11 day Itinerary Italy Review Sorrento, Florence, Rome

Your plan looks great. The one thing to think about is jet lag. Your plan to tour the Amalfi Coast your second day might be too much. I would probably sleep half the time, but that's just me. We used Sorrento Silver Stars as driver. They were wonderful. I would suggest maybe switching days. Go to Capri first then the next day to the Amalfi Coast. That way you can go at your own pace in Capri. I loved Capri! I would suggest just following Rick Steves podcasts for the Uffizi and Accademia. That way you can go at your own pace. We took tours of the Vatican and the Colosseum with Walks of ItalyWe took the Pristine Sistine tour, we entered first thing in the morning without the crowds! Absolutely amazing! One of my very favorite tours in Rome was a food tour, Twilight Trastevere Food Tour we absolutely loved this tour! Your trip is going to be wonderful!

Thank you pfresh3. I will switch the days for Capri and Positano. Great idea! I've looked into walks of Italy and sent an email to silverstarsorrento. The Travestere food tour sounds delicious! We will look into that too. Thank you!!

train to Pompeii to explore on our own for 2 hours (is there somewhere to store luggage?). We can skip Pompeii but thought since we are passing thru, it would be nice to see.

Yes there is luggage storage at the site. If you do not plan to hire a guide, be sure to have Rick Steves' self-guided tour info handy.

Uffizi tour and Accademia Tour (debating on guided tours for museums or for walking tour around Florence but figured we would learn more about the art. We are not much museum people but hear these are "must see." Thanks for forum on guided vs self-tours.

If you are not big museum fans, don't just do museums because you feel you must. Maybe one museum and Rick's self-guided tour of the city. We also liked seeing the Palazzo Vecchio and if you have read Dan Brown's "Inferno" it will be particularly fun for you. Walk across the Arno and up to Piazzale Michelangelo, as well as over to Santa Croce. (Dinner at Boccadama on the Piazza is highly recommended!) Self-guiding will probably work well for you. Get the audio guides at any museum you do visit.

Saturday - Bus to Siena and explore on own or 12 hr tour bus that goes to Siena, San Gimignano, Chianti vineyard and Pisa.
Sunday - Tuscany wine day tour

If you are spending all day Sunday on a wine tour (which is always a good idea IMO) , the 12-hour day described on Saturday seems a bit too much to me. Siena is an excellent idea, but adding in the rest? Not enough time to relax and enjoy. Savor another day in Firenze instead.

train or rent a car to Rome. If rent a car, stop in small town for lunch or stop at Bomarzo park. (just read about this cool park!)

We were quite disappointed in Bomarzo and I would not recommend going out of my way nor going to the expense of renting a car just for this site. It is not a "3-triangle" site to use Rick Steves' vernacular. If you have children had children with you, it might be worthwhile as an opportunity to let them run off some energy, but Italy -- and especially Roma -- has much more to offer you.

I agree with Laurel about Bomarzo, and that long day tour.

Another "agree" with dropping Bomarzo. It's worth a brief stop only if you happened to be passing near.

Thank you Laurel, Zoe and Rosalyn.
We will bus to Siena on our own for the day. Another place I want to see is Pisa and take a bus to Lucca (I think Rick Steves' said it was easy add on trip) but I'm not sure I want to do that instead of Siena or find another day to add that in, maybe...
Saturday - Bus to Pisa AM and bus to Lucca to explore on own
Sunday - wine tour
Monday bus to siena with luggage (leave somewhere at station?) and the bus(?) to Rome. This may be too much but just an idea. Bomarzo is off the itinerary. thanks for the tip!

I would skip Pisa in favor of more time in Lucca. Hard to do both in a day and Pisa is a one-trick pony.

If you want to see Lucca and Pisa in the same day, I suggest going to Lucca in the morning, have lunch there, then go to Pisa for a couple of hours toward evening. Fewer crowds, better light. A visit to the cemetery in the Campo is worthwhile.

Agree with Zoe - if you want to see Lucca and Pisa, do it in that order. I did that in 1989, and it remains one of my best travel days ever. By getting to Pisa in the late afternoon, the souvenir vendors were literally packing up, and the Field of Miracles looked great in the afternoon light.

Thanks for the idea. We will be sure to goto Lucca first and then to Pisa. Sounds great!

Any thoughts on train tickets? I assume I should buy them when we arrive to the train station in Rome since we would just be flying in. But from Napoli Centrale to Firenze I could buy in advance.
Roma to Napoli Centrale
Napoli Centrale to Firenze SMN
I looked at the trenitalia website and i'm not sure what the difference is when they have the table showing
"offer" - base, economy, super economy
"Service" - standard, premium, business

I started reading Rick Steve's train pt to pt ticket vs rail pass and I would assume I should just buy tickets pt. to pt.

Thanks.

"Service" refers to the type of carriage; "offer" is the fare amount category, based on how far ahead you buy tickets and how many restrictions there are (super economy is cheapest but if you miss that specific train you will have to get a new ticket, unless your connecting train is late).

Thanks Zoe for the quick reply!