11 Night Trip in Italy, need ideas for more places to go.

I like the idea of leaving your plan as-is, but taking optional day trips as the spirit moves you (for instance, Orvieto from Rome, Siena from Florence, Padua or Verona from Venice) - that way, you'd experience variety without too much disruption. The train system works great.

Eric,
I would not add any more stops. In fact , I would take a night/day from Florence and add it to Rome since the 25th will be a day in which you cannot do any touring, so to speak. Same with the 1st: wherever you are pretty much everything closes. Don't short change Venice either. Definitely want two FULL days there.

I concur to leave as is.

Although I would have started in Venice and ended in Rome as returning home with a morning flight is easier from Rome than from Venice (Rome airport is only 30 min from the city center, Venice airport is over one hour away as it involves slower boats).

You can use the above cities as a base to visit others, if you run out of things to do and want to venture outside. From Florence you can visit Siena, Pisa+Lucca, Arezzo, Pistoia+Montecatini, Bologna, all of which are 35 to 70 minutes away by train or bus.

From Rome, besides Orvieto, you can also visit Ostia Antica or even Naples.

Since it's winter, the weather will be cold or even rainy, and daylight will be shorter. So sticking to the cities rather than tho outdoors or the countryside is a better strategy.

Hi

We did a 16 night of italy with similar breakdown of nights in florence / venice and rome. Got back last night.

4 in rome / 3 in venice and 3 in florence. (other nights were in pisa, genoa and milan)

I would increase Rome and deduct Florence ( unless if you do Pisa from Florence)

Florence is a small city and you can heaps in a day.

In Venice we ( family of 4) stayed at Corte dei Greci - highly recommend it. near san marco but not on the main strip.
The other hotels I wont recommend.

In Rome our preference was to stay near the Vatican as there is a lot more to do ( kids spent half a day sitting in st peters square and drawing).

We used italiarail.com for booking trains but you can also do italotreno ( new high speed train) between the major cities.

I wouldn't add any more stops. I also agree with taking a day from Florence and adding it to Rome. It all depends on what you want to do in each city. If you come back with a list of sites for each we can tell you how many days you'll need to see them all.

Donna

I like your plan as is. If you love museums, you may want to allow 3 hours per major one; same for archeological sites. If you get burned out on museums but think you should see the masterpieces of art, 2 hours should be your maximum. This might help plan your days. Churches, 1/2 to 2 hours depending on your interest; note that many have beautiful artwork as well, and some (Florence's and Venice's Duomos) have a dome or bell tower that you can climb.

To maximize your time, think of how to spend your evenings. In December most sights will be closed, but a walk, bus or taxi ride to see the monuments lighted up at night (and some decorated for Christmas) will be worthwhile.

"Il Dolce Far Niente!"