My wife and I are going to Italy for the first time this March. We found a pretty cheap flight into Milan and out of Rome. We have 7 whole days to explore. Any suggestions on what to see? We plan to use the trains most of the time but we did think about renting a car for a day or two to see the countryside (maybe Tuscany). Thanks in advance for any help!

Patrick

In March the countryside is not very rewarding, no blooms yet, no late evenings and open-air scenes etc. No need for a car.

Spend the first two nights in Milan, the arrival day and one full day will allow you to see quite a bit - Last Supper (book way ahead), La Scala, Duomo (go up on the roof and bring your camera!) etc.

Then you'll be rested and ready to take an early train to Florence where you can easily spend 4 nights.

Two days in and around the city.

One full day with a coach excursion to Siena and San Gimignano (very popular, your hotel and any travel agency will help you, book on day 1 in Florence).

Another full day spent on your own by taking the train to Lucca, after quite a few hours go from Lucca to nearby Pisa, check out the leaning tower etc., and back to Florence. Local trains, no need to reserve, hop on when ready.

If you have one more day before Rome, spend it in Perugia or in Orvieto.

Look al these up to see what I mean.

Train schedules are at www.ferroviedellostato.it.

Do you have 7 days total for the trip or 7 days between Milan and Rome? If only 7 days in all I would spend most of it in Rome

I've been in Tuscany in March before and there were quite a lot of things blooming.

With such a short amount of time I would immediately train to Florence (the new fast line only takes 2 hours). I would spend a few days in Florence and then move on to Rome. You can do a Tuscan daytrip from Florence. I would only want two hotel changes.

How many nights do you have?

March can be a perfectly nice time to go to Tuscany, and trying to cram Perugia or Orvieto into such a short trip would be disastrous.

Are you arriving in Milano from an overnight flight, and will you need a night in Milan or very nearby just to get over your jet lag?

Could we know more about your interests and what attracts you to Italy? No point in sending you to Firenze when you'd actually have more fun in Bologna. Or Lucca. Do you want to spend time in Rome or just fly out of there?

So what do you like to do above all? Go to museums? Talk walks through centuries-old towns? Bike ride? Glamorous shopping? Eating the great food of Italy? Gawk at Ferraris? Visit the ruins of the Roman Empire? WW2 sites?

On, and PS: Avoid coach excursions to San Gimignano, or trying to dash around seeing Pisa and Lucca and climbing cathedrals hither and yon in a mad run about.

"Seven whole days" gives you very little time. Pick some gems, and then enjoy them and lots of good food in between.

Thanks for all the suggestions. We're realizing that 7 days (not including travel) isn't much. Based on the above suggestions we are thinking about:

Day 1: Milan
Day 2-4: Florence
Day 5-7: Rome

We are pretty novice travelers so I would say our interests are: food, museums, a few off the beaten path places.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again,
Patrick

Zeppole probably means well when saying "Avoid coach excursions to San Gimignano, or trying to dash around seeing Pisa and Lucca and climbing cathedrals hither and yon in a mad run about." But it is a selfish point of view - what Zeppole doesn't seem to realize is that people with barely two weeks annual vacation don't have the luxury of settling into one town for a week at a time.

San Gimignano may be a nice place to stay for a week for some (although I can't imagine it, I would get bored out of my mind there), but there is nothing wrong with a coach dropping you off for a few hours - you walk around, you see the place, there is nothing much to it except for the hilltop location and the wacky tower, and off you go.

Arriving in Lucca in the morning, then after lunch a stop in Pisa on the way back to Florence is the perfect way to see them both for anyone who can't hang around for weeks in one town, and come back next year for more.

So please do not dismiss a very enjoyable and well thought out way in which thousands travel every week because they want to be active visitors and get to see a lot. There is validity in that kind of making-the-most-of-it travel, and millions have good memories of doing just that.

Dalai Lama, what makes you think your view is less selfish than mine?

And please don't misrepresent my post: I did NOT suggest anybody settle into one town or do anything. I ASKED what the poster liked to do.

I'm fully well aware of how much time this poster is devoting to this vacation. I think you mean well, but you'll have to prove to me and the world that novel travelers who try to fit Milan, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, San Gimignano, Perugia, Orvieto and Rome -- or even half those towns -- into a one week trip to Italy will have a great time -- or that people normally travel this way.

It was all I could do when I read your initial the first advice not to post that I thought it was some of the worst advice I'd ever seen given in response to a query about a week trip to Italy.

Plg9416,

Given your stated interests, I highly recommend that while in Milano, you visit the Pinoteca Ambrosiana, which is wonderfully small and eclectic museum, which has marvelous art treasures and unique artifacts. It's near the Duomo. Also, as you know, Milan is one of Italy's great food capitals. So if food is very important to you, leave after lunch on day 2!

For Firenze, I highly recommend the Museo San Marco as a less visited museum, but one which is key to the history and culture of the city. Across the piazza from the museum is the marvelous Caffe San Marco, with terrific pastries (a rarity in Italy).

If you are very keen to get something of a feel for wine and olive oil production, you can take a bus from central Firenze to the closeby hill town of Fiesole, for a lunch or sunset drink.

Don't fail to eat fried artichokes in Rome. They should still be in season. A good food guide will direct you to the best restaurants in the Jewish quarter.

Have a great trip!

This is a good link for suggestions on what to do in Florence during a two day stay
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35105568

I am still a little confused about how many full days and how many nights you have for the trip. The day you arrive in Milan after an overnight trip will be difficult. Also if you are arriving in Rome on Day 5 and leaving Rome on Day 7 you really don't have much time there. Even with 2 full days for sightseeing, Rome can be overwhelming so I think the best approach is to relax, see some of the sights that most interest you and plan on making a return trip. I would really recommend trying to find a good centrally located hotel in Rome