venturesome4

Hi, I have gotten lots of good help in the past from the Fodorites on this web site and was hoping you could give me some tips about a trip that will celebrate graduations of son, 22, and daughter, 18. Unfortunately our dates are set in stone due to school and work constraints. We have traveled quite a bit in the past as a family and enjoy delving into history,art and good food. We enjoy getting out to hike,swim or walk ,but being pasty white Seattleites,are not beach people.
Our itinerary so far:
Rome 4-6 days
Florence 3-4 days
some time in Tuscany, day trips from Florence Pisa?, Assisi?
Pompeii, either as a day trip from Rome or perhaps an overnight in Naples so that we can tour the museum in Naples.
We have traveled to Venice already, which we throughly enjoyed, so won't be doing that on this trip. My husband and I have been to Rome and Florence as well many years ago.
We are not sure about the following
Cinque Terra- I don't think we would be that excited about it if the hiking paths are not open , have also heard about the cheek by jowl nature of the crowds there at the time we will be going. I have considered hiking north of Monterosso to Levanto. Has anyone had experience with that hike?
Maybe spending some time in Sorrento and doing Pompeii from there,maybe Capri, although it does sound s a bit touristy .

Likely we will fly in and out of Rome, then take the trains . We may rent a car for the hill towns of Tuscany
Specific questions for the various towns:
Rome:
We would be interested in getting an engineering perspective about the Roman Forum or about Pompeii since 3 out of 4 of us have engineering background or interests
Does anyone have a good recommendation for an apartment in Rome that is walking distance from the sights?
Any off the beaten track activities that young adults might enjoy?
Any swimming pools where we could cool off in the area ?

Florence:
recommendations for a quad room vs apt. where we could cook that is close to the sights?
Any particular wine tasting tours you would recommend?
Recommendations for a tour guide for the Uffizi who knows his/her stuff and can keep young folks engaged?

Naples:
nice place close to the train station for an overnight

I would really appreciate your thoughts.
sincerely,
Evelyn

Jean

Since I had my Italian holiday list still open to answer another thread, I'll start by pointing out the following:

June 24th, local holiday in Florence (Feast of St. John)
June 29th, local holiday in Rome (Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul)

It might be fun to observe the festivities in one or the other.

Second, forget the idea of avoiding the "touristy." Everywhere you mention will be full of tourists. Now, if you want to avoid "crowds," that's another thing, but likewise every place you mention will be crowded.

You're a bit squishy on how many nights/days you really have, so it's hard to recommend where you should go and for how long. I think you'd find Pompeii and the Naples archeo museum fascinating, but it's hard to say whether you'd think Capri was worth the time and effort. I'll point out there is a huge amount of hiking options in the Amalfi Coast area, much more than in the Cinque Terre, so perhaps you'd enjoy a few days in that area over making the detour to the CT.

venturesome4

Thanks for your tips Jean. I am still a bit squishy because we would like to have enough time to enjoy the cities we are visiting . We have been known to pack it in and wanted a slightly more relaxed trip this time. Yes, I know that it will be crowded, but a crowd is one thing in Rome and another on a hiking trail, I am thinking. I will check out the Amalfi coast. I am still in the reading of the guide books and checking out blogs and trip reports stage, but Rome, Florence and Pompeii are the places we know we would like to see.

Jean

Before you randomly assign the number of days in a place, prioritize your desires (#1 Rome, #2 Florence, #3 Pompeii, #4 small Tuscany towns in a rented car, hiking, time away from crowds, time for an afternoon swim, whatever). Then make lists of what you want to see/do in each place and note when things are open/closed, training/driving times between towns, etc. Then figure out how many days you'll need in each place to see/do what you're going there for. Don't forget to set aside time for lunch and a little aimless wandering.

Unless you have 3 weeks, you'll likely need to make some choices. But only you can make them.

amer_can

Spot on Jean..Many travelers don't set priorities. Don't try to drive in Rome or Florence..but it is nice to have a car to do the back roads!!

tuscanlifeedit

Hike on Capri. Amazing hikes and fairly empty trails. The scenery is spectacular and once you leave the center of Capri Town, the trails are all yours. Just an idea.

venturesome4

hi, Yes Jean, you have captured our priorities, 1-4. Your advice makes a lot of sense. amer-can. We have driven through some of the big cities in Italy in our wild and impetuous youth and don't need to do that again. We love the trains and would rent a car only for a few days for the hill towns, if we decide to do them. Tuscanlifeedit, I will need to look more closely at Capri. I have a guide to hikes in Italy coming from the library so will check it out. thanks for your advice all.

MFNYC

Years ago in Florence, we stayed in a quad room at Hotel Casci. It's a 2* property, so nothing fancy, but it's moderately priced, clean, quiet, well-located and run by the nicest people.

giadaaustraliana

Much more relaxing to just stay in two places and travel from there, so I like your idea of Rome and Florence.

Florence is the capital of Tuscany anyway, and it's quite easy to do a one-day tour from Florence to the countryside and even to the Cinque Terre. There are regular trains to Pisa as well.

For any other locations, I'd highly suggest you DON'T drive in Italy. Much better to either book a tour or hire a driver. If you want to visit any decent wineries in Tuscany, you have to know the people and book in advance - there are no (at least at typical, traditional wineries) open cellar doors in Italy.

I did a private tour with www.artviva.com in Rome with a tour guide that used to be an architect. He was amazing! I was with a teenager too and even he was enthralled.

For apartments, I'd check out www.florencevillas.com. Meaghan is the woman who runs it and she booked us some amazing places!

As to Naples... good luck with that! Keep safe.

danlev

You might consider Perugia. Awesome (literally) Etruscan site, comparatively off the beaten path, a a wonderful museum of Perugino, and great food of course. And of engineering interest, I would think - google it. It's also a major student town so there must be cool young-adult stuff happening.

For a great Tuscan hill town, check out Pitigliano. Poetry in stone. Assissi is lovely (great art) but it's sort of a "company town" - been under the protection of the Church for a long, long time and is somewhat... I don't know... precious.

My own view is that the USA has fantastic scenery of its own, so I tend to see man-made stuff in Europe. But that's just me.

In Rome, seek out the very creative architecture of Borromini. San Clemente could be of interest. Read up on the fountains of Rome - great stories - and how they raised the obelisk in St Peters Square. They used to flood Piazza Navona and do mock naval battles there. You could make a very interesting "engineer's tour" of Rome. The Forum doesn't ring my chimes for some reason, but I am definitely in the minority there...

danlev

Oh, another thing. In Florence, behind the Duomo is the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, which has not only wonderful statues and other art from the Duomo, but many of the original tools used in constructing the dome - that project was a milestone in engineering, wasn't it? and a key story in Florentine lore.