8 days in Italy!

Don't know what you meant by Osita?

You can count out the 20th since you will be packing to leave for home. That gives you 7 nights or 6 1/2 days. If you do 3 days in Rome and Florence with a couple of day trips you might have more time to sight see. Every time you move location you will loose 1/2 day or more if you are like me which I always found a way to get lost. Just my non professional opinion. Have fun!

Hi there and welcome to the forums!
Ouch, this is really is a lot in a week, and for locations which are REALLY spread out.

First off, you are flying into Rome Leonardo da Vinci, correct? That's in Fiumicino and not Ostia, although Ostia is close. You are going to want to stay in Rome on the evening before your flight home as you do not want to be in Praiano/the Amalfi: it's too far away. Even if flying out of Naples - which is closer to the Amalfi Coast - I wouldn't want to be that far away on same day.

I am assuming you've already purchased your flights?

Assuming that's so, I would rearrange your trip to place Rome at the end of it to be closest to the airport. Take a train directly to Florence on arrival day. There is one or two which depart daily from the airport but if the timing doesn't work, take the express train to central Rome and a fast train from there to Florence.

Praiano: there is no ferry or train service to that one, and the ferries will not be running to all points along the coast in March; it's still winter season there. To get to Praiano will involve a combination of train(s) and SITA bus, or trains/ferry/SITA bus, and it's going to eat up considerable TIME to get there from Florence.

So let's say that there are multiple ways to skin that cat but, personally, I would save Praiano/Amalfi for another trip. While I do understand that you're OK with a "sampling", time = money and especially so when you have limited time to work with! You're trading time you could spend sightseeing for quite a lot dealing with transport, and to locations which don't really line up well to make best use of your few days.

I also think you're cutting Florence and Rome VERY short. You'd barely get your bearings before moving on! If getting a look at some additional places is important to you, you could do a day trip to Siena and/or Lucca if you scratched Praiano/Amalfi and added 2 days to Florence. Add the third day to Rome, which would give you two full days there instead of just one. As March weather could be dicey, that extra day would allow flexibility for a bike tour if one of the two decides to pour rain.

Mar 13: Fly into Rome Fiumicino and train to Florence
Mar 14: Florence
March 15: Day trip
March 16: day trip
March 17 - 19: Rome
March 10: Fly home from Fiumicino

Just a thought?

Just so we're sure about your logistics:

Is Mar 13 the day you land in Rome or the day you fly out of your home airport, meaning that you don't arrive in Rome until Mar 14? (This is an easy to mistake to make; I booked my Rome hotel stay to start on the night I was going to spend on the plane, and realized my error must in time).

I understand wanting to see Rome, Florence and the Amalfi Coast, but I do agree that you are going to spend an awful lot of time traveling back and forth if you try to squeeze in all three. As you've noted, getting to the Amalfi Coast is a multi-step process. The fastest way, though I believe it will prove quite costly, is the fast train to Naples and then a private car to Praiano. A more typical approach involves two trains and a bus, I believe. Boats seldom figure into the fastest way anywhere, and I don't know how many boats will be running in March.

I don't know which train tickets you've already purchased. If they are non-refundable, that's the one trip out of Rome I would take.

Thanks everyone- we heard Ostia is only minutes from the Fiumicino airport so we arrive there late before our morning departure-

We’d have a full day & half in Rome as we arrive mid morning the 13th - and leave early 15th. Speed train to Naples and stay in that area thru morning of 18th. Then speed train to Florence for half day and full day the 19 th till night train back to Rome/ Ostia area. You all are right, spreading things too thin. I’ll look into choosing two cities instead

But consider that you do not have 8 days "in" Italy. The 20th does not count, and you only have 1/2 day on the 13th so it's 6.5 days for 3 locations, or 4 if you count the pre-flight night in Ostia. Subtract chunks of three of those days for transfers to Florence, to Naples and to Ostia. While it may look good on paper, I don't know as it'll feel so good when you actually have to do it?

Impossible? No. Enjoyable? Up to you; I know I'd be exhausted by the time I hit Naples (which, BTW, is a far different animal than Praiano/Amalfi but that's a good thing, timewise). We've learned that the packing up, getting to stations, sitting on trains, finding the hotel, etc. always takes longer than we think it will! :O)

Speaking of checking in, you won't be doing that with morning arrivals. Most accommodations will keep your luggage until the check-in hour, though.

Impossible? No. Enjoyable? Up to you; I know I'd be exhausted by the
time I hit Naples.

Kath--

Keep in mind that not everyone gets exhausted as easily as you (or I do)! And from the OP's talk of a bike trip, I am assuming they are quite a bit younger than we are, although we're not ready for the walkers just yet!

You and I are totally into traveling lentemente...slowly, savoring 'being' on the trip, whether it's looking out the train window or people watching over a caffe, (incidentally, two of my favorite European pastimes!)

Different strokes, I guess. Whatever works on a given trip. I've done it both ways--last March it was 6 nights in Rome, 5 in Sorrento. Next trip, a train journey hopefully in 2018, could be 5 destinations in 11 nights, from Amsterdam down to Venice. Either way is fun, isn't it?

Enjoy your planning, byubrian!

Keep in mind that not everyone gets exhausted as easily as you (or I
do)!

LOL, Jay! You're probably spot on that our ambitious OP is a bit younger but doggone it, I'm a hiker who can - and have - put 16 daily miles of terrain on these less-than-spring chicken feet. I ain't over the hill YET, my fine, mutual fan of Ciro and Sons.

And I used to ride 150's for charity but been a few years. Hard on the backside, that.