thanks! ok we cut out amsterdam paris and london and are just going to spend the whole time in italy/sicily.

any thoughts on june vs. july?

i know july will be hotter and more touristy, but is there really that much of a difference between a mid-june through mid-july trip versus late-june thru late july?

and would you start south and work your way north or vice-versa?

thanks again,
i appreciate all the advice, fellow travelers!

You should do an open jaw (fly into Naples and home from Florence, Pisa or Venice). (Though I don't see Venice on your list, I could not think of a honeymoon without visiting Venice..just me).

Remember that the longer you are there, the hotter it will be the further south you go. So you might want to start in the south and work your way north.

And yes, if I had a choice, I'd go as early as I could.

Congrats! Happy honeymooning!

I'd also say go as early as you can. July is crowded as well as hot. You could fly into Sicily, the hottest destination on your list, then work your way north.

You didn't ask ... But another vote for Venice.

Go as early as possible and go south to north. We were in Sicily in May a couple of years ago and it was quite hot on the south coast. The north not so much.

Now that you have some more time, you should definitely think about going to Venice. Were I young and rich, that's where I'd go for my honeymoon.

July isn't more "touristy" it is more touristed. And a lot of those tourists are Italians because they tend to vacation in their own country. Once you go there, you'll see why.

I think she is using the word touristy just to express the volume of tourists being greater, regardless of where they come from (which I don't think is the point, it is how busy things are or how crowded). Whether they are Italian or English, I don't see what difference it makes.

no, of course it doesn't make a dramatic difference in volume of tourists by moving your trip a week or two.

You name 8 places. Then you say to stay in Sicily 1 full week. That leaves 7 places for 3 weeks, so you have 3 days each place and that's before you subtract the time moving place to place, so more like 2.0 to 2.5 in each city/region. It is crazy.

High season at places in Italy popular with tourists from Northern Europe: July and August
High season at places famous with Italian tourists only: end July until end August

thanks all!