Honeymoon Trip to Italy in October. Help!!

Last year I did a similar trip, but in different order. We hit a LOT in 10 days, not for the faint of heart. I thought Venice was amazing, and deserved 2-3 days for sure. Florence/Tuscany could easily be a week or more by itself, but it all depends where you want to go. Tuscany is stunning, every turn there is another beautiful place to see/visit. Florence proper we did too fast, wish I had another day there. Will for sure go back. Give yourself a full day or two, unless museums and such aren't of interest. You can walk it in a day.

Rome, loved it and did in day including Vatican and all the major sights. Walked 10 miles that day! Honestly, that was enough for me but you could spend days here pretty easily. All depends what interest you have.

Bottom line, my trip was a great start but I knew once we landed I'd be going back (going in June in fact), this is the most wonderful country. I imagine you could go for years and never repeat experiences.

Cheers & Congrats!

I think you are going to be hard-pressed to get what you want out of Tuscany with only two days. In late October, the Amalfi coast (what I assume you were after with the Naples/Sorrento bit but maybe I misread your intention) is going to be winding down, and it may not be ideal weather. So, I propose perhaps adding those two Florence/Tuscany days to Venice and/or Rome, or keeping them as is for a brief peek into Florence, but reworking the end of the trip. You could return to "hill town" Tuscany after Rome (or explore another region like Umbria) and do what you described, maybe rent a car. That would end the trip on a relaxing note. You could save Naples and the Amalfi coast for an anniversary trip in the future (early October would be better, but September or late Spring would be ideal).
Congrats and enjoy!

Everyone has their own style of traveling but I think you are trying to cover too much ground in too short a time. Bear in mind that every location change eats up about 1/2 to 3/4 of a day. Assuming you leave Italy on the 254th, that's only 11 days on the ground. Leaving Houston on the 12th means you'll arrive on the 13th in Italy only giving you one full day in Venice. Given you next stop in Florence, again you've only given yourself 1 day before moving onto Rome. For this trip, my suggestion would be to skip Venice and fly into Naples. Spend those first few days in that area and then travel to Rome for your papal audience. Leave Rome the morning of the 19th and take the train to Florence and spend the rest of your time in Tuscany and flying home out of Florence. Given the short window of time, you could base in Florence, Siena or Luca or look for a small rental in Tuscany.

Depart from Houston to Venice (October 12th) Venice (October 12-14th)
Depart Venice to Florence/Tuscany (October 15th) Florence/Tuscany
(October 15-16th)

Keegan, I see issues from the start. Are you sure you can fly from Houston and arrive in Venice the same day? My guess is that you won't arrive until sometime on the 13th...which only gives you one full day in Venice.

Leaving Venice to Florence on the 15th and then leaving on the 17th for Rome gives you only 1 full day in Florence with no time to doodle around Tuscany at all: Florence itself will eat up the 1.5 days or less you've given it.

We are all about going off the beaten path and experiencing local and
authentic things versus touristy attractions.

Well, there are places fewer than more tourists go, even in the cities, but in general you've chosen the top tourist magnets in Italy for your trip so I'd adjust expectations there. Besides, they are the magnets that they are for a reason: all sorts of historical, beautiful or just plain interesting things to see in all of them. Let's just say that their "tourist attractions" - many of which are many centuries to 2000 or more years old. - have a different definition there? They are not Disneyworlds!

The top 3 cities are also good choices for the first-timer as they're well used to hosting visitors from all over the world.

In short, if you want to see some of the rest of Tuscany besides Florence, I'd scrap Sorrento/Naples and give Florence more time to be able to do some days trips (train or bus, depending) to Siena, Lucca, etc. Give Venice some more time as well as you really need a day just to get your head around it. Fly into Venice and out of Rome to avoid backtracking.

How about reversing your itinerary? Land in Rome. Then either go down to Amalfi at that time or take in Rome until your Papal blessing. Then take the train to Orvieto, rent the car by the train station (I believe it's Hertz) after a night in Orvieto. Then take off to Tuscany. Drop off the car either outside of Siena or Florence avoiding the inner city (ZTL zones). Then train to Venice and fly out of Venice.

I concur that there is too much running around here. After the Papal Audience, return to a different area of Tuscany or go to less toiristed Umbria. Look at Orvieto and Spello in Umbria, Pienza or Panzano in Tuscany. Relax! Add more time to Venice too. Congratulations on your upcoming marriage.

Rather than 4 places with just 3 nights each, I would scale back to 3 destinations with 4 nights at each.

October
13. Arrive Rome. To Florence/Tuscany
17. To Rome
21. To Sorrento
25. Depart Naples

Thank you so much everyone for the input!! We really felt like we were shooting in the dark as far as how we were supposed to plan our trip. We've decided on focusing on Florence (6 days) and Rome (6 days) only so we have plenty of time to relax and do things at our own pace :)

Now the next question!! Any good recommendations for hotels/bed and breakfasts around the Florence area for honeymooners?? Doesn't necessarily have to be right in the middle of town I don't think -- we like the idea of a little seclusion.

We went to Italy for the first time in 2015. I think you are doing yourselves a disfavor by skipping Venice....it is just so unbelievably romantic and unique. You don't have to stay long, we didn't, but I'm so glad we saw it. I would do 2 nights Venice, 5 night Tuscany and 5 nights Rome. That's enough time in the other cities to relax. Don't skip Venice, even if it's short.

I was just about to suggest that after Venice (3 nights), you go Rome for however many nights, then to Florence. It's easy enough to get from Florence to the Rome airport for your departure as long as you don't have an early morning flight. Venice is the best place to start a trip, low-key, easy to soak up the atmosphere while getting over jetlag, and so romantic.

Like your plan of 2 bases (Rome and Florence). I would suggest a 'taste of Venice" - you can do a day trip easily by train .

Then train to Venice and fly out of Venice.

Venice seems to be out the picture for now but worth the comment; it's usually recommended to fly into Venice and out of Rome (or other airport) as flights to the U.S. - with connections - tend to depart Venice early in the morning. It can cause issues getting to the airport efficiently and economically when the vaporettos aren't operating yet. Staying near the airport the night before an early flight is another option, though.

I agree you have too much traveling and not enough time staying put. I would fly into Venice, then do Florence/Tuscany, and fly out of Rome. It's your honeymoon, after all! Relax and enjoy :)

As people here always say "you can go back".