Hi. My Mom and I are planning our first trip to Italy March 15th to March 28th of next year. We are actually arriving in Rome on the 16th and flying out of Venice in the morning on the 28th. I feel really overwhelmed after researching on the web and with guidebooks for hours and hours and thought that maybe I could get some quality advice here.
We are planning the following:
March 16th - check into our hotel in Rome and see some sights.
17th - more sightseeing
18th - more sightseeing
19th - Catholic mass in the morning. Rent a car and head toward the Tuscany area. We plan to spend the 19th - 25th seeing Sienna and the hill towns of central Italy. We also want to see Florence, but only the highlights. Would it be wise to go to Florence as a day trip or should we fit it in for a night or two?
25th head to Venice
26th Venice
27th Venice
28th fly home
Would it be wise to shave a day off of Venice and spend more time in Florence, Rome or Tuscany?
Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on our tentative schedule?
Also, in Rome, we are trying to decide between The Hotel Cesari, Villa San Pio, Residenza Cellini and Hotel Santa Maria. Any thoughts?
Thank you, thank you.
Carol

Hi CV,

Your itinerary looks OK to me.

>We plan to spend the 19th - 25th seeing Sienna and the hill towns of central Italy.<

Will you be doing this with Siena as a base?

It is easy to see the highlights of Florence as 2 daytrips from Siena, if you wish.

I would add a day to Rome. Don't cut any time from Venice.

I agree with Degas. Rome deserves more time.

Hi! Thank you so much for your advice. Do you recommend using Sienna as our base for seeing Tuscany and day trips to Florence? It sounds like we are not giving enough time to Rome. We will have to increase our stay by a day. We are trying to decide between two hotels in Rome. Could anyone tell me which hotel they would prefer, the Bellesuite or the Hotel Modigliani? We are looking for a location that is close to the sights, clean, kind staff and nice rooms (in that order). Both places have availability and the price is the same. Any input you could give me would be great. Thanks again.
Carol

Call me a chicken, but I have never rented a car in Italy.

I have taken trains from Rome to Florence and based there to take daytrips to Siena, Lucca, and San G via public transportation.

Was it your intent to drive to Venice and drop off the car there?