3 WEEKS IN ITALY SEPT 2015

First, congratulations on your anniversary and your decision to visit Italy. Second, have you checked your flight options? Can you in fact get flights into Venice and out of Naples? I count 19 days on the ground, not including Naples. Some of your itinerary is too rushed. Train travel is easy and convenient for most of Italy.

Venice is a good place to start. You can get over the long long-haul flight and the jetlag while soaking up the atmosphere and just wandering by foot or on the vaporetto (water bus). You should allow 2 full days (3 nights). Going to Parma is about 3 hours by train, with one train change. Why are you going there? Then it's a 2 hour train ride (with one train change) to Florence. So you'll have a one-nighter, use up most of 2 days to have one day there. Changing locations uses a lot more time than just the actual train travel. . . packing, checking out, getting to the station . . . and on arrival you first need to go to your hotel to drop your luggage.

5 full days for Florence/Tuscany is quite reasonable, as are 3 full days in Rome. Venice (3), Parma (1), Tuscany (6), Rome (4) nights is already 2 weeks. So I think you either need to lengthen your trip or eliminate some of the destinations.

You should allow at least a half day to get to Bari (it's a 4-hour train ride from Rome). The Amalfi coast is not well served by train. Looking at the train schedules (on trenitalia.com) it looks like there are direct trains from Bari to Caserta. I'm sure someone will chime in with bus info or other routes.

SO PARMA IS A WAIST OF TIME? WE WANTED TO GO THERE CAUSE OF THE FOOD AND PROCHUSSTO??
GOT IT, YOUR RIGHT IT IS ONLY 19 DAYS FIGURED TRAVEL DAYS IN AND OUT AS TWO.
THANKS
WILLIE

You might look at the RS tours for 10 or 14 days, since you want to go to some places not on the tour. Also, it's important to know that you will not be able to move as quickly on your own as a tour group can, when everything is pre-arranged. You might be able to take a daytrip to Bologna from Florence (for the fabulous food), the things you probably want, like prosciutto and cheese, can be found throughout the region of Emilia-Romagna, and in fact throughout Italy.

My choice would be:
Venice 3 nights
Stop for lunch in Bologna on the way to Florence OR go to Florence 3 nights with a daytrip to Bologna if you want
Tuscany 2 nights or combine Tuscany and Florence for 5 nights
Rome 4 nights
Bari 4 nights (if this is where your relatives live it may take you longer than you think to get to them, unless they live in the city of Bari)
Sorrento instead of Amalfi Coast (easier to get to more sights if you are interested in Pompeii or Ercolano) 4 nights, you can fit Caserta into this OR 2 nights Caserta and 2 nights Amalfi Coast/Sorrento

This 20 nights rather than your 19 days. I don't know if this helps or not.

Dining well is a bigger deal to me than it is to Rick, but I don't recommend that you plan any particular destination based on that aspect of the trip. I reiterate that great food can be found throughout Italy. Products like cheese and prosciutto, which need not be cooked by a chef, are easy to find in most markets. Every city has a range of restaurant quality, as well as its regional specialties. In Venice, there are many touristy places with menus in six languages, but it's also possible to eat well. Try to have a discerning eye as you read the menus posted outside.

Rick does have a three-week plan, excerpted from his Italy 2015 guidebook. Adjust it to your needs, such as skipping Milan/Como and adding Caserta.