From Cinque Terre to to Rome? Suggestions traveling by train...

Dana,

I'd have to give this some further thought, but a few ideas that come to mind.....

• travel from the Cinque Terre to Siena and use that as a "home base" for exploring some of the other hill towns. There should be day tours available there (I haven't checked - have a look at the Italy guidebook).
• you could either travel from Siena to Orvieto for a few days OR go directly to Rome and spend the remainder of your time there.
• a day trip to Sorrento / Pompeii / Naples is possible from Rome, but it will be a long day. There are some day tours available from Rome, but they tend to be expensive. For the visit to Pompeii, I would highly recommend using a local guide, as you'll learn more about the history than just walking around on your own. There are usually guides waiting by the ticket office, or you could book one of those listed in the guidebook. While there you could also visit Herculaneum.

It's a bit late for finding lodgings in the Cinque Terre (Monterosso) for July, but there may still be a slight chance you could find something. Which places have you tried so far (send me a PM if you'd prefer)? Also, could you define your criteria of "a reasonable place to stay ".

There are all kinds of options.

THanks, Ken. We are staying in Florence one night and then taking a bike tour the next day leaving from Florence to San Gimignano. From there, we'll be dropped off in Poggibonsi and take train to Siena for the night. From Siena, we'll work our way down to Rome for 4 nights. We may take the train to Pompeii one day but we'll see. I made a mistake and meant to book lodging from Venice to Florence but instead booked to Monterosso first so we'll have some longer train rides but I don't want to lose my lodging in Monterosso.

Thanks for all of your suggestions!