At Abram's suggestions I am reposting asking for suggestions for side trips from Venice & Rome. Also need suggestions for drivers to hire for side trips from Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples.

I will try to keep an itinerary of our trip and will share it with all of you when we get back. The information I have gathered from this site has been wonderful.

Unless you have mobility problems, you can easily take train or bus trips from both Rome and Venice to important sights, rather than hire a private driver.

For Rome, Orvieto, Ostia Antica and Tivoli are rewarding day trips (as well as a host of other less-famous places if you are willing to do the research.)

For Venice, Padova, Verona and the island of Torcello in the Venetian lagoon are easy and rewarding day trips. If you would like to see the Palladian villas of Vincenzo, you should arrange to take a car tour out of Venezia.

For Firenze, a car is advisable if you want to see the smaller Tuscan towns, but otherwise you can visit Pisa (by train) and Siena (by bus).

In Napoli, you can reach Pompei by train and Capri by ferry. For points on the Amalfi coast, many people prefer to hire a driver.

We would like to go to San Gimignano from Florence, I think that may require a driver. We want to go to Sorrento from Naples having been to the Amalfi Coast and Capri on a previous trip. Thank you for the suggestions.

Merh - San Gimignano is cheap and easy by bus from Florence - with a connection at Poggibonsi.

You can get to Sorrento from Naples by
- train (€ 3.20)
www.massalubrense.it/circum.htm

- or hydrofoil (€ 8.50)
(deps: 09.00 - 11.00 - 13.05 - 15.00 ...)
www.consorziolmp.it
(Click LMP)

If you prefer to have a driver, try these for a quote:

www.tourofitaly.com
www.francescomarrapese.com
www.cuomonet.it
www.seesorrento.com
www.sorrento.it
www.taxinapoli.net


Day-trip options from Rome? Here are a few to get you started:

Florence
Assisi
Orvieto
Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa, Villa d'Este (fountain gardens)
Ostia Antica
Pompeii/Herculaneum/Vesuvius
Naples
Capri
Amalfi Coast/ Positano
Sorrento
Castel Gandolfo/ Lake Albano/ Colli Albani
Spoleto
Cortona
Lake Bracciano
Anzio
Montecassino
Caserta
Viterbo
Tarquinia
Subiaco
Lake Bolsena
Sperlonga

Most are possible by public transport.
If you prefer a driver, expect to pay € 300 + per day. These get good reviews here:

www.limoservicerome.com
www.airportshuttle.it

Hope this helps ...

Steve

How long are you staying in each place that you need to take side trips ? I wouldn't want to unless I was staying more than a week - there's far too much to see.

Hi merh,

I also suggest that you wouldn't want to consider side trips for visits under about a week.

>We would like to go to San Gimignano from Florence,

The bus is http://www.sangimignano.net/bus/

We want to go to Sorrento from Naples ..

Take the Circumvesuviana train from the lower level of the Naples Centrale station.

Have a nice visit.

IMO a pleasanter way of visiting Sorrento from Naples is to get the hydrofoil from Molo Beverello - about 3/5 per day, takes an hour. Although you then need to get a minibus or taxi from the port up to the top of the cliffs.

merh,

With all due respect to Ira, many of the places on his list are not what many -- and even most -- travelers would consider to be a "side trip" from Rome, either because of the time-consuming distance involved in reaching them or because they offer so many things to do and see, it can be painful just to spend a few hours there.

I would remove Florence, Assisi, Pompeii/Herculaneum/Vesuvius, Naples, Capri, Amalfi Coast/ Positano, Sorrento, Spoleto and Cortona from the category of "side trips" from Rome.

I guess Ira (and perhaps others) will disagree, especially about Pompeii, which many people will tell you they actually did as a day trip from Rome. I still don't recommend it.

PS: I recommend spending at least one night in either Naples or Sorrento.

I didn't even do Pompeii as a side trip from Naples !!

Venice- Bassano del Grappa in the foothills of the Dolomites

Hi N,

It wasn't me.

Oh! Sorry, Ira.

Thank you all for your great suggestions especially the ones about public transportation to San Gimignano and Sorrento.

This will be our third trip to Florence and we've seen most of the "tourist sights" we wanted to see. We have been to San Gimignano once but would love to show it to our friends as we are sure they will love it also.

When I was in Italy last year we took a day tour to a winery near Venice in Conigliano. It is part of the "prosecco trail". The winery was Ca Salina. I bought a half a case of prosecco & wine. I beileve I paid about 4 E per bottle! The wine & prosecco were wonderful! I even had a security guard in the Venice airport stop me to tell me that Ca Salina was an excellant wine!

Just in case anyone wants to Google this small but delightful city that cheribob mentioned the correct spelling is Congeliano..not Congiliano. My home away from home!

And not to be picky but prosecco is a wine..the wine that that Congeliano is famous for amongst lovers of prosecco.

Cheribob, I love prosecco wine also, it is so refreshing on a hot day. Did you by any chance get a chance to go to the Castle of Congeliano? The view from there which overlooks the vineyards of the valley and north to the Dolomites is so beautiful.

Yes, I did make that INCREDIBLE hike up to the castle. OMG! With my husband, my 80 year old MIL & my cousin (a smoker!) But the view was beautiful & we had gelato at the top and we had gelato again when we returned to the town!

What is the name of that beautiful fresco in the church?

We were there on Friday and were able to enjoy the market. I bought two very beautiful scarves. For the rest of my stay in Italy I felt as if I blended in with all the Italian women wearing their scarves.