10 day trip to Italy

Hi Tonia! I am an Italian host and the itinerary you have chosen is very nice, I suggest you to visit also small villages that are a bit far from the usual circuits, for example, a few kilometers from Rome and near Viterbo there are Civita di Bagnoregio, the city that dies, a really magical place and the park de monsters of Bomarzo, look for them on Google. So if you land in Rome by plane you can stop a couple of days in Viterbo and visit these places that really deserve! Greetings, Sabrina Mechella Monaldi

All the destinations you 'have in mind' are NOT 'off beat' places.

For 10 days, 3 places/destinations should be your limit
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If you do not have a tour book, you need to obtain one SOON. This will let you research what you want to see and help narrow down your choices to a manageable number and geographic spread.

A good place to look for off beat places would be the Italy page for Atlas Obscura; it includes info about palazzozelli's recommended Monsters of Bomarzo.

Hi, Tonia! I have no idea what your travel experience is. I hope I'm not talking on too basic of a level for you. I would ask if this is your first trip to Italy. If so, a lot of the "touristy" destinations are touristy because they have a lot of pretty stinking awesome stuff. There is no shame in going to touristy places like Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Venice, Cinque Terre, etc. In Florence, for example, the Duomo is a touristy place because it is amazing, but there are also non-touristy things to do in Florence, even as simple as dropping into the Biblioteca delle Oblate, the library a couple of blocks from the Duomo to see an Italian library, to grab a cheap sandwich in the cafe, and to sit in its outdoor area among studying university students while admiring the dome of the Duomo from a different perspective.

Having said that, if I were planning a trip with your stated goals of experiencing true Italian culture and visiting slightly off beat places, I would pick 1 or 2 destinations. I agree with Joe, 3 would be the max, but the larger the number of destinations, the less time for enjoying Italian culture (though 3 destinations is totally okay if an unstated goal is to visit a few different places in Italy). Four destinations? Doable but your true experience is going to be more trains and hotel check in/check out culture. There won't be much time left for "true Italian culture." Most importantly, rushing from place to place is the antithesis of Italian culture.

I traveled to Italy a few years ago. My itinerary was Sienna (4 nights) --> Florence (3 nights) --> Lake Garda (3 nights) --> Venice (3 nights) --> Amalfi Coast (4 nights) --> Rome (3 nights). It was awesome. I loved nearly all of the touristy stuff my travel companion and I did, but was glad that we sprinkled in a few less touristy things -- walking through the city rose garden in Florence, hiking at Riva del Garda, doing a synagogue tour in Venice (extraordinarily interesting even though I'm not Jewish), hunting for a marionette workshop located well away from the tourist area in Venice (never found it but enjoyed the search), taking a private twilight boat trip with a soft-spoken 20-year-old captain to an isolated fishing village for dinner on the Amalfi Coast, visiting the aqueduct park in Rome. Three nights at each destination gave us a nice taste of the place, a chance to see/do some of the "big things" at each place, and the time to work in some somewhat off-the-beaten path experiences.

Some of the places mentioned by pallazzozelli are challenging If not impossible without a car so bear that in mind.

As others have said, stick with two or three locations where you sleep. The Dolomites and the Cinque Terre require more time as they are a little more time consuming to travel to-and -from. You could have a great trip going only to the Cinque Terre and the Dolomites. But July is high season so you will be sharing with other tourists no matter where you go.