First trip to Italy for 7 days

You need to do some research to determine what you want to do on your trip.
I think 3 nights in Rome is not enough to see the city. You will have three nights or two full days. One day for the Colliseum, Forum and Palatine and one day for St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel. There is lots more to see in Rome.

Florence, you need at least 2 and better 3 full days.

Check tripadvisor under things to do in each city.

I would add a day to Rome and another to Florence.

If you don't wish to do that, spend a day in Tuscany, my preference is Sienna. Lucca and Pisa are another choice, but farther away.

First - you don't have nearly enough time for 3 destinations. Second - forget the rental car. Italian train tickets are cheap and take you city center to city center without rental $, petrol $, insurance $, tolls $$. Stick to the train and stay in 1 place long enough to see the sights where you already "are" without wasting your precious few days traveling traveling traveling.

First time to Italy - Rome is great, Florence is good, but Venice is like no other place you will ever see.

Hi, lajauniefamily -

I'm guessing you land in Rome on the 7th and fly out of Rome on the 14th? If so, you have closer to 6.5 days (7 nights) of sightseeing time. That's going to fly by pretty fast! I'm thinking that you're going to want to be in Rome the evening before departure so I'd head directly to Florence upon arrival and end your trip in Rome. I wouldn't add another location as you'll want to make the most of your sightseeing time versus spend more of it packing up and moving.

Your itinerary might look like this:
4/6 - Fly
4/7 - arrive in Rome/train to Florence
4/8 - Florence
4/9 - Florence - day trip to Siena (bus)
4/10 - Florence - day trip to Pisa/Lucca (train)
4/11- Train to Rome/Rome
4/12 - Rome
4/13 - Rome
4/14 - Fly home

There is a LOT to see in Rome - I consider 4 nights/3.5 days a minimum for that one - so you might shift a day from Florence unless that area holds more interest for you. Driving in Italy involves some homework to avoid expensive pitfalls like stumbling into ZTLs but you could rent a car for a day in Florence for a poke around the countryside. Otherwise, you do NOT want a car in Florence, and trains/buses can be more comfortable, efficient choices for first-timers (or anyone else) with city-heavy itineraries. I'd ditch the car.

Rome and Florence make a great pairing in Spring. I'd go immediately on arrival from FCO to Florence and stay 3 nights. If you like, rent a car for one day and drive through Chianti. Or relax on a tour with Tours By Roberto and let him show you the countryside. Then transfer to Rome for 4 nights, giving you three full days in that great city.

And don't forget parking $$. And (if you're like a lot of American tourists) traffic-ticket $$$ months later, preceded by car-rental-agency administrative-fee $$.

With seven days (one of them sleep-deprived and jetlagged after an overnight flight), you need to be strategic in your choices. You will not see more if you go to different cities, you will see less. Unless you count views of train stations.

I'd definitely put the Rome stay at the end of the trip. On arrival day, buy tickets to Florence or some other Tuscan destination and go there first. Your first day will find you fuzzy-brained anyway, so you may as well spend part of that time getting to your other destination. I'd choose Florence for its combination of sights and convenience as a transportation hub.

I will add my 'echo' to the 3 posts above. Limit yourself to 2 places and end in Rome

Sending Kathy a hundred bucks for being your trip planner. Skip the car. You don't time to deal with a car. You will want to min the number of location changes - you lose too much time.

Also: your boys might be more jet lagged than you, and be a bit "teenage" cranky and not want to be dragged to too many places.
Two destinations is more than enough for 6 days on the ground.
Forget the car, trains are so easy, and your boys will love them.
You can plan your next trip to Italy on the plane home, to see more !

I can recommend Walkabout Florence's Best of Tuscany Tour. It's a long 12 hour day, but if our 5-year-old grand daughter could do it without a meltdown, your teenagers should be able to handle it. We thought our guide, Stefano, was excellent, as were the other local guides we had. We saw and learned a lot, with what we thought was plenty of time at each stop. They have other tours available.

Walks of Italy is another reputable company with special tours of Florence (and Rome). I've never been on any of their tours, but they seem to be smaller groups and somewhat higher prices.

I mention these tour companies because I've been many places with and without guides. No matter how much I researched, having a guide to explain things and answer questions has been well worth the money.

Florence is the fabulous place to stay in Tuscany. I'll agree that taking the train to Florence and starting the trip there is the most efficient way to go.

Truth be told, with only 7 nights in country, I'd rent an apartment and spend all the time in Rome. Booking.com is a resource for finding all kinds of lodging, including apartments. Owners may list there as well as on many other online sources, including Airbnb. From info gleaned on these forums, it sounds like the prices Airbnb charge are higher for the same places than any other resource.

I concur about heading straight to Florence from Rome and spending the first 3 nights there. I also agree with Lo on the Walkabout Florence Best of Tuscany tour. We took it with our 21 and 24 year old sons. It is a full day but the best part is you get a 2 hour nap on an air conditioned bus at the end! You get back to Florence ready to roll out to dinner and more wandering around. We toured Siena, San Gimignano, a winery (with lunch and wine) and the Field of Miracles in Pisa. You can climb the tower if you arrange for it in advance when you book the tour. Spend the last four nights in Rome and get reservations or advance tickets for the Colosseum, Vatican Museum or any other places you think you want to go. Lastly, have everyone download the Rick Steves Audio Europe app and add all of the walks there are for Florence and Rome. These are great walks, especially for the first time in Italy. You get to see the highlights with some commentary that puts things into context.

We did a similar trip with similar time frame on our first trip year before last. Now planning trip 3 for this April. We had a total of 9 days.
We arrived very late to FCO so stayed at the airport Hilton. Got up had a nice breakfast and took the train to Florence. I agree with those who say head to Florence. You can check trenitalia.com for frecci train times leaving FCO and heading to Florence and compare to your arrival time. If you haven't booked air yet you might look at the train times and try to link the time line some. There are direct trains from the airport and more from Rome Termini. Your going to be surprised at the size of the crowds in Florence, we were on our second trip. Walks of Italy was excellent for our tours of the Cistine Chapel in Rome(we did the early morning one), and used them in Venice as well. Highly recommend. I would do no more than one day trip with your time frame. It takes time to see Florence and enjoy what it has to offer. Pisa was nice but the tour we did made for a really long long day that combined Siena and San Giminano. It was just not enough time in any one area for us. So pick one place for a day trip and take your time. Siena gets my vote.
You can have a terrific trip in your limited time frame by keeping it to a minimum number of locations and remember you can come back and will likely want to very soon.