Florence or Rome

Where are the other two days?

Where are you flying in/ out of?
How many nights on the ground in Italy? How will you travel- train, car?

( just to clarify -2 full days means 3 nights)

Your 3 locations are all going to be very crowded. I would pick a small town to visit to give you a bit of a break- consider Orvieto
I actually wouldn’t recommend including Sorrento on a first visit.

Florence is so packed with quality stuff I think 2 nights there is not sufficient.

But Rome is so big and also packed, I don’t think 3 nights is sufficient.

For a first trip, I might just drop Sorrento entirely, and just make it Florence and Rome, maybe 4 and 6. But then again, my first trip was Rome (2), Florence (2-3), Cinque-Terre (2), Milan (2), Venice (3), and Rome (2).

Really depends on what you want to see in each place.

I found Florence more walkable and less frantic than Rome, but maybe that's just me.

Sorrento and the area is my favourite place so far in Italy, but for a first visit and for so few days I might skip it and add to Rome and Florence. You'll waste a day getting there and back and so your visit will become one full day and two part days; and part days will make it tough to actually get to the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento for anything but a rushed visit. Transportation in that region is slow, chaotic and confusing and can be frustrating for a first time traveller.

Allan is spot on. To literally give a location 2 full days, it means you're staying for 3 nights. With an 11 day trip, with hopefully none that include my arrival or departure days, I'd prefer a 2-stop Rome and Florence itinerary and assign more nights to the bigger city. I'm a fan of big cities so I'd spend more time in Rome on a first visit either way.

Rome has more history and much more to see. I have been to Rome twice spending a total of 10 days there and still haven't seen it all.

Travel between cities occupies much of a day. Think about what you really want to experience on a first trip.
Sorrento is the most relaxing. You could easily spend your 10 days between Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii and even the Amalfi Coast.

If you choose to focus on Florence and Rome, you could stop on the wsy in Orvieto to experience a slower town.

I read OP itinerary to be:

Arrive (Rome?) and head to Florence on 5-13 and spend 3 nights
Then spend 4 nights in Sorrento
Finally spend 4 nights in Rome, departing on the 23rd.

I do not see that as "rushed", but getting the 'best bang for the buck' given their ( limited) time frame.

Depending on your interests, maybe one more night in Florence and one less in Sorrento. Strictly a personal choice.

Happy travels!

Depending on your interests, maybe one more night in Florence and one
less in Sorrento. Strictly a personal choice.

That would be my vote too. Sorrento was fine but I lost my mind over the art and architecture in Florence. More versus less time is also a plus when visiting historic centers/ attractions with heavy high-season crowds, as you'll be experiencing in Rome and Florence. A personal thing, maybe, but allowing for breathing room and less-visited attractions/areas between managing the mob at the biggies helps the enjoyment level. :O)

It's about a 3-hour train ride from Florence to Naples, then the Circumvesuviana for about 1.25 hours. Allow about 1/2 hour between trains. So you use at least 1/2 day getting to Sorrento and about the same to Rome - the train ride to Rome is shorter, but you still need time to get to your Rome hotel (you could very well be a 10-15 minute walk from the Florence train station). So I wouldn't take a day from Sorrento - for me that would be too much travel time for too little quality time.

3 full days in Rome would be the minimum for me, so the allocation you have seems optimal for your destinations.

Do you have hotel reservations? So close to your travel dates, I think it might be difficult to find suitable lodging if you change the dates.

FWIW, I agree on forgetting Sorrento this trip. It's a lot. For a first visit, focus on Rome and Florence, and day tripping. Keeps you from changing hotels a lot, and both have easy day trips. If I had to pick between Rome and Florence for more time, I would choose Florence because there are so many easy day trips from there, i.e. Siena, Pisa, Lucca, to name a few. There is a ton to do in Florence itself. Rome is of course full of historical sites, and is in my opinion way more crowded than Florence. A nice day trip from Rome would be to Orvieto. Lovely town for a day visit. I think exploring some of the smaller towns vs. the headache of getting to Sorrento for such a short visit would make your trip more enjoyable.

As a I was reading these comments I found myself thinking the same things as JR. Florence is so perfect for the day trips mentioned. Pisa, Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena. And there’s plenty to see and do in Rome to justify an extra day or 2 there. I loved Sorrento, but would not take the time it would take to get there on this trip. If you want something else, maybe head to Cinque Terre or Levanto on the coast for a couple of days. Otherwise, immerse yourself in Florence or Rome. Remember, you can always plan another trip back!

Agree with others here on ditching Sorrento this trip for more time in Florence and Rome.

We were looking at adding Sicily to our itinerary originating in Venice, moving to Perugia and finishing in Rome. The travel time to Sicily and back was going to eat up a considerable portion of two different days.