Beginner guide to Italy, helpppp

Welcome fellow Georgian! Make a list of what you want to see. Go to YouTube and watch videos by Rick Steves and others.

Remember the general rule is three nights = two days at any location. That's the absolute minimum for us.

Unless the June you mentioned is 2025 you are already way behind. All the places you mention book up fast in high season. You can take a train to the places you mention. I'm assuming you are flying into Rome. If so, take the fast train to Venice and work south.

Be sure to schedule in at least one "down day", where there's nothing on your agenda. A big part of the fun is to just wander around with no firm plans. Try not to over plan. Be brutal with your "must see" list. You can't see all the "must see" sites in 12 months, much less 12 days.

Hi katlin, first step in planning a trip is to get a good guidebook and a map. Take a look at Rick’s itinerary for the Best of Venice, Florence, and Rome tour for some general ideas. For travel in June 2024, I’d lock down some dates and hotels now.

If you have not booked your flights, I would try to fly into one location and out of the other. Flying into Venice and out of Rome makes the most sense to me. If you can do that, you could try to do Venice-Florence- Amalfi-Rome.

However I personally would take a look at some other smaller places. Those are all the most popular and will be busy and expensive if you are looking for this year. If you can drop Amalfi, you could add a Tuscan town in to the mix. You could also take a look at doing Venice-Florence- Orvieto- Rome. Orvieto is a lovely small town in Umbria, full of Etruscan history for your husband, a peaceful refuge between Florence and Rome AND on the train line between the two.

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Italy&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Get a guide book, join related FB Groups, watch u-tube videos, watch RS videos, and read Trip Reports here.
You have a lot to do if this is for 2024.

Have a great trip!

And see our host's advice about what's most worth seeing in each city. If 12 days means 12 full days in Italy, not counting arrival and departure days, you'd still have to spend all or part of three days traveling between your four locations, leaving you with two or three full days in each one. That's very rushed, and assumes that you'll be flying "open jaw" (multi-city) into one city and home from another -- for example, into Rome and back from Venice, or vice versa.

Trains are the most efficient way to travel (though I haven't been south of Rome so can't be sure about the Amalfi area). As for flights, use a search engine like kayak.com or googleflights.com to look for flights between Atlanta and Venice or Rome. Nonstops are best, of course, if they exist. Book directly with the airline rather than through the search engine.

Upon reflection, if this is your first trip to Italy, save Amalfi for the next trip. The area is controlled chaos, as far as ALL the transportation options. It's not like moving around in other areas of Italy. Things just don't work too well south of Naples, and it will be very hot and very crowded.
How many actual nights?
I think you would enjoy Italy if your first trip was in the smaller towns, such as Lake Como, Venice, Florence. However, if this is for 2024, finding reasonably-priced accommodation will be a challenge. Also, you must have air conditioning.

However, if you must see Amalfi , just visit one other town in Italy, such as Rome and the AC. The Sorrento/AC area needs 4-5 nights because the traveling is so time-consuming. There is no quick nor efficient way to move about. The infrastructure has been sadly neglected over the years. It's a victim of its Instagram success. Those glossy pix don't reveal the actual realities on the ground.
I'm excited for your first trip. I just want it to be an enjoyable, not frustrating adventure.
Safe travels!

At the risk of drawing a "piling on" penalty:

we have around 12 days to work with in June.

What does that mean?

If you mean June this year, as already noted, you are in deep doo-doo.
Hopefully you mean next year

I would love to visit Rome, Venice, Florence and Amalfi. Is all that doable in the time that we have?

Not really. But if you persist with those locations and time frame, the plan should be Fly into Venice, then Florence, the Amalfi and Rome last to make flying home the least disruptive.

What's the best way to navigate and the most efficient route.

The Star Trek transporter system. Sorry, couldn't help myself, but trying to point out that you have an extraordinarily ambitious wish list for 'around 12 days'

You may want to look at the "Itinerary' here-- https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/venice-florence-rome
to see a framework you may be able to adapt from or inspire you on the 'must see' items. The tour has a dedicated bus for door to door service and a guide so there is not time lost trying to find anything, so you would not be as efficient at seeing everything as a tour can do.

If you haven't already, it would be a good idea for both of you to thoroughly explore the RS website section called Travel Tips: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips

Likewise, the Man in Seat 61's Beginner's Guide to Train Travel in Italy: https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-italy.htm
The trains in Italy are great and very reasonably priced. I particularly like going on the fast ones (300 kmh) called Freccia...

If this trip is for this year, prepare for some serious logistical planning challenges for the basics of lodging and transportation. You may be shocked to see the prices and the lack of availability. If you're planning for June 2025, you don't have to be so concerned about that.

As others have mentioned, flying multi-city will save you time. Both Milan and Rome are good options to fly into or back from. I find Google flights to be the best place to search for flights. Make nonstop a priority. If there is a nonstop to Venice, it's a good place to fly into, but not to fly back from because the dang flights leave so early and you have to be at the airport 3 hours ahead (just like Milan and Rome). Google Flights has links to the airlines to make your reservations. They take you straight to the airlines, but you can also go directly to the airlines separately.

As for lodging, Booking.com is a good resource to use to find a place to stay. With such a short time in country, hotels or B&Bs will probably make the most sense. Find some good options and check their websites to make your reservations. That's typically recommended because the hotels sometimes have rooms that aren't listed on Booking.com, sometimes you might get a better price and if something goes wrong, it's easier to fix the problem when you've booked directly.

Finally, there are good forums here that discuss practical travel topics: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-forum

You'll find them in the drop down box labeled "Select Your Category" under Tips & Trip Reports.

If your trip is June 2025, be aware that it’s a Jubilee Year for Rome and Vatican City. Here’s some info: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254346/rome-prepares-for-35-million-pilgrims-during-2025-jubilee-year

I would expect Rome to be quite crowded during this time.

Hi Kaitlin,

My daughter & I saw the locations and activities you’re wanting to see on this 14-day trip in September 2022. Reserve lodging ASAP on Booking.com if you’re thinking June 2024!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/mother-adult-daughter-italy-trip-aug-sept-2022

Our first time to Italy was 12 days and we did 5 nights Rome, 4 nights Florence (day trip to Pisa in there), 2 nights Venice. We weren't rushing so we didn't see everything we wanted to but it was a lot. That last day in Venice our feet were so tired. I'd do it again. Flew into Rome, out of Venice.

Amalfi takes you out of this efficient line, unless you start in Venice and work south. But it would cost valuable time in my opinion and you'd certainly have to sacrifice time from the other cities to do it. And then you have to budget time to get back to Rome or wherever you are flying out of.

If you haven't traveled to Europe before, a tour might be a good option for taking the stress out of planning.

Hi Kaitlin,
With 12 days I recommend visiting just Venice, Florence and Rome and use the train to travel between each location. You still have plenty of time to plan a June 2024 trip if you begin now and in earnest. Book your flights and accommodations first, followed by reservations at any “must see” sights for you that work best with a timed entry (Uffizi gallery, Colosseum, etc) and any special activities (pasta making, wine tour) Book trains last. Don’t be dissuaded by folks on this forum who say you are late or behind in your planning; you’ll be fine. Many people plan trips just a month or two in advance, they just don’t tend to be active on this particular forum.

Have a great vacation!

I agree with the others about limiting your itinerary to two locations instead of three. My husband and I are going next month for 11 nights: Florence (3), Rome (3), and Amalfi Coast (5). After all the planning from booking museum tickets, day tours, and the various transfers (taxi, train, ferry), I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and wishing I had limited our travel plans to two locations (instead of three). We're not over scheduling our days by any means, but moving from place to place is time/energy consuming especially adding in Amalfi Coast to the itinerary.