Itinerary for Italy
 

Planning a visit to Italy. We (2) are fit and early 60s. We like a varied holiday. Arriving late April next year. Our daughter will be with us for the first 10 nights, we have 9 nights left. We leave via Rome

Start in Venice (air ticket not yet purchased) - 3 nights.
Get rental car, drive to Tuscany.
5 nights based in Tuscany: day trips, visit Florence, Cinque terre, mountain villages
Drive to Rome, get rid of rental
2 nights in Rome, daughter leaves

We have 7 nights now left to do something else. It will be early May.

We fly out of Rome on the 12th May, so we have timetabled 2 more nights in Rome at the end of the trip.

Please make comments on our itinerary and suggestions for the 7 nights still to be allocated.
Is the Amalfi Coast recommended?

Yes, the Amalfi Coast is recommended, it's a very beautiful region. Also, Naples and Pompeii could keep you busy for days.

In fact, if you don't list any constraint/restrict, you could go anywhere in Italy. Each region has its own charm. The south of Italy is a good choice, since you would have been in the north for the first part of your trip. Sicily would make for a wonderful add-in.

First 10 nights look OK to me. Minor point: I might make Florence my last venue in the Tuscany part of the trip, drop the car off there and train to Rome. Maybe even stay overnight in Florence.

As for the last part, you can train from Rome to Sorrento and either stay there or hire a private car to take you to an AC town, such as Positano. Day trip to Pompeii would work fine. Naples would be OK, but maybe you want a change of pace because you'll have visited some cities, and the AC would offer that change. Then do the reverse train trip to Rome.

Amalfi Coast is spectacular! I would add it if you have 7 more days.

Study driving routes on viamichelin.com. Read the following about driving in Italy, especially the part about limited traffic zones:

http://driventoit.blogspot.com.au/

“Tuscany” day trips to Florence and Cinque Terre impractical per the above.

If your emphasis is on Tuscany, I suggest you take a train to Florence [a couple of hours] and pick up a car and drop it there later. The train to Rome takes 1.5 hours.

Click on Tuscany here for a description of indivaidual towns:

https://www.summerinitaly.com/guide/

Link from the site above:

https://www.summerinitaly.com/guide/amalfi-coast

In deciding what day to visit Florence, check what things you want to see/do are open which days. Lots of things are not open every Sunday and/or Monday.

Seconding RonZ's comment that you need to check drive times. The Cinque Terre is too far from most of Tuscany. Even by train from Florence, it's 3+ hours each way.

Thanks for these comments. CT is off the list as suggested due to time to get there, and as we may also do AC in the second part of the holiday.

Is the drive from Venice to Tuscany a great drive with mountainous scenery?

As we arrive in Venice at 7.30 am is a better intinerary for the first part:
2 nights Venice
4 nights Tuscany
2 nights Florence
2 nights Rome

or would you weight 3 nights in Venice and 1 in Florence

With all that time, I would add several more days to Venice.

The drive from Venice to most parts of Tuscany is not a particularly scenic drive, as the mountainous parts of it are mostly in tunnels. The autostrada between Bologna and Florence is one of the most annoying I've ever driven on, between tunnels and heavy truck traffic. Of course, Tuscany is a large region, and, depending where you're going, you might be able to avoid that part of the autostrada.

For example, you could take the A13 autostrada to Bologna, and then switch to the A14 (direction Pescara) to Fano. From there, you could take a scenic route that follows the old Roman road, the Via Flaminia (SS3), to Arezzo, in eastern Tuscany. At Aqualagna, you'd switch from the SS3 to the SP257.

From Venice to Fano is about three hours, and from there to Arezzo is about 2 hours. There are several places along the way, and nearby, that you could stop, so you could easily spend a whole day on the trip, or maybe even spend a night en route.

There are other possibilities, but this is one I've followed myself, and, other than some pretty twisty roads when you cross the mountains, it presents no problems. In fact, the SS3 is a limited access highway. You can get off the modern road and follow the ancient road (now paved) for a piece in the vicinity of Furlo. Just follow the signs to the town of Furlo.

Part of this route was blocked the last time I was there, due to landslides caused by a flood. I don't know if it's been opened again. I think they may have decided to keep it closed and make that part of the route into a park. The old road passes through an ancient Roman tunnel near Furlo, and there are other remains of ancient flood engineering in the vicinity.

From Acqualagna, you'd be following a smaller provincial road, which is very scenic.

"... or would you weight 3 nights in Venice and 1 in Florence?"

I think this question is posed here once a week. IMO you have to decide based on your interests. I prefer Florence, and others prefer Venice. I'd point out you're not spending much time anywhere, so one could argue you ought to add days/nights in each destination.

I think you should see your itinerary in linear form.

Day 1. Arrive Venice 7:30a. Afternoon sightseeing.
Day 2. See Venice.
Day 3. Travel to Tuscany base (6-7+ hours depending on route and destination, not including stops).
Day 4. Explore Tuscany.
Day 5. Explore Tuscany.
Day 6. Explore Tuscany.
Day 7. Travel to Florence, drop car. Afternoon sightseeing.
Day 8. See Florence.
Day 9. Train to Rome. Afternoon sightseeing.
Day 10. See Rome.
Day 11. Depart for home.

Thanks Jean.

My question is should we forget about getting the car at Venice and instead travel to Florence by fast train, here pick up the rental car. Thanks for your consideration of our trip.

That's another decision for you to make. Do you have things you'd like to see/do on the way from Venice to Tuscany/Florence? Or would you rather have as much time as possible for Tuscany/Florence?

FWIW, many people find picking up a car easier to do at the Florence airport than at a location in Florence. You don't want or need the car for any nights/days you're in Florence. Are you familiar with the ZTLs established in nearly every Italian city and town?

The rental location at the Florence Airport is a short distance from the airport proper, and a taxi from the SM Novella station can get you there. If you rent from Avis or Budget, you can return the car to their downtown location which is outside the ZTL. Last time we drove int the garage and was out of there in 15 minutes.

Ok appreciate all the comments. May now go by train from Venice to Tuscany, then get a rental car. The 6-7 hours without stop is too much. Does that mean we train to Florence first and then pick up the rental?

Where will you stay in Tuscany? There are a couple of other places besides Florence you could train to and pick up a car.

Jean, location not decided, please could you indicate where else we could pick up a rental and maybe drop off in Florence. Thanks.

Arezzo, Siena, Lucca, Pisa.

thanks for all the comments.

Any suggestion of a town or area to stay in that would be a great base to explore hill towns in tuscany and a base for Amalfi coast.

Tuscany is 9000 square miles, so you need to do a little research to find out which hill towns you want to explore. Or you pick the lodging and explore what's within a reasonable drive.

For example, I love Montepulciano and the surrounding area of southern Tuscany. But it's a little far to places like San Gimignano, Volterra and perhaps Chianti for a leisurely day trip. Others like the area around Lucca, but it's far from the iconic southern Tuscany scenery and hill towns. Some split the difference and stay near Siena, but I find the amount of traffic around Siena, esp. during the rush hours, a little off-putting.

If visiting Florence is still on the agenda as a day trip (as opposed to an overnight stay), you'll want to take into consideration how you'd accomplish that. How far/long you're willing to drive or train each way, where you'd park without driving into the Florence ZTL, whether you'd want to drive back to your base in the dark, etc.

Deciding on where to stay on the Amalfi Coast is somewhat similar. If you intend to spend days at Pompeii, Naples and Capri, you might not want to stay in Amalfi, although it's closest to Ravello and my favorite AC town. Others prefer Positano or one of the smaller towns. We've also stayed in Sorrento which has great public trans access to the entire area. Some says it's too touristy, but all of the towns are touristy to some degree. It's the reason they exist. If you have a week, you might want to split your time in the area between two locations.