8 day tour in February

First of all is it 8 full days on the ground in Italy, or 8 days from day of departure from the US to day of arrival back in the US? That's an important distinction because in the latter case you only have 5 full days on the ground. Full days start the DAY AFTER you land and end the DAY BFORE you take off from Italy.
Rome needs at a minimum 2 full days just to scratch the surface, a minimum of 3 are recommended. Florence requires 2 full days. If you want to add day trips to some Tuscan small town, you need to add at least one day or two, depending on how many you want to visit. Venice needs at least one full day. Add the islands of Murano (glass) and Burano, and you need one more. That's more than you have available already. Rental car is not needed since Florence, Rome and Venice are all well connected by high speed rail. Florence is 90 min. North of Rome. Venice is just over 2 hours north of Florence (by train. Longer by car). ACar is actually a nuisance in a city. However a car would be useful to rent for the day(s) you want to visit the Tuscan countryside and small towns. To save time you should look for an open jaw flight arriving in Rome and returning to the US from Venice (or vice versa). That way you'd save the time and money to train back to Rome (4 hours at 80 euro each one way)

Personally, I think two cities in only 8 days is too much let alone a third major city with day trips thrown in. I would pick 2 cities and not do any day trips. You'll have plenty to see and do in both Rome and Florence. You'll find that you don't have nearly enough time in either to visit most of the interesting sites. What you have listed is more of a "hit and run" type trip where you're moving from city to city and just checking boxes off a list. This is fine if that's the way you like to vacation but if you really want to enjoy any of Italy I would suggest slowing down and not trying to fit it all in with such a limited amount of time. Donna

Linda, when I read your post I thought you meant stopping by some small towns on the way from Florence to Rome, since you might have a car. Still, it's a lot to do, and traveling in winter takes a little more time (Roberto would know best about this) since some sites and museums have shorter hours. I would pick two cities, your original Rome and Florence, split the time equally, and perhaps you can fit in a day trip to Sieana and/or Assisi while there. You can stop in Orvieto on the way to Rome. In February weather might be a factor, although I've been to Italy in February and sometimes it's sunny and sometimes it's wet and cold. Ostia Antica is the ancient port of Rome, it's a mostly outdoor archeological zone, very interesting but the weather has to cooperate. If you do decide to add Venice, you should probably start there and spend 2 nights, take the train to Florence for 2 or 3 nights, then fly out of Rome after 3 nights there (assuming you have at least 7 nights on the ground rather than 5). If less than 7 nights, skip Venice.

I think it likely that you may be the hit and run, check the box and move on type of traveler. It seems so from the way you phrase your questions. As you travel remember that your whole group will move at the speed of the slowest member. If you decide to drive you will need a large car with 4 people and their luggage - luggage space on European cars can be very small. Check back if you are not aware of the usual "Caveats" about driving in Italy to save yourselves from nasty surprises. With such a very short trip, bearing in mind letlag effects and the fact that moving from hotel to hotel takes a minimum of half a day plus travel time, condensing a little may be beneficial, even if you just want to box tick.

Hi Again, We wanted to say thank you for all of your advice, we learned a lot from your advice and have scaled back our travels to include flying into Rome, renting a car to travel to Sienna via Montalcino, staying in Sienna for two nights and then dropping the car at the airport in Florence where we will stay for 3 days. The evening we arrive in Rome, we would like to plan a dinner that is low key for tired travellers. Our hotel is in the Jewish Ghetto. We read about Sora Magharita as having good food and being a great affordable Rome dining experience. What do you think? Do you have other recommendations? Thanks!

I just wanted to clarify - we are dropping our car when we arrive in Florence so we will not have to deal with a car in Florence... thank you for that advice!