18 Day Trip to Italy

Sounds like a fantastic trip. If you haven't already, reading the Rick Steves Italy book with your family and prioritizing your interests would be a great place to start. I would recommend renting a car only in Tuscany if you stay in the countryside. If you don't stay in the countryside, use train/bus. In 18 days I think 4 spots sounds nice. Not too much moving around but you get to see different places. Only glaring thing missing is Venice but I wouldn't try to add it to what you've already listed, only switch it out for something. You could start in Rome for a few days, rent a car and drive to Tuscany and stay a few days in a farmhouse, drop the car off in florence, stay there for a few days, and train to Venice for a few days and fly home from Venice. I suppose you could add cinque terre in there if you wanted to see the coast that badly, do something like say 4 days rome, 4 days tuscany, 4 days florence, 3 days CT, 3 days Venice. A lot of moving around for my tastes, but a lot of people cram in even more. Only you and your family know what kind of travelers you are, what you hope to get out of the experience, etc. In the cities, you might do well to save money by renting an apartment since your family is larger. that would most likely be cheaper than renting multiple rooms in a B&B. for the time in Tuscany, a lot of farmhouses have multi-bedroom flats available. However, June is high season and many apartments and farmhouses require minimum length stays so you will have to do some research on that once you decide on your itinerary. Whatever you decide to do i'm sure you'll have a fantastic time!!!

You might want to get your rooms as soon as possible. I'm planning a trip with my wife to some of the same places at about the same time, and I started a month ago. One week in Florence has something going on that cut out a couple of hotels I wanted & also required 3-night stays. The RS-recommended hotels in some of the Cinque Terre towns were already booked, too. When I wanted to rent a convertible in Florence to visit the hill towns, there were few to be found, although I did get one. Good Luck!

Theresa, you have been given some excellent advice! Read Rick's book, and then start making some decisions. Train travle in Italy is fun, fast and easy between major cities. Cars work well in out-of-the -way places. Apts (rented thru VRBO.com, Homelidays, and Homeaway )are great options for families. So are B&B's. We have rented some wonderful self contained apts in Agritourisimos. Many of these places have been rated by fellow travelers on various web sites; TripAdvisor, Slow Travel, etc. When you finalyze your plans, let each one of your kids be the separate tour guide in three of the areas that you plan upon staying. Have them do the research and the planning for "their" area. Let each "own" part of the trip, and you will have a happy family.

I would recommend traveling by train. Cars are a hassle in the cities. I traveled with my children (young adults) last year in Italy and we will be there again from 29 March-14 April. Your dates are into the "busy" season so I recommend booking your hotels now. Most places offer breakfast in with the room rate which is a plus with kids. We are staying at a converted monastery, a converted convent and several B&B's on this trip...the only real "hotel" we are booked at is the lovely San Donato in Bologna. We have stayed there before and love the location and the price.
I fly into Zurich and take the train into Italy and fly back out of Zurich. RS has Swiss Transfer Tickets which are a good value.