First time to Italy thoughts on our itinerary...

I think you should cut out Cinque Terre or Positano, unless you and your family love coastal scenery far and above the other facets of Italy that are un- or underrepresented here. If you cut CT, you could easily add Naples, any of the many Tuscan hilltowns, or somewhere in Umbria to your list (just to name a few). If you cut Sorrento/Positano, you could add a town or city in the Veneto or Emilia Romagna. Or you could add more days to Rome .

Any reason why you're staying in La Spezia and not one of the CT towns proper? The CT towns are easily accessible by train unless you have mobility issues.

Splitting Rome and Florence into two visits each doesn't seem worthwhile. I get that you have a roundtrip out of Rome, so it's somewhat inevitable, but it's worth trying to consolidate. Otherwise, you lose time checking in and out of places that you could be spending doing anything else.

Well we have been told Cinque Terre is a must see and there is a hike we really wanted to do along the coast of the towns. I am staying in La Spezzia because I am picky about hotels and it seemed the nicest in the area I do realize it is 3 miles from the town but was told the train is a 5 minute walk so we could get to the hiking trail. I have been struggling with that part of the trip for a while now. I had it at the end of florence but then did not the long haul all the way from cinque terra to amalfi which we really want to go to. So I added it in the middle of the florence stay and that is why we are in florence for 2 days and then to cinque and then back to florence. I have been going back and fourth about it.

Hi there, Rebekah. Wow, your first trip abroad! You must be so excited!

I might look at rearranging of the order of your trip to eliminate backtracking to both Rome and Florence + 2 changes of hotel. Just as a first stab:

Arrive Rome 6:30 pm April 4th - train directly to Florence
5th - Florence
6th - Florence
7th - Florence
8th - train to La Spezia/sleep La Spezia.
One night is going to give you very little time in the CT if staying in La Spezia. I'll question keeping this one? Having to dump the luggage at your hotel before returning to the station, buying tickets into the region, etc. will eat time. You definitely do not want a car for the CT, and understand that hiking won't be a given if this one partial day is a wet one.
9th - Transfer to Positano. Yes, this will be time-consuming but so would backtracking to Rome/Florence and checking in and out of hotels twice instead of once.
10th - Positano
11th - Positano
12th - Positano
13th - Transfer to Rome
14th - Rome
15th - Rome
16th - Rome
17th - fly Home from Rome

Are you able to make changes to your accommodations without penalty at this point?

Do you like cats? There’s a big cat sanctuary across the street from your hotel in Rome.

If you're set on CT, maybe cut Positano? That will save you the long journey there, but you'll still get beautiful coastal vistas in CT.

The hikes linking the CT towns are often closed (3/4 were closed when I went, sadly) so you should look into that if you're there to hike.

....there is a hike we really wanted to do along the coast of the (CT)
towns.

I'm guessing you mean the Sentiero Azzurro (Blue Path/SVA2) route between Monterosso and Riomaggiore? If so, there are 4 separate legs to that one, and two of them - Corniglia>Manarola and Manarola> Riomaggiore - will definitely remain closed this year. The other two legs - Monterosso>Vernazza and Vernazza> Corniglia - should be open by spring but can close abruptly for rain or different sorts of damage. You would need a park pass to hike either or both of these segments.

There are MANY trails in the park system but the Sentiero Azzurro/SVA2 is the route people usually mean when they say "the trail." Others of the routes head further into the hills and are longer/more strenuous.

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/Eindex.php

With as little time as you have to give it - and considering that you have another coastal location in your itinerary - I'd consider scrapping it for an extra night in Florence and a couple of day trips from there. Siena, Lucca, Pisa and/or Fiesole are all easily reached by train or bus.

Maybe you mean a fast train to either Naples or Salerno. As I mentioned on your transport thread, Sorrento is an additional connection by reginal train. If your destination is Positano by car, then Sorrento won't come it at all.

I gather that there are lots of hiking trails in the Amalfi Coast area.

I'm going back to the first thing Daniel said. I see from another post you started that you're from the LA area. You have such beautiful coastlines in your backyard, why would you want to travel thousands of miles to see less dramatic coastlines. Sure, the colorful villages are quaint, especially seen from the water, but there is SO MUCH MORE to see in Italy that is absolutely nothing like the West Coast (or anywhere else in North America).

Too many stays. Why divide your stays in Rome and Florence? Also, I suggest you eliminate either CT or the Naples area for this trip. You will come back to Italy.

You missed Venice. Big mistake, Venice is unique and very special. Well, plan to come back to Italy.

I'd drop the Cinque Terre. I think the question is would you travel to San Francisco from LA for 1 night. That's the distance Positano is from the Cinque Terre. It's also throwing a real kink in your itinerary.

If you really need to keep it, after 1 night Rome, travel to La Spezia -Florence-Salerno (Ferry to /from Positano)-Salerno-Rome.

There are plenty of beautiful walks between Positano and Amalfi.

gerri,

I am dropping Cinque Terre but keeping Positano. I will likely stay longer in Florence and possibly do some day trips but will keep a home base. I have an 8 year old so the more I think about it and the feed back I get it would be nice to not move so much. Thank you for your response.

Thank everyone for their responses. I wish I had 3 weeks instead of 2 there is always a nextime. I think with Europe you get there and everything is just 2-5 hours away and you want to fit it in but I think I want to soak it up mostly.

"Well we have been told Cinque Terre is a must see" - no place or thing is a must see, must do or have to do.

Kathy has sensible plan, especially now you have dropped CT. I've never been to Positano but I'd personally spend much more time in Rome than Florence.