Best itinerary from Barcelona to Rome

Claudia, Does the 2 wks. include travel days? If not, you could try this, though very tight...Fly open jaw into Barcelona out of Venice. 3 nites Barcelona Easyjet Barcelona to Lyon Rental car Lyon to Nice 3 days traveling thru Provence Easyjet Nice to Rome 3 nites Rome Train Rome to Florence 1nite Florence Evening train Florence to Venice 2 nites Venice Keep in mind each time you change locations it uses up at least 1/2 day.
Have fun planning

In 2007 we did a similar trip but took 3 weeks and that was hardly enough time. It IS a lot of driving, the distance from Barcelona through France to Naples is grueling. I would NOT recommend driving in Rome (too crazy and hectic) Romans view traffic laws as a loose set of guidelines and for Naples Fuggeddabout it, your car will probably be broken into! Leave the car outside of Rome in a city like ORTE, get a hotel there, take the train into Rome and on down to Naples.

Claudia: Driving or training it would take a long time. Check out Vueling Airlines, one of the better discount airlines. You can take a morning flight from Barcelona to Venice. From Venice, you can easily do Florence, the CT, Rome, and Naples by train. However, that is a lot for two weeks. Be sure to fly "open jaw"...you don't want to waste time backtracking. Give Barcelona at least 3 days including the day of arrival, Venice at least one full day and a night, Florence at least two, and Rome at least four. That's 10 right there, and day 14 is departure flight day.

The problem isn't so much the distance (only 1000 miles or so) as it is the number of stops along the way. You might have to be content with drive-by looks at some of your places, but that may be alright with you. Be aware of the big drop fees the auto rental companies impose for renting in one country and returning in another. You can get around that with e.g. a train from Barcelona to Perpignan, getting a car there and driving to Nice, dropping it there and taking a train into Italy to get another car. Credit card coverage is no good in Italy, so you'll have to buy the rental company's insurance. Use www.viamichelin.com to plan the route

From Barcelona to Italy (or viceversa) there are overnight or daytime ferries that would make your planned trip easier, faster, and cheaper as well. Given your itinerary, you could for example sail Barcelona-Civitavecchia (one-hour train from Rome) and work your way by train up to Florence, Cinque Terre, and Venice. Even better perhaps would be using a Barcelona-Genova ship which would put you close to Cinque Terre, then work you way south or east from there. Alternatively, you might even find a Barcelona-Naples vessel, although IMO going to Naples would stretch your two weeks too much.