Florence vs. Tuscany

Rachel,

I have decided to stay 8 full days in Italy. We are going to try to do 2 full days in Venice and 4 full days in Rome.

You say you have 8 full days in Italy so does that mean you have 9 nights total?

Does this mean that you will be spending 3 nights in Venice-- which will give you 2 full days there?

Keep in mind that the days that you will be traveling from one location to another, will eat up part of that day.

So the day you travel from Venice to Florence, will take about 1/2 of that day so you will only have 1 full day to see Florence.

Likewise, the day you travel from Florence to Rome will take about 1/2 day & you will only have 3 full days in Rome.

Will you be flying into Venice & out of Rome?

If you only have 8 days total, I would suggest choosing only 2 locations.

Is it possible to add a few more days to your honeymoon?

Happy Honeymoon!

We are taking an overnight flight and will land in Venice July 26th early in the AM. We will leave from Rome on August 3rd.
I wish we could extend our trip but with taking off time for the wedding our vacation time is limited. We have our hearts set on Italy! I've been told that just visiting 2 places would not be fully experiencing Italy, so we would like to see as much as possible with still having a little relaxation time in between!

Florence is in Tuscany (it's the capital of Tuscany in fact). Whether you should go or not depends on the time you have available.
I like to count nights on the ground instead of days. I also don't like to spend less than 2 nights in one place because of the time wasting that checking in and out of hotels (and packing and unpacking) entails.
So assuming I have 7 nights on the ground and want to visit Venice, Florence and Rome, I would allocate 2 nights each to Venice and Florence and 3 nights to Rome. If I had 8 nights, I would probably add it to Florence and use the extra day to visit some small towns of TUSCANY on a day trip from Florence.
Some people here might tell you that is too rushed and you should spend more nights in fewer places or even the entire time in one place. That depends on your personal preference. But one has to realize that many people giving advice on this board are educated and comfortable retirees who have time and resources to go back to Europe year after year, sometimes multiple times and/or for several weeks at a time.
Other people's working situation (or financial situation) may be different and this may be the only time they have available to go to Italy in a very long time (or maybe ever) therefore I fully understand their desire of hitting a lot of places in one short trip. That is really a decision that only you can make. All I can tell you is how I would allocate 7 nights in Italy. The rest is up to you.

Venice will be full of day-tripping visitors from the cruise ships. You should plan to wander the back canals during the day and the main sights (St. Mark's Piazza, Rialto Bridge, etc.) early in the morning and late afternoon-evening. Especially on your first day, think about taking a nap in the afternoon - just force yourselves to get up after a couple of hours! For nightlife, try barhopping around the Rialto Bridge (a tapas tour - but called cicchetti in Venice), then go to the Piazza for an expensive coffee and the battling bands.

Since you aren't very interested in art, but you only have a short time, you should think about going to one of the less-traveled towns instead of Florence (which will also be crowded). Bologna is the food capital of Italy, you could probably find a cooking class there. Padua and Ferrara are also candidates for a charming smaller town to spend a couple of days. Wherever you are in Italy, you'll find good wine and food. Or you could take a longer journey and go to Orvieto, perched on a hilltop, for a couple of days. It gets lots of day-trippers from Rome but there are back streets to explore there too.

Tuscan countryside will probably not provide much nightlife, I would spend the time in Florence, take a wine tour, visit Piazzale Michelangelo, maybe go to Lucca or Siena if you get bored with Florence.

In the amount of time you have, you can't "fully experience Italy," so why not just let go of that concern? With your interests (not art), I'd recommend skipping Florence. You could stay in one of the smaller Tuscan towns and even sign up for an all day wine and food tour. Check the Recommendations and Trip Reports sections of this forum. I know that there have been some mention of such tours, recently. Rome and Venice can provide lots of nightlife options. I can't think of anything more romantic than dancing to the live music at night on Piazza San Marco!

I did send you a PM, but just a thought on your time in Venice... It will be packed during the day, so wandering the back streets is a great suggestion, but you also might want to get up really early (before dawn) and spend at least one morning watching the sunrise in Venice. You will almost have the place to yourself, other than the Venetians getting ready to start their work day and a number of photographers. It is a wonderful way to make the city feel like your own. Because I am a photographer I do that a lot of days. I will typically get up and just go out, watch the sunrise, go back to the hotel for shower and breakfast. If I am really tired in the afternoon you can just take a nap and relax while the rest of the tourists fight the crowds. It is the best way to see Venice.

You can see quite a bit of Italy in that time if you pack light and travel efficiently (a backpack each is very doable!). Personally, in 9 days, I saw Venice (a day trip from Florence), the Cinque Terre (highly recommend at least one-two nights here), Florence, Pisa and Lucca (same day train from Florence) and Milan. The trains in and out of Florence are efficient and frequent to most places you might want to go on your first trip. You could potentially go from Venice the day after you land (which would be one night in Venice...should be plenty as it is so touristy and expensive) to the Cinque Terre (might be a 3 hr train ride from Venice but totally worth it) for two nights then to Florence for two nights then on the way to Rome, I would recommend one night in Orvieto which is halfway between Florence & Rome...then the rest of your time in Rome. If you set your mind to see quite a few places, you are bound to make another trip happen so you can spend more time in your favorites or see even more! Just have fun and GO!