Hi all - we are doing 90 days of travel through Europe - it's me (34), wife (33), and 1 year old.

Going to be entering Italy on March 1 coming from Nice (so planning to train into Genoa area and start there). Looking for a 30-day itinerary winding down through Italy. We've been to Venice, Florence, Rome, and Amalfi for a 2-week vacation in the past.

We don't want to hop around too much with a 1 year old (would like to stay places at least 4 days at a time). We like to eat, take walks, see churches and architecture. Not big into museums or stuff like that.

Would like to hit Cinque Terre, Pisa, Tuscany, and Pompei area as must-haves. Flying out of Rome in very early April.

Any suggestions would be great Thanks all!

March can be a bit tricky weather wise so it's a good idea to base in a town or city and plan day trips to 'outside' places. So you could base in Genoa but I think a better idea would be to base in Rapallo (or San Marguerita) and do day trips in both directions - down to CT towns on nice days, up to Genoa (great aquarium, museums) if the weather is less good. Lots to do for 4-5 days at least in that area.

Then to Milan. You could base there for several days with lots of great day trip options - Lake Como, Lake Lugano, Bergamo, Pavia, Cremona, etc.

Then I'd go down and base in Siena (or Florence, but you say you've been already) and do Tuscany day trips (including Pisa) from there.

I'd also consider the Veneto - towns like Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Mantua, Ferrera, etc. Pick one as a base.

Bologna is another place I"d consider as a base - day trips would include Ferrera, Modena, Ravenna, Palma.

It's easy to check train times online to decide which day trips make more sense from which bases you like.

Pompeii can be done as a day trip from Rome, better if you can spare a couple of days for Naples.

Here are my photos of all those places. There are also a couple of 'blog' posts including some from a March trip I did a couple years ago. https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/f739967755

JMO, but I wouldn't attempt a day trip to Pompeii from Rome with a 1 y.o. and wouldn't take any longish day trips by train. I'd rather have a car to "retreat" to with the baby at any time during the day if weather doesn't cooperate or the baby needs a quiet place for a nap, and I'd also want the ability spontaneously to pull the plug on any excursion without waiting for a train/bus/etc.... So, I'd rather stay in smaller towns with easy ingress/egress that are also within a short train ride to a larger city if you need or want to visit. I would definitely not want to drive multiple times in/out of Milan, Bologna, Perugia, Rome, for example.

The best thing about traveling in Italy with a baby is that the child will be treated like a rock star, and you'll probably get some positive attention as well.

You tell us that you have been to Tuscany, Lazio and Campania and want to go to the same areas again.
There is nothing wrong with that, but it means that it doesn't make much sense for us to recommend other areas than those you already know.
5Terre, Pisa, another Tuscan town, Naples and Rome are 5 destinations.You want to stay 4-5 days in each (5-6 nights). I fully agree with this plan, but then your month is over.

>>>> We've been to Venice, Florence, Rome, and Amalfi for a 2-week vacation in the past.<<<<

>>You tell us that you have been to Tuscany,<<

I would not consider a visit to Florence to be the same as visiting/exploring Tuscany. We've spent over 12 weeks just in the Val d'Orica - and thoroughly enjoyed it. Four of those weeks were in March & April - which is our favorite season to be there. The countryside is stunning with all the green winter rye growing over the rolling hills, with cypress trees "dancing" up a hill with a couple of umbrella pines perched on top. And there are dozens & dozens of spectacular hill villages to visit. We've always rented an apartment in San Quirico wile in Tuscany, and enjoyed walking out the door to neighborhood restaurants, or walking in the countryside & perhaps picking wild tulips.

My wife's Shutterfly book for Verona, Bologna, Tuscany.
https://stududley.shutterfly.com/39
Click "Full Screen" because of Shutterfly enhancements, titles & captions are often missing or truncated

Attached is my Italy itinerary - with a heavy dose of Tuscany & a link to the place where we stay while there.

Stu Dudley

My husband and I did a similar trip but over five weeks and we didn't have a baby with us. The trip celebrated a birthday at the beginning of March and our wedding anniversary at the end of March. Generally we had good weather, very little rain, cold in Venice. We had between 3 and 6 nights in each place, this might give you some ideas -

Rome
Sorrento
Orvieto
San Gimignano
Lucca
Manarola
Santa Margherita Ligure
Venice
Rome

Kay

Hello! Are you going to rent a car or travel by train? This makes a big difference because some towns in the center of Italy are hard to be reached by train..

" Hello! Are you going to rent a car or travel by train? This makes a big difference because some towns in the center of Italy are hard to be reached by train"

Which one's?
Or do you mean Southern Italy?

Assuming you know that visiting Europe w/o a visa is 90 days max. Allow yourself several extra days in case of travel problems, and be sure your passports are 6 months from expiration upon arrival in Europe.

" Hello! Are you going to rent a car or travel by train? This makes a big difference because some towns in the center of Italy are hard to be reached by train"

"Which one's?
Or do you mean Southern Italy?"

not only Amalfi Coast, but also the Umbria / Abruzzo Region.

I'm not Stu, so perhaps my viewpoint doesn't count, but Perugia would be hellish for a month-long trip, IMO. I've spent close to 3 months' time in the past few years near Perugia and had many, many occasions to drive into and out of it. Complete PITA. Get on google and just look at the territory. The outlying area is hideous, as is the case with many mid-sized European towns, filled with warehouses and machine shops and garages and other drek. Once in town you are faced with traffic (in and out) and the fact that the pleasant part of town is at the TOP, which is a pain to reach by car, and your only alternative is to leave the car below and take the funicular.

Perugia IMO is a wonderful town but I would tear my hair out before I'd spend a month living there.

Verona is a FAR better alternative.

Agree with StCirq about getting in & out of Perugia. He have had at least 3 horror stories doing it. Once we had to drive backwards on a long one-way street, and then backwards into a parking garage with the assistance of the garage ticket-taker. Another time, we could not find the garage where we had parked the car. With a lot of walking & frustration - we finally found it And the outskirts are horrid. But traveling up the escalator through the underground remains of a large fort (or it may be a church) and then exploring the center of Perugia is very enjoyable.. I would not want to drive in & out more than once every five years.

We both enjoyed Verona quite a bit One of our favorites in Italy.. We arrived & departed by train.

Both towns were very walkable, interesting architecture & art, with lots of cafes (we were in Verone the last time in early April & we had some snow - so no people at outside cafes)

Stu Dudley

The OP didn't come back since almost 1 week

Thank you StCirq and StuDudley We don't plan on renting a car so no problems driving in Perugia. We will use the train for weekend travel. That said, perhaps Verona is better. It seems to have quite a bit of history and art in the town, lively piazzas as well as access to Venice, Milan, Padua and Trento. Although I was thinking I could get to Siena, Arezzo and Cortono via train from Perugia.

Sorry for the hijack sac310

You might be underwhelmed with Cortona and Arezzo - we were. We've visited both several times.

Stu Dudley

I haven't been to Arezzo for more than a decade, but I have been twice to Cortona in recent years and regretted each visit. There is just so much more of interest (to me) to visit in that area.