Italy

Hello Bob. Good itinerary, not too fast, no 2-night stands. Traveling for 5 weeks is thrilling and exhausting, so important to have some good long stays like your 5-night stands. In the final analysis, setting the pace depends on what you want to see and do in each place. My first impression is that 5 nights in Florence is a bit long, unless you are going to daytrip to some other towns, like Siena perhaps. Verona also seems like a long stay. I think there's more to do in Venice so maybe flip flop Verona and Venice: Venice 5, Verona 3. Finally, 5 nights in Manarola also seems a bit long, and Rome could easily take 5 or 6 nights. It will be warm, if not hot, in Rome, so taking time for breaks will be important. (We spent 5 nights last Oct and return to Rome for 9 nights this year we loved it so!) What I do is take an initial plan like you have and lay it out in a spreadsheet (I am such a geek!), inserting the sights I want to see and the experiences I want to have, along with information on what's open or not and the hours. Then I whittle away at my overly ambitious plans until I have a sensible plan. That allows me to make lodging reservations with some certainty. The spreadsheet becomes a guideline, and we can discard parts in favor of spontaneous opportunity. But at least we know what will be open and when. My nephew missed the Vatican Museums because he didn't realize they'd be closed the only day he had to go: Sunday! Luckily have a husband who lets me plan and enjoys the ride! Happy planning! It's half the fun for me!

I'd spend at least a week in Rome.

I would decrease Florence and increase Rome unless the intend is to use Florence as base for day trips.

Hi Bob. I think your itinerary looks pretty good. I agree with the amount of time in Florence and Rome. But I do think that you're spending too much time in Verona and Bologna, unless you're planning to take daytrips and use those cities as bases. I strongly recommend visiting Ravenna, at least for one day, but if you aren't interested in Byzantine churches and mosaics then Ravenna probably isn't for you. And I would take a night from either Verona or Bologna and add it to Venice, so that you have 3 full days in that city.

I agree with some of the earlier comments. It's really good to slow down but, in your case, there is room for more destinations. Unless you have been to Rome before, I'd add nights there. You can also spend more time in Venice and take in the islands or lido. Florence, like Rome, has a lot to see, so don't do less than two full days - more if you can (your current plan is good). Reduce Verona to no more than 3 nights, two full days is plenty. Same for Cinque Terra and Bologna. Three nights in Assisi could be reduced to two, leaving one full day to tour. I would also want to add a couple of hill towns in Tuscany as well as a night in Orvieto (Umbria) on the way out of Rome.

Thanks everyone for your quick responses to my query. Your suggestions will be very helpful in my planning - which is a "work in progress". I was thinking of using Florence and Verona as a base to do day trips - rather than continually "packing and unpacking". Although we are planning to use trains, has anyone driven around the Tuscan countryside from Florence and the Lakes district etc. from Verona? There is a possibility we could hire a car for a day or two in each place.
Thanks once again for the great advice!!

It might be nice to break up all the trains & hotels with a week in an agriturismo in Tuscany in the middle of your trip, with a rental car so you can be on your own schedule for a while and visit a variety of little towns. I would also remove Bologna and substitute Sorrento, with day trips to Paestum and Pompeii, showing you a completely different side of Italy. I would re-allocate something like this: Rome, 4; Assisi, 2; Florence, 3; CinqueTerre, 2; Lake Como, 4; Verona, 2; Venice, 4; Tuscany, 7; Sorrento, 4. I hope you can book an open jaw ticket flying into one city and out of another. If you could fly into Naples, you could transfer directly to Sorrento and have a lovely place to get over jet lag. In that case, I'd try to fly home from Venice or Milan.