Any suggestions for either appreciated - our first time next week.

Can you please clarify what you need help with?

Looking for suggestions on the not so obvious, romantic restaurants, Florence hill town/winery sites/tours, especially what not to waste time on, etc. We're in Venice 2 nights and Florence 4 nights.

dude, you have to ask specific questions....
example,
Can you recommend good hotels in venice? where is a good place to eat in Florence? ect.........

Hi
general suggestion: go elsewhere here on fodors.com to the Destinations section (click at the top of this page) and you will find lots of basic info for those places, including what to see on short visits, hotels, restaurants,etc, including comments from people who have been there.

You will need maps. You can pick up freebies when you are there, but they are flimsy paper and not always clear.
I like Streetwise Florence and Streetwise Venice. Pocket-sized, easy to fold, laminated. Most chain bookstores carry them, so does amazon.
Or buy maps there.

If you are planning museum visits in Florence to the Ufizzi and Accademia, ask your hotel to arrange for reserved time slots so that you can avoid waiting in what are usually very long ticket-buying lines. The wait can be hours at peak times.

Yor hotel front desk will have info on one-day bus tours to wineries in Tuscany; otherwise you need to rent a car and have a map of the area.

I have long files on Florence and on Venice; if you'd like to see them, email me at [email protected]