Florence or Rome

It depends on your priorities. Florence is tied with Charleston, SC as my favorite city ever. I have been to Europe 9 times. I have been to Florence 3 times and every trip I spend more time there than on the previous trip. I love the art museums, the churches, the food, and the fact that everything is convenient and in easy walking distance, unlike Rome. That being said, I think the Sistine Chapel is a don't miss experience. If you're not big fans of the ancient Rome thing, you could do your one night in Rome at the Hotel Alimandi and be right down the steps from the Vatican Museum.

You really asking about personal preference since the time is so limited with either choice. In many ways Florence is a miniature Rome. Florence is more user friendly because it is smaller and often less crowded. Both have their plus and minus. But Rome is Rome. We like and enjoy the vibe of Rome, the diversity of sites, the history, etc. So for us, the choice would be two nights in Rome - if not more.

Becky, with such limited time available, given that both Florence and Rome are wonderful places to explore, each with many more sites and experiences than you could fit into many more days, and with an early morning flight out of Rome, this would be my guidance and rationale: spend as much time as possible in Florence, which is smaller, more easily accessible, almost everywhere by walking, and where you can get a "feel" for the place in 2 or 3 days. Then take a late afternoon or early evening train from Florence to the Rome Airport, and spend your final night very near the airport. Leave Rome for a future trip, and don't even tempt yourself by trying to taste Rome in just a few hours. The exception to my guidance would be if you have a special passion for ancient Roman history, as in the Colosseum and Roman Forum, etc. in that case, you might just focus on Rome and leave Florence for next trip.

Thank you all for your replys. Yes, we are staying in an airbnb next to the Duomo and am getting ready to book a room close to the rome airport.

I would spend as much time in Florence as possible. I would rather go to Venice with my last day than spend it in Rome. You can take a night train out of Venice to Rome and save one night hotel.

The Rome airport is close enough to the city that you can easily stay in Rome the night before and still get to the airport for an early flight. But as I stated before, it is personal preference. Going to Venice would be close to one of the last place I would go in this situation and night train would be a horrible experience.

I would (if it was possible) reduce Bagno Vignoni to a 4 night stay, giving 3 full days to the Tuscan countryside.
Then 2 nights each in Florence and Rome, playing no favourites.