Another vote for Venice after Rome, but how about you take a morning train from Rome to Florence, and spend three or four hours in Florence before catching a train to Venice? Its just a short walk from the train station to the city center. That way you can enjoy a gelato in Florence while sitting in the piazza in front of the Duomo and any number of small things that IMHO are enough of Florence. Of course, I'm assuming you have only a little luggage so you can deal with it during this 'pitstop'.

Leave your luggage at the station in Florence if you take marge20's suggestion--a reasonable fee per bag will free your hands and spirts for the day.. You might be too tired to deal with a train ride, an afternoon in Florence, and then another train ride, and then finding your Venice hotel all after your overnight flight.<BR>However, if you plan to head straight to Venice, why not fly from Rome to Venice and eliminate the long train ride just after arrival. You could be in Venice by lunch time. Take the train back to Rome once you've had a few lovely days in Venice to adjust.

Hi Scoob,<BR>We were in Italy for 12 days last month and visited Rome, Florence, Venice, Siena &amp; Lucca (too much but we aren't sorry we went to any of those places). I agree that Venice is divine, and a more restful contrast to Rome than Florence, where we perpetually dodged scooters. Don't know if you're already booked, but in hindsight we wondered if we would have been smart to fly into Rome and out of Venice so that we didn't lose so much time to train travel. But you may already be locked in. As for hotels, we were in nice 4-star places: the Savoy in Rome is near Via Veneto and the Spanish Steps; the degli Orafi in Florence(our favorite) lovely, new &amp; our room had a view of the Ponte Vecchio; and the Concordia in Venice, nice but a bit close to St. Marks - the bells in the morning sounded as if they were right outside the window. Charming but LOUD!!<BR> Wish we were going back in October. We loved it. Have a wonderful time.

I just returned from Italy a couple of weeks ago and traveled to both Venice and Florence. I've got to tell you Florence is over rated. Yes, there's a famous bridge and some lovely musuems but that's it!!! Venice on the other is very charming on the water and too has lovely musuems. My vote is Venezia!!!

Re: &quot;Unless everyone of you works for the Venice tourism board...&quot;<BR><BR>In our dreams...sigh.

Ah to return to Venice..sorry for the typos in my earlier post..I was caught up in the idea of Venice and hurrying off to work..so..since it seemed a bit jumbled..check with your hotel before arrival to find out what vaporetto to take and what stop you will need. The ticket booth is to the right as you exit the train station. Purchase a ticket for several days and validate it right there before climbing on the vaporetto of your choice. We did fly into Rome and out of Venice. It gave us more time in Venice,thankfully. I would recommend you pick out some of the places you absolutely want to go in Venice and then allow for wandering with the intent of getting lost. Venice is an immensely safe city and the neighborhoods are great to explore. Ask here for people's favorites and you will get lots of ideas. I liked the Carnneggio,the Castello,San Polo and Dursodouro. Check out Campo Santa Margherita. This was a great neighborhood that seemed to have a mix of young and old. We loved ambling about in it(have a drink or an espresso or two at Margaret Du Champ. The Guggenheim is a must. We had a great day when we took a side trip to Burano. Eat at Da Romano(the grilled shrimp). Some folks &quot;do&quot; all the little islands in a day..I think this is too ambitious. We did not make it to Torcello and hope to return so as to be able to. Depending on your tastes and your $$ I'd say check with this forum about places to eat. There are high end and good relatively inexpensive eats. Since you are leaving from NYC it might be hard to imagine there could be great pizza anywhere else in the world..but I do recommend you check out Ae Oche(there is mention of it in the post on the little gem restaurants) It serves pizza at least 40 ways..one is big enough for two people..I had a great speck,brie and arugala one. It is in San Polo-San Croce area which is a fun place to wander and get lost. Two more absolute tips..go to the terrace near the top of the Danieli Hotel and have a drink. Expensive but you are paying for the view of all of Venice below you..definitely worth the trip. And..do have a coffee (and perhaps toasts) inside at the Florian. This place is so completely over the top it warrants at least one stop when you are in Venice. You will be just off Piazza San Marco.

we just got back from rome, venice and florence. rome was great, florence even better,, while venice is unusual,, it was outrageously expensive and the only place more touristy than disneyworld. two days there were more than enough and I can;t imagine going back

Jerry, We are planning to visit London, Rome and Florence in October. Any great hotel, dining or trip experience to share? Thanks!!