First Trip to Italy

I'll go first!

You will spend a lot of time in transit. too much. waaay too much.

If you want to see Venice and Rome, fly into Venice and fly out of Rome.

On a trip or 10 days, i suggest you stick to no more than 3 places to sleep.

Have you looked at a guide book? Rick Steves makes a really good one on Italy. I suggest you read the book and decide what 2 or 3 places you want to visit. Fly into one and out of the other, if the first and last have major airports.

I am most concerned about the possibility of a "Vespa wine tour" for your sake and the sake of everyone on the road.

Assuming you bought flights roundtrip to and from Rome and you are younger than most here giving advice and healthy, I would cut going all the way to Venice and Milan out and just do it as a day trip from Florence if you feel it.

So land in Rome take the train to Florence
Stay in Florence 4 nights
Train to Naples connect to the Circumvesuviana train to Sorrento.
Stay in Sorrento (from here you can explore the Amalfi Coast by ferry or bus) 3 nights
Train back to Naples to connect for train to Rome
Stay in Rome 3 nights

I have one critique, and it is for the same pitfall that most first timers fall into. You likely won't like it. . You are trying to do too much in too short a time. Seriously, you need to either double your time in Italy or halve the number of places you are trying to visit. You've overlooked the impact of jetlag on your first couple of days. You've ignored the impact of very high crowds AND the high heat in August. Trying to maintain that pace will NOT be enjoyable, and it looks like half of your days in Italy will involve several hours on trains and/or changing hotels. I think you need to really reassess your itinerary. And I totally agree that Vespas and wine don't mix. Have a look at the Italian drunk driving laws and blood alcohol limits.

In August, you are going to be hot anywhere you go in Italy. I would skip Milan, and maybe Venice. Instead use that time in the Amalfi Coast or Florence.

If you land in Rome at 1pm (1300), why not start your vacation in Rome? And after a few days travel to Florence or the Amalfi Coast. Then spend your last night at the Rome Airport Hilton.

Whatever you decide, make sure you book hotels with air conditioning.

Thanks Becky, we had to fly into Rome due to the cost of last minute flights, so taking a train to Venice was our only option to get there. The Vespa wine tour is actually a guided tour that I believe only includes one glass of wine lol

Have you already booked your flight? Ideally, you'd do an "open-jaws" booking, where you fly into one end (Rome or Venice) and leave from the other end. The back and forth you're currently planning will kill the better part of two days.

Regardless of whether your flights are in and out of Rome or open-jaws, given the time you have, I'd suggest crossing Milan off the list, and adding those days to the other cities.

Finally, assuming you're doing Rome, Florence and Venice, there's no way you'll do justice to the Amalfi coast in one day. Not only will you spend that whole day traveling back and forth, you'll be taking a precious day away from Rome. Save that for another trip.

No less than 3 night stays in one place. Rome, Florence, Venice in one trip to too many big cities. 10 nights: 3 Orvieto, 3 Sorrento, 4 Rome. J

Let’s begin with your desired priorities. The quantity of places you have mentioned would be pushing a 3-week itinerary if you really want to enjoy any of them. (Be stingy with your vacation time. Try to maximize actual “being there doing something” compared to “transportation & wait time”.)

So give us your top 3 and 1 alternate out of this list. Then we can reply with some helpful ideas.

Venice
Milan
Lake Como
Florence
Rome
Amalfi Coast

I believe only includes one glass of wine lol

That is not a laughing matter, that is sad.

You are trying to cram into 9 days what is more appropriate for 3 weeks.

Land in Rome 1pm, train to Venice

The BEST you could hope for to be at a hotel in Venice is 9PM. Then go to dinner and face plant into your pillow. It goes downhill from there.

Adopt the 'less is more' or "I will return" philosophy. ( or both )

Looks more like a training run for The Amazing Race, than a vacation

when in Europe, always fly and book MULTI-CITY flights/tickets - in this case, into Venice and out of Rome. You will spend way too much time traveling between places and not near enough time enJOYing the towns.

Venice needs MUCH MORE TIME.

I'd skip Milan.

Florence also needs much more time. Look at the Rick Steves Venice, Florence, Rome Tour tour and try to 'copy' that.

You are trying to fit in WAY too much into way too little time. It takes LOTS of time just changing cities.

I'd fly into Venice for 3 days, train to Florence of three days, train to Rome for three days and even that isn't near enough time.

Italy is worthy of MANY separate visits - not one visit with too many places shoved into to short of a time frame.

If you can't change your flights, then I'd just do Rome and Florence with Day trips out of Florence into Tuscany with WalkAboutFlorence - their BEST OF TUSCANY TOUR and CHIANTI WINE & FOOD SAFARI TOUR !!
You could spend a couple days in Sorrento/Amalfi - but there is tons to do in Rome and Florence (but everyone needs a few days in Venice).

We are wrapping up our time in Italy (in Mantova now), and flew into and out of Rome, despite not spending any time there, simply because that's where we could get the best prices/flight times from East Coast US. So, I understand that you're flying into and out of Rome, BUT I will echo what everyone else is saying. You are doing WAY too much (for reference, I'm in my mid-thirties, a very experienced traveler, speak a decent amount Italian, and have spent a lot of time here, including two months this summer).

You are underestimating how long it will take you to get to places, and how much the heat will sap your energy. It hit 41C/105F in Mantova today and is supposed to be hotter tomorrow and even HOTTER on Saturday. This is in July and I'm guessing August will not be better. You will not want to be out touring in the heat of the day, much less lugging luggage across town and to a train station. Train stations and trains have no air conditioning to speak of. For the sake of your "vacation", please consider narrowing it down to NO MORE than three overnight locations.

It's hard. Italy has so much to see and do. But you must plan as if you'll return, otherwise you will leave feeling as if you've seen nothing.

It seems you have 10 nights. You have 4 places, maybe 5. You need to cut it down to 3. I would opt for the following scenarios:

Venice: 3 nights
Florence: 3 nights
Rome: 4 nights

Train to Florence : 3 nights
Rome: 3 nights
Amalfi: 3 nights
Travel back to Rome: 1 night

I’d leave Milan and Lake Como for a different trip.

Take the fast train from Rome to Salerno. Take the ferry in Salerno and go to the town you want to stay in, arriving by sea is magnificent. The ferry station is an 8 minute walk from the train station.

I'll vote for 3 locations in this order:

Train to Venice: 3 nights
Florence: 3 nights
Rome: 4 nights

OR....

Train to Florence : 3 nights
Amalfi: 3 nights
Rome: 4 nights

Which to choose would depend on your interests. Art and architecture? Ancient history? Outdoor activities/scenery fan?

Lulu and Kathy have good itineraries. I think I would slightly change the order.
Arrive Rome-train to Florence.
Florence-3 nights
Venice-3 nights
Rome-finish the trip.
I would place Florence before Venice due to your arrival time in Rome and train connections to Venice. Easier and shorter to get to Florence. You might have a semi functional evening there.
Train from Venice back to Rome is far less complicated for timing then the train solutions for getting from Rome to Venice.
Consider you may have 2+ hours after arriving in Rome for immigration( longest) and customs. Then train in to main station to catch a Freccia to Venice. Best case-arrive in Venice late evening jetlagged and worse.
Arrive in Florence early evening-still jetlagged-but possibly still able to navigate with the availability of an actual cab ride to the door of your accommodation-no vaporetto, no hauling suitcases over bridges, etc.
Just food for thought along with all the other great suggestions from other forum gurus.

Not to beat a dead horse, but we did just did 3 weeks in italy and stayed in 4 places (Rome, Bologna, Venice and Bellagio). Minimum 3 nights per place. And it was still too much! Particularly with the heat. What I thought would be a full day was really only: do things in the am/eat lunch; take rest/avoid heat; head out around 5.

Bellagio is time intensive to get to. If Lake Como is a must, just do the town of Como.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I do agree that our itinerary will leave us little time for relaxation and we will take everyone's comments into consideration.

I have a few comments that some people didn’t address. Italians take vacation in August too. Some of their official worker holidays are in August, Ferragosto. So places around the 15th will be closed or places like the Amalfi will be even more crowded. And honestly, most of the the Italian coast is so amazing, I am not sure why everyone is focused exclusively on the Amalfi coast with all of the tourists.

Brent- As your subject line says- this is your FIRST trip to Italy. Tell yourself you will return and don't try to cram in so much in this trip or you probably won't even WANT to return ;)

10 nights is just barely enough for 3 major locations and since you are flying in/out of Rome I'd stick with the southern locations. Venice needs minimum 3 nights to really experience all it has to offer. Most folks that don't like Venice only give it 1 or 2 nights.
Milan is an easy place to fly in/out of on a future trip- that's when you can see Milan, Lake Como and Venice.

Rome needs at least 3 nights- that’s the bare minimum. You could easily spend 10 nights in a Rome!
Florence should get 3 - add a night for every day trip. If you are not big into art you can get away with 2 but keep in mind if you go there on arrival that first day is jet lag and late arrival

A 2 night stay is really only 1 day for being/seeing where you are. Each time you change locations you lose a half a day or more- packing up/checking out/getting to train/train ride/getting to new lodgings/checking in/getting oriented.

I'll second Kathy's suggestions- but go to Florence on arrival for the reasons SJS has stated. It's closer/easier.

Fly to Rome-train to Florence
3 Florence
Train to Salerno if you want to stay ON the Amalfi coast- then ferry to whichever town you have chosen
OR
Train to Naples then on to Sorrento for 3 or 4 nights . From Sorrento you can visit Pompeii, Amalfi, Naples, Capri easily.
3 or 4 Amalfi or Sorrento
Train back to Rome- put all your Rome nights at end avoiding a split stay
3 or 4 Rome
Fly home from Rome

If you decide to go to anywhere in Sorrento/Amalfi area you will need to make that decision quickly as lodgings book up early, you might not find much availability at all.

Since you only mention a possible day trip to Amalfi-
(which is not a good idea at all- there really is no good way to "do the Amalfi Coast from Rome"
then I'd say stick with the usual first trip and see the big 3- Venice, Florence, Rome

Fly to Rome-train to Florence
3 nights Florence
Train to Venice
3 nights Venice
Train back to Rome- put all your Rome nights at end avoiding a split stay
4 nights Rome
Fly home from Rome

train info here- both companies run fast trains and also have easy to use apps
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html
https://www.italotreno.it/en

It's not that you'll need more time to relax, it's that you'll be spending too much time doing things that are either boring or unpleasant instead of doing the wonderful things you are going to each location to do. Hours spent lugging luggage around in the heat, trying to find the next hotel, checking in and out of that hotel, unpacking and repacking your things, standing around or walking around a crowded train station trying to figure out how to buy tickets and which train to get on, getting your bags onto and off the train, using the toilets on the train, and having various transportation problems that even those of us who have been to Italy many times still encounter: train strikes, trains being late, getting on the wrong train, getting off at the wrong station, no AC on the train, keeping an eagle eye on your belongings at all times, getting lost, etc. And all in a country where you probably don't speak the language, don't know how things work, and can't read the signage. I don't mean to discourage you. All the necessary travel hassle and the possible extra hassles will seem absolutely worth it if you spend more time in each place.

We just got back from Italy. It was HOT and I assume it’ll be at least as hot in August, so consider how much you’ll want to do during the middle of the day if you are doing a day trip. Also, while we were there, there was a surprise taxi strike turning our first day in Rome into a very long sweaty walk with luggage to our Airbnb. We stayed in 4 places (actually had to move to a second place in Rome due to an Airbnb issue so that makes 5 total) and that felt like a lot - so much time on travel, packing, transportation, etc. I would try to spend more time in less places if you really want to enjoy your vacation. We started in Bellagio, Venice, Florence then Rome, everyone in my family loved Rome the most. (PS if you are planning to do day trips on the train be sure to look to make sure there are no strikes planned for that day.)

We were in Italy in May and June, with our family of four. Our daughter and son are 22 and 20, so young and energetic. Having said that, we were in Italy for 14 nights and stayed in Rome, Pasteum, Florence and Venice. We had a wonderful time, but both kids and the hubby said they would have preferred to spend more time in fewer places. While the weather was much milder than it is now (we were there in late May and early June); there were some afternoons that due to the heat we embraced the siesta. We also had air con in all our rooms. So to reiterate what others have said, I also recommend that you stay longer in fewer places.

hey hey brent
this last minute trip is absolutely crazy! have you been to italy before and how far apart all these places are?
it's your trip, do whatever, you will be seeing the italian countryside air go right by you sitting in a train, not enjoying what italy is about. i would leave venice, milan and lake como out or change flights to depart from milan and see the northern area of italy.
take into consideration your arrival (after 3pm) and departure times (before 10-11am)
travel time on a train, buying tickets and validating them before boarding train unless you want a "expensive ticket on the spot"
take train to florence, spend couple nights, take train to cinque terre even though it will be busy it's high season for travelers and august is month of holiday for beach days for residents.
train to rome end of last minute, another place that will be packed and crazy busy, probably HOT HOT HOT! get AC wherever you stay, book attractions NOW since many places will be booked already for months.
no time for amalfi, more time on a train unless you want to reserve a $$$ 10-12 hour tour, and not go where you want unless you book a private tour with over the moon cost and what you want.
look at going to the beach area close to rome by train. what else are you interested in? walk around the city center, have a drink and food, people watch, enjoy what you can.
this is what happens when you book last minute and want everything. some people call it revenge travel, locked up in their cocoons for 2+years and want to travel along with so many others. i'm sure you're read about the weather, the cancellations of flights and some attractions/hotels, lost luggage, prices are high even though the euro is even $ for $, sound like deloris downer but you just need to be prepared if things don't work out in your favor. want you two to have a great time and enjoy. be prepared
so many travelers want to see and do the same thing as you, be prepared for long lines, security lines, restaurants full, walk around the corner to a mom and pop place. "skip the line with a ticket" does not mean skip security lines to check bags. read all the rules and fine print, carry small euro bills/coins for restrooms, tips ( not mandatory), pastries, coffee, taxis (get them only at taxi stands, no flagging)
aloha

Kathy, our itinerary was almost identical!