Italy in 12 days!?!

Congratulations! We took our honeymoon to Italy in November 2012 and the weather cooperated for us the entire trip! Personally, I think you are trying to see too many places and moving too much, especially with only 12 days for the trip (remember - first and last days are travel days). You barely have time to enjoy each location and they are too far apart to effectively see them all. Since you are flying into/out of Milan, I suggest skipping anything south of Rome. The Amalfi Coast is very nice, but you will end up using a full day to get there and back. Since this is your honeymoon, leave enough time in each place to really enjoy yourselves! The travel time between cities will eat at least a half day when you consider checking in and out of hotels plus train travel. I did a recent trip (also our honeymoon) similar to yours. I would suggest the following (suggested hotels in parentheses):
Day 1 depart US
Day 2 Arrive in Milan; take high speed train to Venice, check into hotel and wander around the city.
Day 3-4 Venice (Pensione Guerrato)
Day 5 train to Verona, tour then train to Florence (Hotel Accademia)
Day 6-7 Florence - Can take day trip to Pisa
Day 8 train to Rome, spend the day in Rome (Hotel Smeraldo)
Day 9-10 Rome - afternoon high speed train to Milan
Day 11 - Milan (may want to stay near the airport, depending on your flight time)
Day 12 flight back to US

This itinerary is still pretty packed for 12 days since you are really on the ground for 10. I purchased the train tickets in advance between Venice/Florence (2 1/2 hours) and Florence/Rome (1 1/2 hours) and saved a lot of money. We traveled for 9 euros per person per leg by getting the super economy fare on Trenitalia 120 days in advance. Italo Treno also has good fares on the fast trains. Our hotels in Venice, Florence and Rome were in the middle of everything. We walked everywhere. Make sure you have a good pair of broken-in shoes! Good luck!

Okay I will get things started by asking a few questions so we may give you better information.
Do the 12 days include flight into and out of Italy?.

Is Day 1 the day you depart the US or is Day 1 the day you arrive in Italy?

Then is day 12 the day you leave Italy or the last day before you leave on day 13?

The reason being if it does not include flight days you only have 10 days in Italy.

Next question have you already purchased you flight into Milan?
If not, many of us will suggest you fly into one city and depart from another city. This is called open jaw or Multi-City.

Your stated goal of not spending too much time traveling would be best served by cutting you wish list. So here is my suggestion and the first of several that should be posted later..

Depart US Day 1
Arrive in Italy morning of Day 2 - Venice would be a good first stop for 3 nights. (Perhaps a day trip to Verona)

Take a Train to Florence 3 -4 Nights (Day trip to Pisa )

Take a Train to Rome 3-4 Nights

fly home from Rome

November not a great time to go to the sea side spots.

As Rick says ....Assume you will return someday.

So we plan on flying from the US to Prague (Our first stop) on November 28th. We land in Prague on November 29th in the early morning. Then we fly into Italy on December 1st. I was thinking about flying into Rome and then home from Milan, but it is looking like it might make more sense to fly into Milan and home from Rome. Thoughts!?! We will either be flying home on December 14th or 15th. Has anyone also had any stops in Turkey or Russia!?! Just wanted to make sure the airports were safe? What does everyone think the most important things to see would be!?!

Thanks,
Maggie

PS...We will have from December 1st to December 13th to explore Italy!!

One more question!!! Where would we buy the train tickets!?!

If you are fling from Prague to Italy, check into flying to Venice and start the trip there. Milan is nice but It's not on my list of top places to visit in Italy. Your idea of flying into the North and then out of Rome is sound logic. This avoids backtracking. I would skip the Cinque Terre and Amalfi Coast because the weather will probably be bad and many businesses will be closed for winter. One thing that we did a lot of on our honeymoon was to wander around and go into almost every church that we passed. We were amazed at the art that we saw! And most are free.

For trains, Trenitalia http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD
or Italo https://biglietti.italotreno.it/Booking_Acquisto_Ricerca.aspx?Culture=en-US

Using Trenitalia, you will have to be sure to use the Italian city names such as Roma, Firenze (Florence) and Venezia (Venice). These cities all have multiple train stations. The main ones are Roma Termini, Firenze SMN and Venezia S. Lucia.

Do you happen to know if there is a train we can take from Prague to Italy!?! If so how long would it take!?!

Yes, but i't a long ride. Looks like it may be best to take an overnight train. The cost will likely be upwards of 100 euros per person.
http://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Prague.htm#Prague-Italy

Check skyscannet.net for cheap airfare. it may be cheaper to fly. A sample itinerary Prague to Rome on 12/1 shows two non-stop flights available for around $100 per person. Prague to Milan is $82 per person. Venice and Florence require a stop over.

Another option for flying is easyjet.com. Be careful with all of these cheap airfares. They do not include baggage and they are very strict on what you can carry on. If you have to check at the gate, you may get hit with $100 per bag. You can buy additional baggage when you buy the ticket.

So I have a friend who went to Italy over the summer and I sent her an itinerary of what I thought would be good. Now keep in mind we are the kind of people who are on the go all the time and aren't looking to really sit around and do nothing while were are there. We want to be on the go!! Here is what I came up with!

11/28 Leave from New York City

11/29 Land in Prague @ 9:45 am
Spend the day in Prague

11/30 Prague

12/1 Leave Prague @ 11:35 am
Land in Rome @ 5:10PM

12/2 Rome

12/3 Rome

12/4 Rome- Travel to Florence around dinner time

12/5 Florence

12/6 Florence

12/7 Florence

12/8 Florence- Travel to verona around dinner time

12/9 Verona

12/10 Verona

12/11 Verona- Travel to Milan around dinner time

12/12 Milan

12/13 Milan

12/14 Milan

12/15 Travel from Milan to New York

There is one thing we really want to do in Milan but it leave at 7 am on the 12th so we need to be in Milan the night before (11th). I think this schedule is pretty good for what we are looking for. Thoughts!?!

Thanks so much for all of your help!!

Overal, this looks fine. A couple of thoughts...You might consider taking a night from Florence and staying in Rome. You can easily fill a week in Rome. If you are going to Verona, I think you have to go to Venice because it's so close! Also, check out the Ferrari and Lamborghini museums near Modena just south of Verona.

Ok Great! yeah we plan to do venice while we are in verona and maybe the Italian Riv. while we are there as well. As for Rome we don't want to spend to much time there. We would rather be in florence. We will definitely do those museums tho!! My fiancé will love that! Thank you so much for your help, it is much appreciated!!!

Skip Pisa. Not worth the trouble in my opinion.

One suggestion. Stay in Venice and do a day trip to Verona -- not the other way around. Venice is great after the day tourist leave. You can catch an early morning train to Verona, spend the whole day and take a late train back. All the high spots in Verona can be done in a day. TC

I agree with the suggestion to stay in Venice and visit Verona on a day trip. There are far more places to explore In Venice, it's a truly unique city, more romantic for a honeymoon, and it's such a different experience after most people leave in the evening. In addition to a day trip to Verona, you could do a day trip to the islands in the lagoon, and there are also lots of other options.

Venice is marvelous, do not skip it! Imho, of course. I have visited there several Times, so beautiful.

Stay in Venice and daytrip to Verona, trains are frequent. What part of the Italian Riviera are you interested in? It's not that easy to do as a daytrip from Venice (it's on the Tyrrhenian Coast).