I'm beginning to plan a two (or three?) week trip to Italy in September (or thereabouts). Basically, I'm in the research phase .... so, if you could please offer web sites (for train schedules, hotels, calendar of events, etc...) in addition to this wonderful resource to help me plan my trip, I'd greatly appreciate it. <BR> <BR>Also, you are welcome to provide me with your advice for the trip (given that I'll be traveling alone)! Must sees, Cathedrals, hotels, restaurants (I LOVE good food), shopping, etc. Anything to get me jumpstarted! Let me mention that I have been to Rome before (greatest city I've ever visited). Cheers and Happy Traveling!

Kate: No doubt you can get very good advice from the fodorites; however, you can make things even better if you could post what is the draft itinerary that you have in mind right now, i.e. 3 days in Rome, on by train to spend 2 days in Florence, etc... <BR> <BR>My favorites: Rome, Assisi, Pompeii, and Venice (did not get to Florence).

Hi <BR>try www.waf.it which is Weekend a Firenze. You can order museum tickets for Florence on line. <BR>I took my first trip to Italy this past Oct. (Florence and Venice) so once you have an itinerary in mind, budget, <BR>and preferences about how to spend your time, I, too, will be happy to tell what I can. <BR>elaine <BR>

Kate, There is no subsitute for good homework, and here are some good places to start. It takes at least 6 weeks to see it all, so anything less is a compromise. I would start my plan with <BR>either a north or south orientation and plan from there. Trying to do both will <BR>strain your calender. Start here: <BR>www.initaly.com <BR>www.itwg.com <BR>www.raileurope.com <BR>After you digest the best from these sites then get back to me directly and <BR>perhaps I can help further. Have we not <BR>talked before??

There are 4 of us traveling to Italy for 2 weeks. We don't speak the language. Do you think we can do it on our own or should we take a tour. We were last there 23 years ago? We have been toying with this for a while and we now have to make a decision so that we can book for May 1999. Also do we need to purchase museum tickets to all big cities in advance? If yes, why? <BR>

Hi Maira and Elaine - I will certainly let you know as soon as I get some thoughts together on my itinerary. Bob, I'm not sure if we've 'talked' before, but I've seen your comments peppered throughout this forum! It sounds as though you could offer me some excellent advice. As for that six weeks - I've only got one small problem with that: my job would never let me leave for that long! As for the three weeks, I'm HOPING they'll let me take the time off WITHOUT PAY (yes, we Americans don't get a wonderful 4-6 weeks of vacation like Europeans, right??!). So ... even three weeks could be a stretch. I might have to cut it to two weeks. I've spent 5 days in Rome before - saw just about all the major tourist highlights and relaxed among the locals also - so I think I can forego Rome this time and see Venice, Florence, and maybe Milan?, Verona?, and some other small towns. I've seen some people in this forum were not impressed with Milan or Verona, so I'm looking for advice here....and remember, I always plan my trips around magnificent Cathedrals (I'm the Cathedral forum topic person). <BR> <BR>So, off to research! I will keep in touch as my plans become more defined. <BR>

Hi Patty, I think you can get buy without knowing Italian, BUT you should make some effort to learn the basics which will go a long way with the Italians. <BR> <BR>If you plan in advance, you can travel without going on a tour group. Get started now for your trip in May. Sit down with your friends and and a map of Italy and decide where you'd like to go and for how long (based on reading about the cities/towns you're interested in). Then start searching for hotels from guidebooks and on this web site (I was in Italy in May and can tell you about the hotels we stayed in in Rome, Venice, and Milan (stayed with relatives in Naples). <BR> <BR>You can to a search on this site using, I believe, "how do you plan your trips." Many of us gave lots of good information. <BR> <BR>Buy your airline tickets soon. I just bought mine for France. <BR> <BR>Email me directly if you'd like more help/information. I love to plan my trips and love to meet others that also enjoy traveling. <BR> <BR>Ciao!

Hi Kate--See my response from Monday under your "Greatest European Cathedrals" postings for Italy cathedral recs related to your proposed itinerary. Helpful I hope.

<BR>Kate, if you are going to the Italian Rivera and Cinque Terre regions, I have excellent web sites book marked. Since I don't know how to do the links using this server, e-mail me directly if you want them. <BR>Ellen

Florence is a must if you love art museums! We spent five days there a lone. We also found that we needed a vacation from our vacation - and went to Bellagio, which is north of Milan, off Lake Como. My wife has already said that our next trip to Italy will start there! We did all our train and hotels scheduling using the Internet. Good luck!

Hi Kate, <BR> I, too, began planning a trip for March only a short time ago and have received wonderful help on this fodor's site. I have found that as I research and talk to others here and research previous postings, I have greatly refined my trip. These people are very helpful, and many have e-mailed me directly with great advice. Thank you, all you Fodor-ites...I am now one of you! Everytime I log on I pull up my e-mail and log onto fodor's! good luck, kate! p.s. got a terrific airline ticket off the web...round-trip to rome for $298 plus taxes. Try Travelocity. <BR>

Check out goeurope.miningco.com. They have a page for Venice and one for Rome that point to a lot of other stuff. There are some very nice travelogues, info about hotels and restaurants, travel tips and all kinds of useful information.

Kate, The site for Italian rail schedules is fs-on-line.com/ but remember to enter city names in Italian, e.g. Milano, Venezia, Firenze etc.

Realizing that people do not always have the time to give to what they know they need to do, here is some language triage, it will not make you anywhere near a native speaker, but it will stop the 'bleeding'. 1) Learn the pronunciation rules; if you know how to pronounce it, at least you can identify to someone what you do not know. 2) Learn the words for food; if you eat you survive. 3) Learn your numbers to 100, plus 1000 and one million; if you know at least 1-10, you can use these over and over to get your point across. 4) Learn direction: left, right, N-S-E-W, up, down, train station, bus stop, airport, hotel; at least you can get home. 5) Know how to ask to go to the bathroom; you may never need it, but knowing this is like money in the bank. 6) If going to Italy memorize this phrase: 'un mezzo litro vino bianco locale.'

Hey Joe, if you're going to Tuscany shouldn't it be "un mezzo litro vino rosso locale" ??

A fun web site is www.romeguide.net which plays "Arriva Derci Roma" sure to put you in the mood. It is wonderful for taking you through the great museums ...room by room!

<BR>Here’s a few suggestions for Rome information. <BR>Check out the ‘City Pack’ site published by the Automobile Association: <BR>http://www.theaa.co.uk/travel/world/rome/romindex.asp <BR> <BR>Traveling with Ed and Julie has some great info & excellent links to other Italy & Europe websites: <BR>http://www.twenj.com/romevisit.htm <BR> <BR>Probably mentioned already is ‘Italy Online’ at: <BR>http://www.initaly.com/index.htm <BR> <BR>For hotel suggestions (& can book thru here): <BR>http://www.travel-italy.com/hotels/ <BR> <BR>

1. Search Engine by "Excite" then enter the travel section, then you enter the city you'd like to visit. <BR>2."Previewtravel" www.previewtravel.com <BR>then you can go to the destinations you'd love to. It also includes the itineries depending on how long you would be there and local transportation. <BR>3."timeout"; www.timeout.com <BR>It has some facts for Rome and Florence <BR> <BR>Hope that is helpful.

To help you to draft a trip itinerary in Northern Italy, Kate, all you would need is a guide for Italy and a train schedule web site. I would recommend the Michelin Green Guide and the German Railway site (IMO, much better than the Italian one) <BR>http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/db.s98/dete...8/query.exe/e? <BR> <BR> Considering that you're willing to scratch Rome from your itinerary and your main interest, the cities with outstanding ("first team") cathedrals (+ precints) you may consider including in your itinerary are Milan (duomo), Venice (san marco), Orvieto (duomo), Siena (duomo), Assisi (san francesco), Modena (duomo), Pisa (duomo + battistero) and Florence (duomo + batisttero; san lorenzo). Actually, I rate the duomos in Florence and Pisa as belonging to a 2nd team, but the precints (battisteros) justify placing them in the list. Besides the cities listed above, IMO there are three more that should be strongly considered: Lucca, Ravenna and Padua. Cathedrals in these cities are somewhat of less importance from the architectural point of view but the duomo, san michele and san frediano justify a visit to Lucca and the mosaics (mausoleo di galla placida, san vitale and sant'apollinare in classe) and frescoes of Giotto (scrovegni chapel) and Mantegna (hermits church) + St. Francis basilica justify visits, respectively, to Ravenna and Padua. <BR> <BR> IMO, the most outstanding Gothic cathedral on earth is the one in Milan. It seems therefore natural to consider it as the entry/exit point in Italy. Florence and Venice are a must. The question, therefore, resumes to which of the other cities listed above should be included. <BR> In principle you may visit Orvieto, Pisa, Lucca and Modena on day trips out of Florence (by train) and Siena (by bus). Personally, I would rather stay overnight in Siena (for sure) and Pisa <BR>(if possible). <BR> A day trip to Assisi (out of Florence) is awkward (too long a train ride back and forth). If you can't spend the night there, you may as well drop it. <BR> Padua may be visited out of Venice easily but I doubt you'll end up doing it once there &lt;g&gt;. A visit on route to/from Venice might be more effective. <BR> Finally, the visit to Ravenna is also kind of awkward. I wouldn't consider spending the night there (uninteresting city). Making a detour when travelling from from Florence to Venice also won't do. A more reasonable choice would be to travel from Florence to Modena (visit the duomo) and continue on to Ferrara ("2nd team" duomo). After spending the night one could quite easily go to Ravenna and on to Venice. <BR> <BR>