You all seem to be so helful, I'm hoping you will have some suggestions for us. We are going to Italy Oct. 3 for two weeks. We will be visiting Venice, Rome, Florence & Naples. My husband and I have been to all of them before but for the couple we are traveling with it will be their first trip. We would like to make a side day trip from each of the cities. We were think San Gimignano (forgive the spelling) from Florence and Sorrento from Naples. Any suggestions for side trips from Venice and Rome? I have been keeping a list of suggested restaurants from this sight. We are also interested in hiring a driver to take us on these side trips and would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance for your help.

Since this board covers all of Europe, you may want to re-post with a title something like, "Day trips from Rome and Venice".

At the risk of piling on, please see my reply on http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34839618

Best wishes,

Rex

p.s. you spelled San Gimignano correctly. There really is no other way to spell "JEE-mee-NYAH-no" in Italian. Once you hear it pronounced correctly, there is no mistaking how to spell it.

Hi m,

2 weeks is very nice for V, F and R. I would save Naples and the AC for another time.

They will still be there when your friends return to Italy.

We included Naples in our itinerary because our friend's grandparents came from a village outside of Naples and she would like to see it.
We will not be visiting museums so that should save some time. We will see Michaelangelo's David in Florence.

we did side trips to Bologna and Siena on our last trip to Italy. Worth seeing both of these cities.

Side trip suggestions - None of them particularly "off the beaten track.

Venice : Padua, verona, Chioggia - the latter is a pleasant enough trip out, past the defences around the venice lagoon. Some very cheap (compared to venice) seafood restaurants.

Florence: Siena, Lucca, Pisa

Rome: Ostia Antica , Castel Gandolfo, Hadrian's Villa

Naples: Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum, Amalfi Coast, Caserta.

Two popular day trips for Rome are Ostia antica and Tivoli, depending on your interests /those of your friends. Ostia antica is Rome's answer to Pompeii - full of fascinating Roman ruins - and Tivoli is a palace with water gardens attached plus a very interesting town. also Hadrian's Villa if you are feeling more adventurous.
Both of these are well described by Rick Steves, who tells you how to get there.
They both make very good days out - we did them at Easter with our kids and all enjoyed them ,especially the toads copulating in the pools at tivoli [can't promise you that in October!]
Having read other postings on this board, Orvieto seems to be popular as a day out from Rome.
As to Venicew, there is so much to do ,[if you include the islands with Venice itself,] in the time you've got, you've hardly got time for day trips!
As usual, i agree with Ira that you/they should leave Naples for another time.
Have fun!

Rex, no offense, but I'm laughing like crazy at your post. You say if you pronounce it properly there's no other way you could spell it. Huh? Couldn't you then spell it "Jeemeenyahno" just like you did to show how it's pronounced?

Merh, we had a terrific day last month on the boat tour from Venice to Padua which stops at a number of the Palladian Villas and also had a very nice lunch stop.

I'm saying that if someone said it to you over the phone... there is no other way to spell it <i><b><u>in Italian</u></b></i>.

I think that people spell Italian place names incorrectly, because they have never fixed the correct pronunciation in their heads, and so, they are trying to remember letters in correct order, rotely learned. One you know how to say it, you wouldn't ever spell it wrong.

Once you've heard Giudecca pronounced correctly, then it's weird to spell it G<b>ui</b>decca.

As if it sounded like Guido.

Thank you all for responding. We'll keep your suggestions in mind.

Does anyone know anything about the Residenza Antica in Rome across from the Spanish Steps? We made reservations there but are wondering if we should change hotels.