Honeymoon in Italy

Congratulations, Nicole! Smart idea going to Italy since you are both Italian. The main thing I would suggest is not to try and see too much. This is your honeymoon! Relax and enjoy. Keep your travels to a section of Italy and don't try to cover the whole country. Rome and Amalfi Coast could take up most of two weeks, given that you can spend a whole week just in Rome since there is so much to see there. I have not been to Amalfi Coast yet but it looks like a perfect spot for honeymooners. The only other comment I would throw out is if you are interested in where your ancestors came from, you might want to explore that but really you should probably save it for another trip. Believe me, you will go back! Best of luck to you!

Congratulations, Nicole. I was just on a boat on Lake Como from Varenna which also had a wedding party (about 10 or 15) from California who were going to another small town for the rehearsal dinner for a wedding scheduled the following day. Everybody looked so happy and relaxed, so comfortable in their outfits and so enjoying the lake and surroundings I thought what a great place for a wedding. Varenna especially, being a small beautiful, quiet, yet interesting and romantic place, would be fantastic. We were in an apartment 60 steps from the lake yet we heard the lapping of the waves on the shore from our windows. Lake Como, especially the east shore including Varenna where there is very little traffic, is a bit remote from the rest of Italy. It is only a little over an hour by train from Milan, and only 12 miles and a short ferry to Mennagio to Lugano in Switzerland. I guess it depends if you want seclusion or big city for your Honeymoon.

Beware the trap of trying to see all the cool places in Italy on one trip. Since you have Italian heritage, you're probably going to fall in love with the place and will end up going back. Two weeks probably means 12 nights, considering you lose a day to get there. I would tell you to pick only three or four places at most. Fly into one city and fly back from another. (Choose the "Multi-City" option when looking at flights. Do NOT choose two one-way tickets.) A lot of people fly into the north (either Venice or Milan) and then depart from the south (usually Rome), or vice versa. Get yourself a copy of the Rick Steves Italy book and read up on the various locations he covers. Study a map of Italy to see how spread out places are, and that will help you decide where to go. You'll see that the Amalfi area is a good ways south of Rome, which may be the opposite direction you want to go. That said, Positano in particular is very romantic. But you need to act soon. Flights and hotels are booking up. Happy travels.

Congratulations. My wife an I just returned from our Italian honeymoon a week ago. Happy to share some thoughts. We did Rome (5 nights), Florence (4 nights), the Cinque Terre (3 nights) and Venice for the final four nights. Rome is intense. A wonderful experience, but also the most stressful. If you don't like doing a lot of walking, stay at a hotel near a metro stop. Leave yourself plenty of down-time. I wouldn't miss Florence or Venice - both are amazing, romantic cities - and much slower paced than Rome. I guess it depends on what balance of sightseeing/relaxing you're aiming for. I worked 3 days in the Cinque Terre into the middle of the trip to give us a break from museums and big-city life. Best decision I made. Anyway, I'm happy to share specifics on hotel, restaurant, transportation and sightseeing advice if you want.
Kirk

Ciao Nicole and Congrats! I will echo and underscore what others have said about not cramming too much into your trip. Allow your first location or two to be the place where you recover from jet lag. Even after several trips over here it always takes a few days for me to change clocks. We are currently in Verona and on this trip so far have also been to Rome and Bellagio. We always find that we enjoy more of the slow travel of Italy, as opposed to seeing the same tourist route, although we mix a bit of that in each trip too just to remind ourselves. :) the most romantic places to me are not the big cities. They can be very overwhelming and stressful at times. We absolutely loved Borgo Le Terazze in Bellagio on this trip. If I was going on my honeymoon, it would be there. On past trips our favorites have been Punta Civita in Ravello along the Amalfi coast, and several agriturismos in chianti. Given what I have said above of our tastes, if I planned a honeymoon it would go like this: 1.)Fly into Milan and train up to Bellagio 4 nights. 2.)Train to somewhere just outside of Florence and pick up a car. Stay 4 nights at Agriturismos in Chianti. Day trip to vineyards, Florence and Siena. 3.) Drop off the car near Florence and train to Amalfi coast for 3 nights. Take a hydro foil to Capri for one of the days.
4.)train to Rome for the remainder of nights you have available. Congrats on the wedding and have fun planning the trip! Remember you will be back so you don't have to cram it all in this trip. :)

Congratulations! I think you can do Rome (6 nights total) with the Amalfi Coast (four or five nights in Positano/Amalfi and one or two in Sorrento), or Rome (5 nights) and Lake Como/Cinque Terre (3 nights each and 1 night in Milan), in two weeks, but, I wouldn't try to do much more because I think having some down time is important after the craziness of a wedding. Rome is great but also a lot of work right after a wedding. So, I'd do Rome last. You could fly into Rome and stay that night before leaving for Amalfi and then "do" Rome (5 nights) at the end when a big City might be more fun. (Train from Rome to Salerno is two hrs, ferry from Salerno to Amalfi is 45 mins or to Positano another half hour). Or, fly into Milan for an overnighter, before heading to both Como and Cinque Terre before heading to Rome. The train between Como and Milan is an hour and between Milan and Cinque Terre about three hours.