3 full days in Rome...visiting North & South...?

Short of having a helicopter at your disposal, I cannot imagine getting everywhere on your list in the time you have.

There is more than enough in Rome to keep you well occupied for 3 days.

I don’t mean to be rude or snarky but have you looked at a map??

Go to
Www.Rome2rio.com
Or Google maps

And just check the distances and travel options to these locations from Rome and you’ll see that what you are proposing is basically impossible

Unless you intend to spend your 4 nights IN Rome then move on to other locations?

Could you clarify for us?

Are you saying three days in Rome, which includes trips to Tuscany, Pisa, and Capri?

No. Please either extend your trip, or, as Rick says, assume you will return. You can't even scratch the surface of Rome in 3 days, much less travel north and south to other sights.

I get it, no offense taken. I have looked at the map and in my mind...I'm thinking a day trip north and a day trip south. These are all locations I would have visited on my Mediterranean Cruise and I'm trying to do it all. I've seen comments about a 1 1/2 hour express train to Naples, but it searching the different rails...I'm not seeing one...I don't mind the traveling, it's part of the adventure.

Have you ladies actually been to Rome? Do you know which express trains to take?

Use Delta Vacations/United Vacation/Expedia and look at day trip tours out of Rome...Day 1 to Tuscany and Pisa, Day 2 in Rome, Day 3 to Naples/Capri. Crazy but doable. In 5 years you won't remember any of it...

www.trenitalia.com
www.italotreno.it

Fast train to Naples
From Naples take ferry to Capri- you'll need to get to port- take a cab
https://www.positano.com/en/t/napoli/capri

I guess you could get a few hours on Capri but be careful that you don't miss last ferry back to Naples
What time of year is this ?

Looks like there are fast trains from Rome to Pisa as well

"Tuscany" covers a lot of ground- Pisa is IN Tuscany

You need to use the correct station names
Roma Termini
Napoli Centrale
Pisa Centrale

If you attempt this ( and I doubt anyone here would recommend that you do), then make sure your phone and/or camera are fully charged before starting out each day. You'll need the photos when you get home to help you remember the fleeting, superficial, glimpses which is all you'll get from such day trips.

I fail to see the point of such a worldwind trip. Even "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" tours aren't this bad. You would have to have the energy of a 2-yr old to do 2 long trips and a day in Rome within your 3 days. Rome is very spread out and involves a lot of walking. Moving to a hotel in Naples or Florence would require additional time(the rule of thumb is 1/2 day is necessary to accomplish each change in hotel) to check in and out.

Of course, to be fair, you should know that most of us on this forum would never consider taking a cruise because the time in each port is so limited.

Hi Jana, the first draft usually does contain too much so I recommend that you plan on a return trip and then go to Florence, the Amalfi coast, etc. Instead, enjoy Rome, the cuisine and just slow down.
I suggest sleeping in the Trastevere neighborhood and spending two full days seeing Rome and taking Rick Steves self-guided walks and on day three visit Vatican City.

If you are even able to schedule all this, one thing goes bad and I think the whole itinerary topples and then you're miserable. One thing that comes to mind is a train strike, actually any number of things. Your best bet as someone mentioned above, would be to hire guides for excursions out of Rome. They would have experience with sites and logistics to maximize time. Also, find a guide for Rome itself. I'm not recommending this, but its one thing you could try.

My main suggestion would be to start watching Rick Steves videos and any other videos of Italy you can find online or at your library and start prioritizing. I don't travel at a leisurely pace, but we spent about 3 1/2 weeks in Italy and didn't see most of your list--Tuscany (other than Siena and Florence), Pisa, Capri, we left for another time, if ever.

I'm personally happy to just get a first impression of a place, in the knowledge that I should be able to come back if I like it (but then, I live in Europe and have generous vacation time, so there are fewer constraints).
This being said, you definitely need 2 full days for a first impression of Rome: roughly 1 day for the Roman city, 1 day for the Renaissance & Baroque city. It would be a mostly outdoors tour (leaving very little time for visiting the inside of museums and monuments), but it can work for some people.
If you really wanted to, you could therefore do 1 day trip: Capri is too long to get to, same for Pisa, but Florence could work if you're happy to skip the museums!

Re what balso said: not great but you could spend two nights in Florence(take express late PM train to Florence which should take less than 2 hours), do Pisa from Florence your first full day from there and fly home from Florence. You would lose about 1/2 changing hotels, but if you really want to do Pisa, I can see this working.
Arrive Rome 2 nights there go to Florence 2 nights there. Do not go anywhere outside Florence the day before your flight(s) to Madrid.

You ladies and gentlemen have been super helpful!! I will take all suggestions into consideration and do some research on the resources provided....might be back with more questions :) I especially appreciate the suggestions on where and how to spend the days to make it work. I agree....there is always a next time, but there's so much world to see, so I'm not sure if I'll go back to the same place, it'll be my second time in Italy, but I visited Milan and Venice only. That's because we also went to Paris, Brussels, and London on that trip. To answer a few questions...we'll be traveling in early November. I usually rest from my vacations when I return home...I've got a huge bucket list, so I try to maximize my time in an area...I can slow down or speed it up, it just depends. Love museums and tours, but they're not a must....I'm usually satisfied knowing that I've seen the landmark or visited the place....toured the Louvre and the Grand Mosque, but not the Eiffel Tower or Burj Khalifa and I was fine. The cruise would have provided enough time...it was 8 days and would've been in ports over 12hours. I love to cruise because you can visit many places at once....so I think that's where my "world wind" travel philosophy stems from......as wild as it sounds....it works, besides, the long flight home always provides good sleep time. Thanks again

You are trying to recreate a cancelled cruise is what I'm understanding. Cruises are already going again. It sounds like cruising is the way you like to travel. Why not put a hold on these destinations and reschedule the cruise? To be cautious, maybe wait until mid 2022? Use this time that you have blocked off to spend some concentrated time in just one or two areas? Maybe pick something in Italy that cruises do not tend to get to.

Since we've done these areas many times (can't get enough ... Italy keeps pulling us back) ... we've flown into Rome .. grabbed a bus at the airport and went straight to Sorrento non stop (apartment there) was like 3hr. ... bus station at the train station where one can grab another bus the next day down to Positano
THEN Amalfi next as coming back getting on the bus in Positano might be standing room only .. oh ... when heading south get a seat on the right side for the water views and on the left returning .. grab a ferry to Capri if you desire or hydrofoil to naples or take the old regional train to Naples ( stops in Pompei or Hurculaneum on the way back ) .. orrr take the bus back to the Rome airport ... also if you decide to take the train back to Naples you'll need to switch to another in Naples to Rome ... if using buses in italy check the "Flixbus" site .. took one once from Venice into Croatia... very reasonable with wifi too! ... leaving soon ourselves (30 days this time ... normally 3 weeks and we favor apartments with kitchens -- very reasonable if your search savvy ) but not Sicily this year as they have the lowest vaccinations.. mainland had priority?.... enjoy what ever you do ... you'll be back!