we are doing a trip to italy on easter 2008. we are only devoting 8 days in italy (all in all). i would definitely love to see rome, florence, venice, naples, milan. but given the short time frame, i need to cut down on the itinerary.

currently, we are considering flying in to rome, then to florence-venice and fly out of milan....but this still seems too much. please let us know if milan is worth going to. i definitely love shopping. but what other stuff can we do in milan?

i need to know since i need to book our flight now and need to know where to fly out. thanks

I would forget about Milan or Naples if you haven't seen Florence/Venice/Rome. You could easily spend a week or two in each of these cities and not see even half of what they have to offer. I would do 3 days each in Florence and Rome and 2 in Venice since it is a lot smaller. Happy Planning!

8 days=7 nights.
Venice and ome could easily fill that time out.
Fly into one and out the other. train between them both.
Some people might add a night in Florence for a "taste".
Generally I never recommend any less time in Rome than 3 nights and this is REALLY pushing it.
Milan in nice, but I wouldn't spend time there with such a short trip.
I usualllike Venice first and Rome last, but that's my personal preference.

There are more non-stop flights out of MXP back to the US than VCE. My guess is that the OP is thinking about flying into FCO, then out of MXP after they finish Venice.

Well, unless they decide to fly out of VCE, they need to go somewhere to fly out anyways. Then why not leave Venice early, arrive Milan mid-day; stroll around the Duomo, do some shopping, and then fly out of MXP next day? What's there to lose?

And if you play ahead enough, try to get tickets to The Last Supper too.

Hello d1nx2,
I can so identify with your dilemma. We are traveling to Italy for two weeks in May 2008. We have booked tickets to fly into Rome and fly out of Milan. Now, this was done before we start planning and allotting time for each city. Our plan is to stay in Rome for five nights, Florence for four nights, Venice for three nights and Milan for two nights.

But after doing much research, we figured we wanted to travel at a slower pace and to enjoy the ambiance of the city. That is why there are numerous times when we are tempted to change [with penalty] our departing city from Milan to Venice. We would love to stay for more nights in Venice. I do agree that the draw for Milan is to see the Last Supper and shopping. Rkkwan is right when he says that there are more flights to fly to North America from Milan than Venice. This is exactly what the ticket agent recommended us to do when we book the flights.

Other things to consider are that when you travel to another city, you will loose half a day for commuting time. I think this is one important factor to consider for your itinerary. As independent travelers, you have to pack and go every other night, to haul your luggage from station to station, and to watch for pick pockets along the way. This is an exhausting business and consuming much energy that should be used to enjoy the sights, the culture and the food.

I hope this helps.

Because I was using FF miles, I was "forced" into flying from MXP. My trip,however, was for 3 weeks.
If you must leave from Milan,I'd seriously consider staying in Rome, training to Florence and then the last night in Milan.
This is really your best use of time.

I enjoy Milan and personally prefer it over Venice.

It is a city with a wide range of things to offer and IMO often overlooked by the tourist influx. That is yet another reason to visit: ).

Connections to MXP are excellent.