gelato, sit and people-watch." And "Listen to the bands on Piazza San Marco after dinner." There are a lot of memories to be made when you're not really doing much, so I would encourage you to resist the urge to fill every hour with plans. In Venice, for instance, take some time to notice things that are happening on the canals... the floating fruit and veg market, garbage collection, ambulance service, postal deliveries. Aspects of daily life that are so different in Venice.

I'll even go so far as to say... If you don't think this will be your last visit to Italy, then leave one of your destinations to a future trip. (I guess if flights are booked, Florence would be the easiest choice.) You're barely skipping along the surface of all three cities. You're working with only 9 full days not impacted by arrival/departure, and you could even spend all of that time in Rome and not run out of things to see/do.

I have taken cooking classes in Rome five times. My two favorites:

www.cookingclassesinrome.com with Andrea Consoli in Trastavere

​​​​​​www.fabiolouscookingday.com - I did the one where they take you outside the city to a Medieval village - fun and gorgeous scenery - they have some in the city as well.

(Fabiolous is not misspelled 😀 )

Jean gives a good option, that of doing two cities.

I agree.

Arrival Sunday really doesn't really count as a day. You will have flown overnight and may be (probably will be) exhausted and jet lagged. Plus you hotel room likely won't be ready on arrival, so just not a 'touring' day. Then on departure Wednesday, packing and traveling to the airport is about all you can manage.

That leaves you 9 days to work with -- trying to squeeze in 3 cities cuts the usable time even further because you'll spend half a day (Florence) and close to a full day (Venice) just in transit. IMO the remaining 7.5-ish days is awfully rushed for three such interesting cities. Me -- I'd do JUST Rome and Venice. But that is me . . .

Some thoughts / ideas in no particular order:

Rome
if you’re not too jet lagged on Sunday, try going to the Sunday market Porta Portese in Trastevere. It’s open to around 14.00 and has an interesting mix, of bric a brac, clothing, leather goods, household items and food. You could then go to the old Jewish quarter for a late lunch.

Should you not be able to book a cart, then try the hop on/off bus. Don’t bother to get off the first round trip just sit and enjoy the views, you can stop somewhere on the next round.

There are some walking itineraries for Rome, which might be worth considering. Personally I enjoy just wandering in the direction of a historic site and discovering things as I go or stopping for a drink or ice cream.

Have lunch outside at one of the restaurants by the Pantheon, then take a walk to Piazza Navona and/or the Forum.

Walk up the Via Frattina to the Spanish Steps and then down the Via dei Condotti to Via del Corso. Have a drink/ coffee at the Piazza di San Lorenzo and people watch.

Weather too hot or wet, visit the National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia.

Should you want to escape from central Rome on Tuesday, take a trip to the Tivoli Gardens at Villa d’Este. Wonderful water fountains/ cascades.

Florence
After you arrive, wander to the Pitti Palace through the area of Santo Spirito and look round the museum/ art gallery as well as enjoying the Boboli Gardens.

if you’re feeling energetic, walk up to the Piazzale Michelangelo for a wonderful view over Florence. There are several well marked footpaths. Alternatively take bus 12 or 13.

Take bus 13 to Forte di Belvedere.

Combine a visit to the Mercato Centrale, San Lorenzo market and the Palazzo Medici Riccardi.

Take the back streets from the Duomo to Santa Croce and then to the Arno.

Enjoy your trip.

Thanks for the input, Jean. I realized AFTER our flights were booked that we needed more time to see 3 cities. I'm not sure if or when we'll be able to return (so many places still to see now that we are empty nesters!) so I hate to skip any of them.

Obviously, it's your trip and you can travel at whatever pace you like. But you're already going to "miss" dozens and dozens of wonderful things in and between these three destinations. You can't see/do everything no matter how many trips to Italy you make. So, the choice for this trip is: See/do more in two places or see/do less in three places. In your shoes, I'd rather leave Florence for another trip when there would be time to explore both the city and the smaller Tuscan towns (beyond just SanG and Siena).

Several tour operators offer escorted tours to Rome, Florence and and Venice. Do you see everything ‘no’, but it does give you a good feel of each place. I’ve spent weeks in both Florence and Rome, yet every time I visit, I find something new so as Jean says you could spend more time in 2 destinations v 3, but the difference between them over a 10 day trip is marginal. Personally, I would stick with your plan but drop the Amalfi coast and the cookery session.

Day wasted moving from A to B
 

Just remember every day you travel from A to B you might as well kiss that day goodbye, as most accommodations you can’t get in till after 2/3pm. Have been going to Italy twice a year for a long time 🌻

I would definitely skip the Amalfi for this trip and consider just doing Rome and Venice. Leave Florence for another trip when you can spend some time in Tuscany. Remember too that it can rain which will slow you down.