annhig

GeraldM,

IMHO you have done well to listen to all the excellent and kindly meant advice above, and have gone a step further to enjoying yourselves by stretching your trip to 3 weeks.

here's my slightly different take on your itinerary:

fly into venice. Stay 4 nights.

Pick up a car, and drive to Lake Garda. stay in Sirmone [or similar for 4 nights - if this is to be your only trip to Italy you HAVE to stay by a lake. spend your time taking day trips by car/boat.

Drive to Tuscany. Stay in an agritorismo/hotel for 4 nights. optional day trip to Florence.

Drive to Orvieto. return car. stay overnight then pick up train to amalfi coast. stay 4 nights.

train to Rome. stay 4 nights.

that's 21 nights. not all of Italy but a good selection of what many people would consider to be the highlights.

you might even find that you want to come back!

have a good trip.

Geraldm

franco, We definitely plan to see Pisa, Sorrento and Chianti as day trips from Florence. We think Ellenem's suggestion of a private driver is what we will do. So between the meeting, touring Florence and Tuscanny is 5 days okay? Or still too much time?

suec1, I have no opionion on Rick Stevens yet, so sounds like a good source to me. We plan to do Almafi coast from Florence (like you said 4-5 nights)and end in Rome. Train, private car, rent car???

alane, Thanks for your tips on the Uffizi. The monks chanting would be cool to see also!

annhig, We were thinking to skip the lakes, since we have a lake house in the finger lakes region of NY also close to lake Erie (one of the great lakes). But we are now thinking we may still need to do it.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts!

ellenem

I tink 5 nights in Florence is good, since that means 4 full days with your arrival and departure days on each end. Two of those days will be your meetings. For the remaining 2 full days, 1 day can be to tour Florence without worrying about meetings, and the other can be a one-day private driver tour of Tuscany.

How to get to the Amalfi Coast depends on where you plan to stay. Rent a car to get there if you plan to spend the day meandering along the way through small towns in Tuscany. If not, then it's easy to take a train, which might combine with another train, bus, boat, or private driver for best travel options.

Geraldm

Charnees, Thanks for your input!It's appreciated. Especially central Florence being composed of mini fort like grey buildings. Go figure! I thought it would be archictecture/ sculpture rich everywhere! Basically like Paris! We frequent Vegas ( at least twice a year)and stay at Venetian/ Bellagio at least twice a year.( Can't get enough!) So expected this kind of atmosphere in most of Italy.

Anyway thanks so much for EVERYONE'S input so far. We are getting excited to go to italy!!!

ellenem

"mini fort like grey buildings" is not the best description. Central Florence has many Renaissance palazzos, with their historic design of ground levels with imposing stone blocks, the upper facade treatment more open and light. But that is not all there is.

Examples:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Medici-Riccardi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Vecchio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Davanzati

Peter_S_Aus

I suspect that the Venetian thing at Las Vegas is not a true representation of Venice, Italy.

A lot of Italy could fairly be described as "run down", rather than the well maintained facilities that one is likely to find at an American resort.

But one person's "run down" is another person's "historical charm". I mean, the Forum in Rome is just a bloody ruin. I don't get it. Two thousand years, and they still have not fixed it. Ditto for the Coliseum.

Geraldm

Peter_ S_ Aus really?? So you are being a smart ass. Didn"t expect it would look like Vegas! Thought it would be similiar to Paris with a lot of original archicture still existing. We all know it would not look like Vegas! Ruins are ruins and appreciated as such!!!

Geraldm

ellenem, Thanks for your links! You proved that Florence has more to see than fort like grey buildings. It really is appreciated!

charnees

Gerald, perhaps I over-emphasized the grey stone appearance of Florence. I find it very appealing. The Piazza del Duomo is, of course, dominated by the cathedral, which is stunning. someome said "you walk down a narrow street, turn a corner, and suddenly there is that massive building looking almost as though it just landed from outer space!" Piazza Della Signoria also has a kind of intimate grandeur, if that's possible, with the Loggia at one end with sculptures in it. and the view down the Arno from the Ponte Vecchio is lovely, as is the view from the Piazza Mochelangelo up on the hill -- that view is the classic one, and makes me yearn to go back. But there are no grand boulevards like Paris or Rome, as the Centro Storico has not been remodeled since the Renaissance, as were Rome and Paris. So you have narrow crooked streets running off in odd directions, just as the ancient footpaths did so long ago.

Peter_S_Aus

Gerald, I'm not taking a shot at you, or being a particularly smart arse - that's just how I write. The trip report that I did for Venice is full of crappy language like that, and it is not meant to offend.

Here's an exercise - take a look at http://venicedailyphoto.blogspot.com/ which is a bunch of photograps of Venice, and pretty high quality. I wish I could take such photographs.And then compare to the Las Vegas version, which are also high quality photographs. The comparison of the Venetian Rialto Bridge and the Las Vegas version is fun.

Apologies for the offence.

Geraldm

Peter_S_Aus, So sorry!

Thought you were being facetious! I do think that every country is awesome in it's own right no matter what it presents. That's what gives charm to this world and that's why we strive to see it all, no matter where we are from.

The pics you show are magnificient! You are right about Vegas doing it's best to show a perfect replica. Of course Vegas is supposed to be over the top. That's why people come from all over the world to be there. And you are right that it is for FUN!Vegas is sooo fun!!!

screen_name_taken

Peter ... wow! what a great link, thanks!