Still working on a final itinerary for our March trip to Italy. First week will be 4 nights in Rome, then 3 in Venice, before a week in Tuscany (Cortona). Would a day trip from Cortona suffice for Florence, or would it be better to leave Venice a day early & do an overnight in Florence? Thanks!

Hi Natalie,

>Would a day trip from Cortona suffice for Florence, or would it be better to leave Venice a day early & do an overnight in Florence? <

Neither.

I would take away a night in Cortona first, a night in Rome second before giving up a night in Venice.

I highly recommend that you spend at least one night in Florence.

I would agree as well. I wouldn't cut Venice short, there's nothing like it anywhere. It's definitely worth spending at least 2 days/1 night in Florence.

We have a villa rental near Cortona for a week, so perhaps one night less in Rome would work...What do you think of 3 nights Rome, train to Florence for 1 night, train to Venice for 3 nights? Or is that spending a lot of time in transfer time??

Do not leave Venice a day early--you don't have enough time there as it is. If you aren't a big Renaissance groupie, then a daytrip to Florence would be fine. If you are really into Renaissance art and architecture, then you should give it at least a full day.

I would stay 4 nights in Rome, 1 night Florence, and 4 nights Venice, with the rest for rural Tuscany. Actually, I really don't like Florence much, so I'd do it as a day trip--part of the total Tuscany experience. And I don't like driving from boring small town to small town a lot either, so I'd cut out the multi-day stay in Cortona. The Italian countryside isn't all that great in March anyway.

Hmmmph, grumble, bah, humbug.

Well I just spent 6 nights in Florence and didn't think it was too much, and I am not a particularly big art fan (just your run of the mill art fan). But since I see that you can't alter your week in Cortona then I guess I would take the night from Rome and move it to Florence. That would at least give you one evening there. The sun sets are wonderful. Then you could also do at least one day trip from Cortona to see some more of it. If you didn't have the week rental in Cortona then I would do it differently but it sounds like that is not changable. I do agree that 3 nights in Venice is good so I don't think I would take a night from there. But I would definitly want one overnight at least in Florence.