First Italy trip-help please

Excellent start. Not sure if three nights in Florence would provide enough time for those day trips, so you'll have to prioritize. If you are more interested in Siena, stay there--no rule says you must see Florence on this trip.
I would definitely do one bag each for a trip of this length (do laundry at the half-way point). Whether you check it on the flight is up to you entirely, but you need to be able to get on and off the train independently and move around with whatever you bring.

I like your apportionment of time: 4N Venice, 3N Tuscany, 5N Rome. You might have more energy than you think on day 1 in Venice. If you can avoid sleeping until at least 9:00 pm on arrival night, you'll be awake by 6 am and raring to go. If you cannot make it without a nap on arrival day, restrict yourselves to a 90-minute nap in late afternoon. Set an alarm so you don't oversleep because that makes it harder to get over jetlag.

Siena is a lovely place to stay and was our first choice over Florence on our first trip. Florence is not mandatory.

It is difficult to get into the countryside without a car. You might consider Tours By Roberto for a fun day. The tour we took included one winery, history, beautiful views, an Etruscan site, a tiny hilltop village, and the best lunch ever. You can take a bus trip to Volterra or Montepulciano for a day, but it would be an either/or thing (they are in quite opposite directions). What we did when we stayed in Siena was spend one day with Roberto and then rented a car for the second day to go to Monteriggioni and Volterra.

The day trip to Pompeii is long so be prepared! Read up on the DIY version in Rick Steves' guidebook.

RS has some wonderful Venice-Florence-Tuscany-Rome tours and I suggest you look at the itinerary of a few.

I went on one (and am going on a second "BEST OF" shortly) and I can tell you that Venice is wonderful but as it is quite compact, it can be easily managed in 1-2 days. Don't miss it but you can walk the entire island in a matter of a few hours.

Tuscany is beautiful, relaxing and although there is wine, I am afraid you will find wine and wine tastings throughout Italy (and, indeed, Europe). However, the food is fantastic as are the olive and pomegranates (both grown there) and the lavender. The "BEST OF 14 DAY" tour had us use Tuscany as a "base of operations" and we went into Florence in the day time.

Do not miss Florence - the Uffizi gallery; the Accademia; the Vecchio Bridge - these are all historic and will be fascinating for all, regardless of age.

And while in Rome, make sure you see the Spanish Steps/ Colosseum/ Borghese Gallery and a day trip (there are several tour groups - check with EXPEDIA.COM) to Pompeii is a good idea. I know I went on one where we drove to Naples (my maternal family is from there) up the Amalfi coast to Pompeii and spent the night in Sorrento (lovely). The next day, we saw Capri and Anacapri - both were unforgettable experiences.

Enjoy!

Awesome! We took our kids (11 and almost 14) to Italy last year and it was an amazing trip! We used trains the whole time. I did not want to drive in Italy. We did not see Venice, we did Cinque Terre instead, but I hope to visit Venice at some point. We all loved Rome so I like your plan to spend the most time there, we loved the Coliseum and the Pantheon, Piazza Navone and the Trevi Fountain; try to fit in the Borghese gallery (amazing!) Florence was very nice but not my favorite, so I think Siena would be a great place to stay, we went there on a day trip to Tuscany and found it charming. You could easily take a train to Florence for the day to see David at the Accademia (my must-see), shop on the Ponte Vecchio, and maybe climb the Duomo (my kids loved that). Pompeii was great too, one of our favorite things we did. I do strongly suggest that you consider packing light (carry-on size, even if you check it on the flight over) because navigating those trains can be tricky and the cobblestones are not easy to roll big bags on. You will be so glad you packed light after walking from train stations to hotels etc. Packing for summer in Italy is easy, it will be hot-bring a couple pairs of shorts and 4 (or 5) short sleeved tops and one pair of pants (or a long skirt) for the churches, maybe a dress. Two pairs of comfy walking shoes (you will walk A LOT) and one pair of sandals. And a cardigan. Done! :) We did laundry mid-trip. Good luck!

If Volterra and Montepulciano are high on your list, I suggest Siena instead of Florence. Consider this:
Venice - as planned
Venice to Siena - half day travel
Siena - afternoon
Day trip to Volterra
All day Siena
Siena to Montepulciano- 1/2 day travel
Montepulciano- afternoon
Montepulciano- all day
Montepulciano to Rome - 1/2 day travel
Rome for rest of trip

Skip Pisa. It would be hard to get to and other than the tower and the Baptistery, there’s not much else to make it worth the trip.

I added travel time. People forget to factor that. It takes a minimum of 1/2 day to pack, checkout, get to the station and travel to the next stop.

Try not to overplan. Give yourself some wiggle room and some down time.

You’ll love Volterra. It was one of our favorites.

Montepulciano will give you a chance of wine tasting without leaving town. BTW, my wife was 14 and I was 15 when we went to Europe the first time. Back then there was no drinking age and our enlightened chaperone let us taste wine and beer in Germany, Italy and France.

It was hard not recommending Florence. My wife and I shared our first kiss in Florence on that trip and have been an item ever since!

Thanks so much everyone, loved reading all these comments.

Venice is on my top list so will keep on the list for sure, wasn’t sure if i should plan 2 or 3 days. I guess ill have to wait until i figure out a day by day itinerary.

DougMac-awesome story!

Ferrin- please let me know where you stayed as there was 4 of you. Did you do Pompeii on your own or with a tour?

Please keep all your comments coming.

Venice is on my top list so will keep on the list for sure, wasn’t sure if i should plan 2 or 3 days. I guess ill have to wait until i figure out a day by day itinerary.

Yes, good to get a complete idea of what you want to do and see. As it is your first stop, you will be moving slowly so leave time for relaxing in a campo, and just walking in this most unique city. You must get away from San Marco and Rialto to appreciate residential Venice, where few tourists go. It took us 5 or 6 trips to Venice before we submitted to a gondola and it was a great experience to see the city from a different viewpoint.

Since you have such a long list in Tuscany. There are easy day trips from both Florence and Siena.

https://www.getyourguide.com/tuscany-l558/day-trips-tc172/

I might take a night from Rome, especially if you're counting one day to go to Pompeii. I'd save this for a time when you can spend more time in the area. It can be a grueling trip from Rome. The site itself has absolutely no shade.

The only way I'd consider this is to leave Rome the night before, stay in Naples or Pompei and visit the next day. Then return to Rome. You'll eat up a hotel night, but it might be worth it.

I'm pretty sure we will need to check at least 2 bags.

You do not 'need' to take that much, and likely will regret it if you do. If not already looked here, do so
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/packing-light

If you do the Pompeii visit as a day trip from Rome, I suggest you do it the day before you fly out of Rome. After that a long day, you will probably be closer to roadkill than bright and perky. Recover on the plane, do not waste a day in Rome in 'recovery' mode

Like your allocation of days/cities

Gerri those tours look great.

Pompeii is high on the to do list for both my husband and daughter, have seen some tours that pair it with a stop in Naples or Positano. They are also interested in climbing Vesuvius, as seen on a RS video, but not sure that can be done in one day.

Many thanks to everyone!

Rather than doing a tour from Rome, use these guided walks of Pompeii and Naples. They're excellent.

https://www.sharedtours.com

Simply train, Rome Termini - Naples Centrale 1 hr10 min. Walk downstairs to the Circumvesuvian take it to the Pompeii Scavi stop, 40 min. Then follow directions on their site.
Doing this will save you time and money. If you know the exact date, you might save on train fare by purchasing your train tickets ahead of time and scoring a super economy fare.

Note I said tickets. Purchase both arrival and departure tickets at the same time. This site is easier to use than Trenitalia.

https://www.thetrainline.com

I stayed three nights in Florence with day trips to Pisa (worthwhile and easy by train even if not particularly charming) and Siena (loved it - wish I had stayed there instead of Florence! But I'm not really a "museum person."). I'd consider at least a day trip to Florence to be essential, though, if you don't stay there, and try to be there for sunset viewed from the south side of the Arno river - from Piazzale Michelangelo, a famous viewpoint down on Florence).

I'd want three nights in Venice especially if that is your arrival city from overseas.

...will have to connect somewhere in US, then hoping to fly direct to Italy.

If at all possible (and it might not be), try to make your connection in Europe. That way if you miss the connection or encounter other unforeseen delays, at least you'll be on the continent and can take a train if need be. Just something to consider.

Personally we think Venice deserves at least four full days. One day to recoup, recover from jet lag, and wander about to get the lay of the land. Then three full days and one of them can be used for a day trip to Murano / Burano or Verona.

Train travel seems simple enough, but I must admit has me a little nervous. We’ve only ever used a train once(London to Paris many years ago) and have only used a subway a handful of times.

Connecting in Europe definitely sounds like a great idea, but unfortunately I don’t believe we can fly from Kansas City to Europe. This is definitely one of those times I miss having Newark or Detroit as my Home airport.

We sure have lots to consider

Thanks again to everyone.

Once you've ridden on one train you will relax and enjoy the rest of them. You'll enjoy them more if you keep your luggage to 21" rollaboards and daypacks. Do look at the packing light advice and take it to heart. Your trip will be so much easier. We have traveled up to 8 weeks with a 21" case plus day pack.

Less is more. Travel days are not vacation day. Leave something to come back to in the future, you will never see all of Rome or Florence.

I was playing around with routes between Kansas City and Italy. Kansas City to Venice on dummy dates next year all looks to require two plane changes, one in the US and one in Europe. Kansas City to Rome has some routes that only have one plane change in the US.

I don't know how much the number of changes matters to you, but it's a huge decision maker at my house!

I would consider round trip to Rome then if I could get only one plane change (and a decent fare) and train immediately from Rome to Venice to start. This is how I started my first trip to Italy, actually, and my decision process was based on this same factor. I could get a direct flight to Rome or a flight with a change in Europe that took a few hours longer. I preferred to be on a train for a few hours instead of in another airport and a second plane.

Laura, one REALLY important point to note about the Italian trains: if you buy a paper ticket from an agent or a ticket machine for a REGIONAL train (no reserved seats), you MUST validate the ticket in a yellow validation machine at the station BEFORE you board the train! Otherwise, you risk a steep fine if caught without a validated ticket. I mention this because you say you haven't used trains that much.

For the express trains with reserved seats on a specific time and day? No need to validate.

For tickets bought online or on your phone, for a specific time? No need to validate. (The Trenit app on your phone is VERY handy for buying tickets that don't need to be printed - also for checking platforms and delays. No point in buying regional train tickets ahead of time though because they aren't cheaper, and regional trains can't sell out anyway.)

Only the paper tickets bought for regional trains at the station need to be validated. If ever in doubt, validate. You won't ruin an IC train ticket by validating it in doubt.

If you forget to validate a regional train ticket and you realize you've boarded a train that is now moving and you have an unvalidated ticket? IMMEDIATELY seek out a Trenitalia employee on the train (dressed in uniform) - approach them before they approach you! - and explain that you forgot to validate the ticket. They can validate it by hand with a pen and a signature. I have had to do this a few times. But don't wait until an agent is coming through the train inspecting tickets - by then it's too late. No, they generally don't make exceptions and give warnings to naive tourists.

1. Most importantly- PACK LIGHT AND DO LAUNDRY. One bag each. My kids are 8 and 12 and they adhere to this well. They know that if they bring it then they carry it. You can do laundry at a laundromat, have your hotel do it (expensive but convienient), if you are in an apartment it may have a washing machine right in it or down the hall- check air b n b and vrbo, and/or finally bring tide packs and a travel clothesline and sink stopper and do them in the sink. Invest in merino wool and other fast drying clothes.
2. Pompeii is easy to do in a day trip. Leave early. Have pizza in Naples before coming back. Just read ricks books and plan
3. Trains are awesome and easy. Wish we had more here.

1.Most importantly- PACK LIGHT AND DO LAUNDRY

Amen. I meant to mention this in my post. We tried traveling light for 10 day trip to Scotland in 2002 and have never looked back. At the Air Canada desk in Toronto they were incredulous because we only had a RS classic convertible each, plus a purse and a camera bag. Traveling light was a breakthrough.

Last October we went to London and Paris and took the same RS classic bags for a 9 day trip, including work clothes for my wife. We took the Eurostar to Paris and it was great not to have to schlepp multiple bags. In Italy we watched tourists struggling to haul their huge bags up the steep cobblestone streets in San Gimignano.

If you are planning on taking public transportation, traveling light is a must. Read Rick's packing suggestions.

aquamarinesteph: It appears I need to do some more looking at flights. I looked but just put in summer flights for this year, not next year. Generally we fly direct whenever possible, the more connections the more chance of a problem. Maybe I need to look at flight into Florence or Milan.

Andrew H: will definitely consider your suggestion. Thanks for the clear explanation if the validating the train tickets. I read about that and was a little confused.

My husband was very impressed with all the responses and great info we got yesterday.

Thanks everyone!

PACKING LIGHT!

I'm getting better! Think my husband and I took 4 maybe 5 bags to Hawaii on our 2 week Honeymoon in 1991! 5 yrs ago was Alaska for 2 weeks(second week was a cruise) think that was 1 check and 1 carry-on each and we did laundry.

Our next trip is in a few weeks and I'm gonna really try to cut us back, but we will be traveling for a dance competition and will need to use our carry-on bags for dance costumes and shoes.

I talked with a friend who did a 10 day Italy trip last summer and they each took just a carry-on!

I know it can be done, just not sure if we can do it. I will keep reading the packing light suggestion lists

Do must of you use packing cubes?

Thanks everyone!

Since there are several of you, no matter if you check bags or carry on (or both) always divide your stuff among the bags. Checked bags do get misrouted and may not catch up with you for several days. Carry on bags are sometimes gate checked regardless of size. If one of your bags goes on it's own vacation you will still be able to get by without doing an emergency shopping run.

I know it can be done, just not sure if we can do it. I will keep reading the packing light suggestion lists

Do must of you use packing cubes?

I do use packing cubes, but not to facilitate taking more items. I never take more than two pairs of shoes (wear one), 3 bottoms (wear one), 5 or 6 tops, plus a cardigan and rain jacket. Even in winter when items are heavier, we manage with a 21" case. Summer packing is a breeze! I wear very little makeup, take no haircare appliances, and so on.

Do I get sick of my clothes? You bet! I also get tired of seeing my husband in the same four shirts, but it also makes dressing each day a snap as there is not much to decide. Sometimes I am so sick of something I throw it away at the final stop.

Great advice here!
Another benefit to packing light... more room to bring home big chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and the best balsamic vinegar!
We loved Siena and will stay there longer on our next trip to Italy. Unlike several posters, we also really enjoyed Pisa. Yes, it's super crowded around the tower (fun to people watch) but it's nice to walk around the shops under the porticos and we had a great dinner at a restaurant called Il Peperoncino.

I would choose to go to Sorrento and the Isle of Capri over Pompeii every day of the week. I found Pompeii to be extremely hot and very dusty. The Isle of Capri and chair lift ride to the summit was the highlight of my trip.

Definitely no opposed to getting laundry done or doing it if we stayed in a place with a washer.

My daughter and I are shoppers, so purchases are one of the reasons I doubt our ability to
carry-on only. Both balsamic vinegar and the cheese sound awesome!!

Mixing the suitcases is a great idea. I used to always do that, but have gotten away from it. I guess packing cubes would help organizing.

How do you store luggage on the train?

Defintely have so more research to do especiallt bc it looks like we will be flying RT to Rome now.

Thanks again everyone!

You have a great start on your itinerary. I would only add a few pointers. Use trains for long trips, they are fast and easy. If you want to see more of the hill towns, or places not served by trains, rent a car. It is also easy, and very little hassle. We rent one on every trip. My wife is going in 4 days, and we rented on for her with a GPS for 240-250 for a week. Full insurance, no deductible. Montepulciano is great. Make sure to see the coppersmith there, Bottega del Rame. There is a mosaic artist there as well.
I would also suggest a restaurant in Montepulciano called Ristorante Degli Archi. Pier the owner has a great place, with really good food, and loads of atmosphere.

The part of your post that mad me cringe was needing to take checked bags. Not only are thy not needed, they will cause you much pain and aggravation. You will have only minutes to make train changes, and bags will slow you down. Thy also make you an easy mark for pickpockets. I know this first hand. Italy has every item you could possibly in all the same types of stores you are used to. I promise you that not only can you travel in a carry on, but after you do it once, you will find yourself thinking of how you can pare down what you take from there.
Enjoy a sure to be wonderful trip!
Jeff

We go to Italy with lightweight, not full carry-on bags only. Try not to buy too much along the way, but then shop at our final destination in Italy and check one or two bags for the trip home. We either pack a large, lightweight, nylon duffle bag, buy a really cheap hardshell suitcase at a street market, or cobble together some kind of box from a plastic crate or something (don't do that --- it's a pain!). What we check is clothes and stuff we don't care about and liquids, carrying on the precious or breakable new stuff in the original two carry-on bags. It's a compromise option for you!

12 nights is just about right for you to 'pack light, pack right' (per the RS video) and do laundry once, either last day in Florence or first day in Rome.

Wife and I each had a 22lb Samsonite spinner (4-wheel), then she had a small Vera Bradley soft bag, I had my BiPap machine, which only held my meds beyond the machine itself. Both these items fit through the telescopic handle on each Samsonite, making walking with it simple, except on cobblestone where you have to resort to 2 wheels.

We did check the Samsonite bags through on the way over and also the way back, but the Vera Bradley bag had room for some wonderful shrink-wrapped spice blends from the Campo de' Fiori market in Rome. Customs in Chicago looked at it funny, but when I said 'spices', he smelled it and said, 'oh, this is the good stuff!' He knew...

Nancy love your idea of just buying a bag there to get home!

love to have recommendations of places to stay in Venice and Rome. Still have to figure out if we will stay in Siena or Florence.

Thanks again everyone.

Buy a bag there OR...

https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/nylon-tote-bag

We packed it flat on the way over on a previous trip (before we became maniacal about packing light) and it was perfect with its tough expandable nylon as a pliable carryon on the way home. I have heard of people checking one of these through as well.

Enjoy your planning!

Since you need costumes for the dance events, perhaps you could ship some things home after. That might be worth the expense to free you up for the rest of the trip!

sorry for the confusion dance costumes have nothing to do with the Italy trip.

We did ship stuff from Hawaii once though!

For flights, a great trick I learned on this Forum, is that each airport's Wikipedia page lists the nonstops available from that airport.

Milan and Rome have nonstop flights year-round to various US cities, and Venice has "seasonal" flights to some US cities (if you're going in June, these flights will be available). For any other Italian airport, you'll have to change.

Since you have to change at least once from Kansas City (MCI) anyway, I'd try to plan a trip into Venice (VCE) and out of Rome (FCO). If these flights are very expensive, look into Milan (MXP) instead of Venice, as sometimes that's cheaper. Be wary of routes that have lots of connections, long layovers, etc.

Likely connection airports for you are JFK, Newark, Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, or Atlanta (the ones with Venice flights; all of these also have Rome flights, as well as flights to MCI). Do be sure to have a decent layover interval in both directions. On the way home, you need to go through US customs and immigration as well as security at your first US airport, which can take time; I'd want three hours to be sure, unless there are multiple flights to MCI later that day. On your way over, you don't need to go through immigration or customs, but as said above, there's probably only one flight a day to Italy, and you don't want to miss it if your incoming flight from MCI is delayed. Furthermore, depending on the exact airport and airlines involved, you may have to go through security when changing planes to leave the US.

Once you know your dates for sure, look at Kayak or Google flights, and choose the "multi city" option to see your possibilities.

We are working hard toward learning to pack lighter. It's an ongoing process, but I'm doing 1000% better than I once did!

One thing we always do - we each carry a roller bag that will qualify as carry-on luggage. Inside that roller bag is a fold up duffel bag. It's nearly flat when compressed, and it easily goes into an outer pocket of the bag if necessary. If we do any shopping on the trip - and I generally get some soaps or olive oil or something else I want to check - then on the way home we'll check the roller bag with soaps and liquids and dirty laundry and use the duffel as a carry on instead for those things we want to make sure make it home with us on time.

Kind of a double post, but before I forget...

I was only able to search flights for April 2019. Additional flights may open up once we can see the full schedule for June and onwards next year, as that's a busy flight time.

I'd be comfy doing round trip to Rome if you're comfortable taking a train to start out to hit Venice.

When I've flown into Florence (and I'm in the mid south for comparison), I had to change planes twice. Once in the US. Once in Europe. Rome seems to have better options for many of us, if you are looking at fewer connections.

Harold- THANKS

Great tip about the wikipedia and the airport, I also didn't know about the multi-city function on google flights. The multi-city gave me a reasonable price unlike the one-way ticket.

Looks like we may be able to fly into Venice via PHL. My husband already said we should try to fly home via Chicago bc there are lots of flights btn here and there unlike the east coast cities.

For the past few years we have flown pretty much Southwest, so I'm clearly not up on how to search for flights.

Hoping if they actually ever build a new airport here, somebody makes it their hub.

Love hearing that many of you have a plan in place for purchases, so check on the way home! I have 2 Hawaii totes for just that exact reason😂

hey laura
been following your posts. i've laughed at the packing light issue, my first trip to rome (5nights) and transatlantic cruise (17days) rome-fort lauderdale in 2008 or 2009. i packed an outfit for each day! :O) big mistake, learned about cobblestones, no elevators, many steep staircases and steps, you pack it you control it! an OMG moment and never again. pack light, bring laundry pods/soap, dryer sheet/unstopplables, paid more attention to where and what we rent/stay in, washing machine (rarely have dryers) bring clothes line/pins, in venice we hung over doors, lamps, doors, chairs. you learn fast and we laugh now. weight limits but we always have a bottle of wine, corkscrew, and portable scale, after long flight, immigration/passport that bottle is to celebrate our arrival and adventure.
it's too early for your flight but i check a few, (kayak.com, fareboom.com, googleflights.com) and put alerts on, multi-city (fly into one city out another) no backtracking. you've gotten good views here, everyone has different ideas that work for them. If still interested in places to stay i can send some to you for venice florence rome? for ideas.
keep an eye out with southwest, they're gonna start flying to hawaii first of year. I'm from the big island (yes madame pele and volcano/lava eruption), my family is about an hour/half away, they are good. it's so so sad but she's mad and has blown her top.
GO WARRIORS
aloha

Ferrin- please let me know where you stayed as there was 4 of you. Did you do Pompeii on your own or with a tour?

Hey just saw this-not sure if you meant specifically or in general. We stayed in hotels, all quad rooms. I used a travel agent for that trip. We stayed at Smooth Hotel in Rome, Hotel Firenze e Continentale in La Spezia (Cinque Terre) and Delle Nazioni in Florence.

We did Pompeii on our own, we tried to get in with a small tour group but the place was empty that day and we didn't want to pay for a private guide (in hindsight it would probably have been worth it). We listened to Rick Steves walking tour of Pompeii and it was actually pretty great!

PM me if you have any other questions,, I can't keep up on all the posts :)

princess pupule- yes Southwest going to Hawaii, pretty excited about that, but sometimes you can't get there from here, but keeping my fingers crossed. We've been to Hawaii several times, but I don't think my daughter remembers her trip there.
I hope your family stays safe!

Thanks for the hotel info!

Just checking back on how your trip plans are progressing.

We find that we're going to be in Rome next year. We're looking at doing a (long) day trip from Rome to Pompeii. While I consider myself to be a decent traveler, I'm also checking out prices on tours of and to Pompeii just to make sure I've covered all my options.

Not sure we’ve made a lot of progressin planning, Except some little details. Daughter is ok with skipping Pisa. Husband likes the idea of staying in Siena rather than Florence, just have to prioritize what to do while in Tuscany.

Husband and daughter have Pompeii on their must do list, so think we will for sure go there. Here’s one tour I found:

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/pompeii-tours-from-rome

I think they also have a Pompeii only tour..

I also started looking at Airbnb and VRBO. Wondering if one is better than the other or is it personal preference? Maybe I should post a separate question....

hi laura
glad to see your got hubby and daughter involved and everyone has their likes and compromises out there. it helps, we want happy travelers not grumpy and naggy ones. haha check your message inbox.
aloha

hey laura
my 3 cents, i would not book that walks of italy tour, seems so expensive for just you 3. you can always take train to pompei and pay admission with audio guide or there may be a "real" guide you could hire for 2 hours. i know others here would give you more info, plus don't book so far in advance if trip cancels you want a refund and may be non refundible. you can always check TI (tourism info shops/stands) within the city that you're in.
aloha

princess,

my husband said it was really expensive too! Also seems like a really long day and Im not sure how much Pompeii time you would actually get.

Now my daughter is talking about Herculaneum too. We also watched the RS video where he climbed Mt Vesuvius. I'm pretty sure all 3 would be too much for one day! There was a thread about Pompeii on here over the weekend that had lots of info.

Thanks

We've tweaked our itinerary a bit, deciding to save Florence for a future tip.

Venice 3 nights-2.5 days

Siena 4 nites-3.5 days
Siena 1/2 day
Voltera
Montepulciano
Siena
would probably do a small group tour one day and a private tour the other day.

Rome 5 nites- 4.5 days
3.5 days in Rome
Pompeii

thanks

If you have Rick’s book on Rome for 2017 go to page 481. Starting on this page you will find his list of private guides for Pompeii. My wife and I are taking one with Gaetano Manfredi. We opted for the private car for transportation. You can also hire him and meet him there. I have seen videos of the tours he gives and they are awesome.
This link will give you all his information.
http://www.pompeiitourguide.com