2 week honeymoon trip to Italy - suggestions

Mid August you will have hot temperatures and crowds in most of the top tourist spots in Italy. Look at spending some time in the beautiful Dolomites , Orteisei for example, which you can combine easily with Lake Garda. I prefer Lake Como but Lake Garda has lots of beautiful scenery. Look at Malcesine and Hotel Il Castelo, has its own beach, mountain views.Rent a car for this portion.
You will have to eliminate some places from your list to have a more relaxing trip.
Naples and Amalfi Coast are far from other destinations. I would choose either a northern or a southern itinerary. And because of the heat, I would stay in the north.

If you want a relaxing, beautiful stay in Tuscany, consider booking a week near Pienza at Agriturismo Cretailoe. The accommodations are lovely, and each apartment contains a notebook of local sights, directions, opening hours, etc, plus a separate book of special events that will be occurring during your stay. There will be a special night where you learn how to make pici, a local hand-rolled pasta, sharing this at a dinner with the other guests, an olive oil tasting lesson from Carlo, your host, and many other special occurrences. You will need a car, as Tuscan hill towns are not well served by public transportation. They book up really fast, ever since RS himself stayed there and recommended them, it it is a truly extraordinary experience. It will give you wonderful memories of a trip well spent.

I second the advice to stay in the alpine region, where the weather will likely be cooler and tourist crowds less dense. When you say "winding down" on the Amalfi coast, realize that it's likely to be very crowded (and hot) in August.

Hi Rachel,

We are about the same age/same interests, and I am also planning my Italy honeymoon (for May 2019).

First ques for you: would you be willing to wait and go the first 2 weeks in September rather than August? The first time I went to Italy I went at that time and it was so lovely. In August, you may find some things are closed because it is when Italians go on holiday, and there will still be lots of tourists. For my September trip, I did a 2 weeker starting in Venice -> Florence (day trip in Chianti) -> Cinque Terre -> Amalfi Coast -> Rome.

Since you have already been to Rome, to minimize time spent travelling doing just the North of Italy would be a great idea. Based on your interests, I could share my May itinerary with you. It is flying in and out of Milan with time spent first along the Liguarian Coast (basing in Vernazza then Santa Margarita Ligure further up), then travelling into the Langhe wine region in Piedmont basing in Alba (if you are a foodie, this is the home of the slow food movement and it is like Tuscany without the crowds!! Barolo and Barbaresco wine and truffles). Then from here headed up to the Aosta Valley to spend a couple days in the mountains and hiking in Gran Paradiso National Park. Ending with lake time at Lake Orta (if you have more time you could stay on Maggiore for a few days). We plan to start the trip by train and then grab a rental car to do the wine region and the mountains.

The only thing this misses on your list Florence and the Amalfi Coast. But you may want to save the Amalfi Coast for another trip where you do the South of Italy as most of your interests lie North. Feel free to PM me.