1st trip to Italy for 10D 9 N and Madrid for 2N

I did a similar trip like yours in October for my first trip to Italy and we also stopped for 2 nights in London on the way back. Your plan sounds good, I would say 4N Rome, 2N Florence, 2N Venice, then Madrid for 3N. Those 2 nights in Florence and Venice would probably equate to 1 1/2 full days of sightseeing, make sure you stay within the city to maximize your sightseeing. 3N in Madrid would give you 2 full days of sightseeing, if I had to do it over, I would've spent 3 nights in London, unfortunately we were unable to change our plane booking. As the other poster suggested, get the RS Italy book and I would even go as far as to say get the individual city book because they will give you more insight and tips on each city. Since there's 2 of you, maybe you can split the cost of the guidebook, it is so worth it.

This is very similar to another recent posting by someone else. The general response: Those are some extremely broad questions. Do you have the RS Italy 2011 book yet? If not, you should get a copy. It contains prioritized recommendations on what to see and do in those cities, depending on the amount of time you have. It also contains lots of lodging recommendations for all sorts of budgets. Good luck.

This question is always asked as if there is a magical number or required nights for each city. You also need to allow for travel time between each city and the big jump to Madrid. You don't have as much time as you think you do. Personally I would split my time more equally between Spain and Italy. Why bother to go to Spain if you are not going to spend some time there? What city do you plan to use for departure to Madrid? I would save Venice for another trip. It is half day to Venice at least or more if you don't depart from there. I would add the time to Madrid. Not necessarily Madrid itself but for a day drip to Toledo or Segovia or even Cordoba. Spain is very different from a lot of Europe and Italy so you might enjoy the contrast. As for what see and stay, the Steves books are excellent guides. Start there and then ask your questions.

As someone noted before, 2 days in a place = 1.5 days sightseeing, because of travel time. You'll also spend time getting to your hotel to dump your bags etc. Take that into consideration before you plan on 4 big, busy, cities with lots to do. That being said, I've been to all these places, more than once (I live in Germany). I would spend 2 nights in Florence, and add the extra day to Venice, but that's me. I always wanted to visit Venice and I still love it. You'll be doing more traveling to get to Madrid and I'm not sure 2 nights will be worth it. Get the RS books and decide what you want to do in each city, some people love museums and need to spend more time there. But I'd consider dropping Madrid.

OOPS, just read again you're flying out of Madrid, well....??

Thanks for the advise everyone. We're flying to Madrid from Venice. Spain is not a priority for this trip, the return airfare was cheaper that way, which is why we're departing to go home from Madrid. We want to spend as much time as possible in Italy. We're not so much into museums, so I'm sure there will be lots we'll be skipping and only spending time in the most important ones. I will get the RS guide to help me plan my trip better.