The best luggage is the smallest, lightest rolling piece that can fit what you need. I travel, whether for a weekend or a month, with a 22" lightweight rollaboard fairly large tote with a smaller purse inside.

Pack a bag, go outside your home with it and lug it around a few blocks. Walk up a couple of flights of stairs with it. Pick it up and place it on a high shelf a few times. You'll soon know how easy or hard it's going to be maneuvering on trains and city streets.

Whether or not you stay in hotels near train stations is up to you. Every Italian city has taxis at train stations plus other forms of public transportation.

In general I dont like the areas around train stations to stay. I would pick a hotel in city centre and take transit or a taxi with your luggage. You will be closer to the sites and restaurants etc. In some places the train station is on the outskirts of towns.

I would try to plan your itinerary so you can rent the car once. A weeks car rental is usually cheaper then renting for a couple days numerous times.

If you want ancient ruins and decide Pompeii is a bit out of the way to try to fit in your trip consider there is much of ancient Rome right in Rome (Coliseum, Forum, this new museum in Rome http://globespotters.blogs.nytimes.c...trajans-market) and near Rome also for a day trip to the ancient Roman harbor city http://www.ostia-antica.org)

ej- believe it or not- you CAN pack two weeks worth of clothes into a 22 or 24" roller. Carry-on only!

Search this board for hints on how. Basically, rolling your clothes will not only allow more into the suitcase, it keeps your clothes relatively wrinkle-free. Pick a couple of outfits where you can mix and match. Wash them out as needed. (You certainly can wear the same pair of pants two days in a row.) You only need one skirt (one that can dress up or down is good). Your shoulders and knees should be covered when entering any church. So, a thin shawl is good for either. (If you're wearing shorts, you can wrap it around yourself to cover your knees. If wearing a tank or sleeveless top, wrap it around your shoulders.) Make sure you pack everything you can into your shoes. (One extra pair of walking shoes is recommended, as if it rains and your shoes don't dry out overnight, you will need the second pair.) I also packed one pair of very flat sandles to wear to dinner. (pack your underwear or personal items right into your extra pair of shoes.)

One final hint. Get clothes that dry fast. Take several assorted balloons with you. When you wash out a shirt, blow up a balloon and put it up inside the shirt-it will dry faster. Long balloons for sleeves.

Practice packing NOW. Don't wait for the trip.

There is an old saying here... Pack half as much as you think you'll need; take twice as much money. :)

i love all of these replies! ej, my husband and i are also visiting italy for our anniversary although we'll be in country for 14 days. we've decided to travel mostly by train but are going to rent a car and drive from rome to panzano (where we will stay 4 nights) and then panzano to florence where we will return the car. it seems everything else we want to see is easily reached by public transport.

based on what everyone is saying about scheduling too much in a short trip, i would suggest booking a cheap ryanair flight from milan to rome (or taking the train so you can see the countryside along the way), do a day trip to pompeii from rome (which i read is brutal but doable), rent a car at the rome train station and drive through tuscany and umbria returning your car in florence (there are car rental shops near the train station), taking the train from florence to either venice or milan depending on remaining time.

who knows? maybe my husband and i will run into you along the way :-)

Well, my husband has decided to give up Pompeii but now thinks maybe we should rent a car while in Monza take the train to Rome, hop on an eight day tour of Rome, Venice, Lake Garda and Florence. The tour will end two days before we fly out so we could take the train back to Milan.
Does anyone have opinions on tours. My husband and I are 48 and 44 years old, right now we are looking at Trafalgar tours Italian Holiday 2009.

ej, I can't say I'd do a tour myself. Maybe I'm too much of a control freak, but I found that at least 50% of the enjoyment of the trip was planning it. :)

If you decide to do your own trip, you can still take "city" tours by great people. In Rome, Florence and Venice, I highly recommend Context Tours: http://www.contexttravel.com/rome/ You can take pre-determined or even personal tours. We loved our Context Rome tour of the Vatican Museums.

Additionally, you can do a Tuscany tour (though I suspect he is booked at this late date) with Luca Garapa- very highly recommended on this board: http://www.hillsandroads.com/

Search this site for many more recommendations (and confirmation on the above recs.) :)

I also want to recommend the DK Eyewitness Travel guides for Rome, Venice and Florence. Absolutely fabulous. Hit the Travel Section in your favorite bookstore and start reading the guides now. :) You will so much more enjoy your trip if you have some before-hand knowledge/history/food/culture, etc.

Buon viaggio!

Most people here will vote against a tour, which is not to say it's a bad idea. The majority of Fodorites are independent travelers.

What is it about the tour that appeals to your husband? Leaving the details to someone else? Being escorted? Hoping to spend less? Fear of (check all that apply) the language, trains, driving? If we knew more about the decision, we could better opine on this option.