7 nights in Italy (out of Rome)

Get a travel guide book on Italy like Ricks Steve's Italy 2017.
https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/italy-guidebook

Or check at your local library to see if you can check it out.

It has suggested itineraries, lodging recommendations and sites to see. That way you can pinpoint your family's interests to make the most out of your money spent and time traveling.

Lonely Planet also has itineraries for various lengths of time.

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Olivetreehill.com is a great B&B out in the suburbs at Zagarolo. There is about as many travel sights outside Rome as there is within the city that are commonly overlooked by travelers to Rome.
We took a couple of day trips via commuter train into Rome.

What do you like to do? Are you outdoorsy? Into hiking and biking? Museums? HIstory/ruins?

Are you planning to use a car to explore or are trains more your style? When are you planning to traveal and will you have time in Rome as well?

Yes outdoorsy! Love good food and quirky places, love meeting the locals and doing what the locals do. Will most likely train our way around. We are country people so prefer to spend little time in big cities and more time in the country. Venice is on our wish list so would like to spend a couple of nights there.

Cheers

Whenever I travel, I tend to get lost which takes me to a lot of out of the way places. Fortunately, I only get lost during daylight hours. ;-)

Having said that, are you flying in/out of Rome? Or flying into Venice and out of Rome? Just curious, because it can impact suggestions of places to go and things to do.

Flying into Rome and then we are training it to Switzerland so we are flexible after we leave Venice.

What month? In summer, it's pretty hot in most of the country in the summer. General advice is to limit the number of hotel changes, it takes longer than you think, especially when there are more than one in your group :-)

July 2018 for 7 nights.

Zagarolo is lovely but I wouldn't call it a suburb, it's about an hour outside of Roma, further than Tivoli. It was a stop on a bus route that I was taking, but I liked the look of it so much that I stopped for the better part of a day and rescheduled my original daytrip.

With only seven nights you should seriously consider not more than two places. As Chani mentioned, you will lose a lot of time just getting from Point A to Point B. Going a step farther, why not just stay in Rome? There is more than enough to keep you very busy, and you can take a day trip or two from there if you tire of the city and want a smaller, less hectic place..

Easy daytrips from Roma: Ostia Antica (actually part of Roma, also has a beach), Frascati, Tivoli, Castel Gandolfo, Orvieto.

With 7 nights and on your way to Switzerland, perhaps 3 night Venice since it is on your list, then 4 nights up in the mountains. Go to the Val Gardena in the Dolomites. Great hiking and biking and cooler air. Look online, search this forum for more info as it has been written about a lot this summer, then come back for details. And yes, it will be hot in Venice. You need to get a place with A/C.