First time trip - April 14-30

I like your selection of destinations and # of days given to each in the planning that you've done so far!Everyone who plans a trip that includes Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Venice has the same issue you now face: as you're reading this, it helps if you're looking at a map of Italy so that the details of why will make sense: There is no really efficient way to get between those 4 destinations because of the geographic location of--and train schedules linking--the CT in relation to Florence and Venice. No matter how you do it, it involves some backtracking.Some travelers (and this is my own preference), string those 4 destinations together like this, with Venice coming second, which is a different sequence than you now have them:RomeRome to Venice by trainVenice to Florence by trainFlorence to CT by trainCT back to Rome by trainThe last leg of the above assumes you already have airfare purchased to fly in and out of Rome and that it causes more problems than it solves, at this point, to try to change all that to fly out of some place else.I like the # of days you have for Rome, some here think Rome isn't worth that much time but IMO it is, your # of days is the same # of days I spent in Rome on my first trip.And IMO Florence is one of the real treasures of the world, if you have an interest in world class Renaissance architecture, history and art--I think it would be preferable to keep it in your itinerary. Some travelers have found Florence worth only a day or two, if that, and have preferred to spend their Florence time seeing the Tuscan hill towns--but that requires a rental car to do it efficiently and it appears you'd rather stick to trains, and that is another reason I suggest keeping Florence in your itinerary.

I agree with Kent. When I planned our trip to Italy in 2007, I was going to stop in Florence then on to Venice then to CT and back to Rome. Of course I made our B&B arrangements BEFORE looking at the train schedule. It does NOT work going to Venice then to CT. The train does not go direct. We changed our itinerary to read as Kent printed. Rome, Venice, Florence, CT some side trip into Tuscany area then back to Rome. We rented a car in La Spezia AFTER we had been to CT and dropped the car off in Orvieto after a week of driving around. It was easy! I'd go in the order Kent listed. Keep us posted.

Erin great work with the itinerary. I did a simillar itinerary last summer & it worked great. I agree with Kent in regards to Florence. Depending on your interests - the art in Florence is breath-taking & endless, so I would definitely keep it in your itinerary. Personally I would limit 2 days in CT & add a day in Florence, but again it depends on your interests.

Great itinerary! My only question is whether you will regret so many days in Rome and so little time in Florence, an amazing city...and why not add a night or two in nearby Siena? Good luck!

Thank you to everyone for your comments, I have changed the order of the cities, so we are now going to Rome, Venice, then Florence.

Would it be worth it to get a railpass, or will we be able to purchase tickets once we arrive?

Definitely get the rail pass. And I think your plans are great...I did that same trip a few years ago and enjoyed every minute of it. Also, each city has it's own amazing qualities...don't be put off by Rome...it's a fabulous city and friendly too!
Have a blast!!

Erin I disagree with Dean. I would not get a rail pass. I priced out a rail pass last year & with the discount of buying your tickets at the station... city to city was much cheaper! Price it out and good luck!