day between naples and venice

Have you looked at Orvieto? Beautiful Umbrian hill town midway between Naples and
Venice. Plenty to keep you busy for a day. Good break after Napoli.

What else are you seeing on this trip?

When you say you are looking for something a bit different - different from what? From Naples and Venice, from the US, or something else?

Will you be driving, taking the train, or open to either?

Just to add clarity, we are visiting rome, venice, florance, naples, cinque terre - what we are doing is still in the works.

Our traveling is by train - not interested in renting a car.
As for the term different - something that is unique to an town or area, italian local culture, event type of thing.

Hopes this helps

I hope you are not visiting those cities in that order! Too much zipping about back and forth.

I agree Orvieto is nice. Siena or Assisi might also fit the criteria. Or just add a day to one of the places you are already visiting. Sometimes its nice to have a little break in the middle of a busy trip to just relax.

our actual route is florance, sienna, rome, naples, vinence, cinque terre, florance (day trips to verona and pisa)

Bologna would be my choice.

How many nites do you have?

EDIT
When are you going? Are you flying R/T to Florence? The Path could be much
more efficient.

The train trip from Naples to Venice will take most of a day, once you count getting in and out of your lodging at both ends and getting to and from the stations. Are you looking for just a few hours stop along the way, or a place to spend at least a night and the bulk of one day or more?
Two great places very close to your path would be Orvieto (there is another current thread in this forum, about the joys of Orvieto, including for teens) or Verona, a very walkable town, which I consider the best blend of an ancient city and a modern lifestyle in all of Italy. In Verona some in your family could experience perhaps their once-in-lifetime opportunity to eat horse and/or donkey meat, a local delicacy on some of the restaurant menus. Also in Verona is the very fictitious but popular with tourists Juliet's home and balcony from Romeo and Juliet. (Are your teens boys or girls? Sorry to stereotype, but maybe the ladies can visit Juliet while the fellows eat horse!) Two other places, somewhat off your path, would be the beautiful, old, stone hill town of Assisi, a major pilgrimage site, known for its home town champion, St. Francis of Assisi, or Ravenna, a small city with various religious sites with absolutely magnificent ancient mosaics. Ravenna is a very flat town where I saw more locals of all ages getting around on bicycles than anywhere I've been outside of China. I imagine it must be easy to rent bikes to get around for a few hours. If you just extend your trip by about ten days, you could do all of the above!

thank you all for your advise so far, I am looking into each of them. Just to clarify, I have an extra day - we are leaving naples july 9 and need to be in venice on the 11th. I want to break the trip up a little, plus find a nice place to stay (a castle or monastary would be a something interesting)

I also say Bologna. I found the city fascinating, with beautiful food and a lovely city centre. It also has the benefit of being a major stop for the frecciarosa and argento trains so it will fit in easily with your plans.

Final bonus, in my opinion, is that it has a more everyday feel to it. The city is not overwhelmed with tourists.

Ps: If your family are feelinvg energetic they can walk the 4km long portico to San Luca.

I agree with Bologna, if you want something "different". You will have already spent quite a bit of time in Tuscan towns, and Bologna is in the region of Emilia-Romagna. It is less crowded, the architecture will be different, and the food.........They are famous for their meats, cheeses, and especially pasta, specifically tagliatelle. If you are a foodie, this is the place to go!

One other possibility for something very "different" would be Ravenna. You could do it on your way to Venice. It has some of the finest Byzantine-style mosaics in Italy. The town itself is mostly modern, but there are 8 or 9 churches/baptistries/mausoleum, mostly dating from the 5th and 6th centuries (it was the seat of power of the Roman Empire for a period). It's only slightly inland from the Adriatic (and on the sea in ancient times), south of Venice, about a 3 hour train ride (or about 2 hours by car).