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Fall Itinerary Advice (Florence, Orvieto, and Rome)

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Hi!

My boyfriend and I (mid 20s) are traveling to Italy this fall and have prepared the below itinerary.

We would love some help with the following:

  • Restaurant recommendations for Florence and Rome (mix of fancy and casual, no dietary restrictions)
  • What to do on our last day in Rome (Ostia Antica, Tivoli, Rome museums, wander around/shop)
  • Advice on booking Pantheon and Vatican (the last time I was in Rome these did not need to be booked)
  • Advice on booking trains ahead of time or not (especially the fast train from Rome to Florence; I have heard there is sometimes a train straight from termini to Florence)

Thank you!

Day 1 - Florence
Arrive in Rome; train to Florence
Church of Santa Maria Novella is right near Florence train station
Tour Duomo; booked climb dome tickets for 5:15 p.m.

Day 2 - Florence
Uffuzi gallery - booked tickets for 9 a.m.

Eat lunch and hit: Piazza del Signoria and Chiesa & Museo de Orsanmichele

Academia - booked tickets for 2:30 p.m.

Day 3 - Florence
Taste of Chianti Wine Tour (9 a.m. - 2 p.m.)
Post Wine Tour Shop (ponte vecchio, leather stores)
Explore Santa Croce neighborhood (Mercato di' Sant'ambrogio, Basilica de santa croce, Leather school)

Day 4 - Orvieto
Train to Orvieto (about 2:15 hrs)
Tour Duomo, Torre del Moro, Caves, and St. Patrick’s Well

Dinner at Coro at 8:30 p.m.

Day 5 - Rome
Train to Rome (about 2 hours)
Tour Traverstere Churches (Church of St. Cecilia and Basilica of Santa Maria in Traverstere)
Traverstere Food Tour (5:15 p.m. - 9:15 p.m.)

Day 6 - Rome
Borghese Villa - booked tickets for 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Borghese Gardens
Catacombs of Priscilla
Spanish Steps
Explore Churches nearby (St. John in Lateran, St. Maria Maggiore, San Clemente)

Trevi Fountain

Day 7 - Rome
Appian Way - booked ebike tour from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Day 8 - Rome
Colosseum (includes Forum ticket)
Pantheon
Churches nearby: Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (former temple underneath), Church of San Luigi dei Francesi

Day 9 - Rome
Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel: booked group tour tickets at 8:30 a.m.
Lunch in Vatican City
St Peter’s: need to book tickets or wait in line

Day 10 - Rome
Options:
Ostia Antica
Tivoli (Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este)
Baths of Caracalla
National Museum of Rome
Capitoline Museums

Posted by
9621 posts

What time is flight scheduled to arrive?

There used to be a direct train from FCO to Florence af 1:58-don’t see it now
There are multiple trains every hour from Termini to Florence
Best to wait til you arrive and grab tickets once you are thru passport control
You will take the Leonardo Express to Termini
Get the apps for both Trenitalia and ItaloTreno
They won’t sell out

Not sure I would have booked a Duomo climb on that long jetlagged arrival day

Santa Croce probably closes at 5 so you might want to do that on Day 2 or at least right when you return from Chianti tour

Posted by
597 posts

Regarding day 10: Tivoli is on my wish list so I can't advise you on that choice. Of the others we found Ostia Antica to be very interesting! It is different from most of your other sites as it is primarily outdoors (although we enjoyed warming up in the museum:) ). I found the translated inscriptions on ancient grave markers at the Capitoline Museum to be very moving.

Posted by
16123 posts

Ostia Antica and Tivoli (Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este) are mostly outdoors. You can easily visit Ostia by train, I used Rick's audio tour and that was sufficient. Tivoli is trickier - easy enough to get to Tivoli and Villa d'Este, not so easy or fast to get to Hadrian's Villa. I took a small group all day tour several years ago. Having a minibus was simple and efficient. Having a guide made the vast ruins of Hadrian's Villa understandable and gave me a better appreciation of Villa d'Este.

Baths of Caracalla. Dunno, haven't been

National Roman Museum has 4 sites. My favorite is Palazzo Massimo (near Termini) with wonderful mosaics and frescoes.

Capitoline Museums. Lots to see. There are good views from above of the Forum. I don't remember exactly where, sorry.

Posted by
670 posts

In Rome, on Day 6, you could try to include Santa Maria del Popolo (two Caravaggios plus a chapel designed by Raphael), Santa Maria della Vittoria (Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa), and Santa Prassede (great mosaics, just a couple of blocks from Santa Maria Maggiore). On Day 8, Sant’Ignazio, Sant’Andrea della Valle, and Chiesa del Gesù are also close to the Pantheon and worth visiting.

For the last day in Rome, maybe a combination of Palazzo Barberini, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, and wandering around, visiting a few churches (you seem to like them). There are so many great churches in Rome.

FYI, Orsanmichele tickets were impossible to get a couple of years ago, try to get them ahead of time.

Posted by
5420 posts

Your day 8 is really packed. Also, are you sure Sopra Minerva has a temple underneath? Sopra Minerva is beautiful, the only Gothic church in Rome, has Fra Angelico's tomb. Your description more likely refers to San Clemente which is also in the Colosseum area. It has several underground levels and should be on your list of sights.

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