How do I break up my time!!

You’ll need a car to get to Montepulciano.

I doubt that March would be a good time to visit Cinque Terre.

I know it we cant swim that time of year and it might be rainy but that’s ok

Yea I was wondering about the car. It seems like the train goes to montepulciana. I know florence makes sense from a location perspective but I didnt love florence. I did like siena

In Cinque Terre. the cold from winter still lingers with average daytime highs in March hitting F53 degrees and F47 at night. You won’t be able to swim because the water temp averages 57 degrees. It’s cloudy more often than not.
You can reach Florence from Rome in 90 minutes on a high-speed train for which you can buy tickets 4 months in advance for the best deals at www.Trenitalia.com or www.Italotreno.it
Montepuluciano can be reached from Florence by train in 3 hours. The train drops you off several kilometers from the town. You might consider Siena which has a 75-minute express bus from Florence which will drop you right by the town. Lucca, a medieval walled city , can be reached from Florence by train in 80 minutes; Pisa can be reached in an hour or less.

Thank you this is helpful

The train runs from Siena to Montepulciano station, from there a 15min bus to the town of Montepulciano.

To avoid backtracking, on arrival in Rome head directly to Florence. Use your jet lagged day
To head north. If you must go to CT, spend at most 1 night. Believe me you won’t want to stay longer! It can be rainy, grey days with high winds and downright cold.
Add those 2 extra days in Florence/Siena and Rome.

You have only 8 or 9 nights - 7 or 8 full days plus about 1/2 day on the 4th when you're jetlagged and maybe sleep-deprived. Your return flight from Rome will probably leave in the morning, so you can't count departure day. Don't over schedule. Leave enough time for Rome - you'll use about 1/2 day just to get there. 3 nights means only 2.5 days of sightseeing.

The Cinque Terre are very pretty when the sun is out. In early March, some of the trails may not be fit because of winter damage not yet repaired. The nicest views are from the water but the ferries don't run in the winter. Even if you have good weather, sunset's around 6.15 pm leaving you with long evenings and nothing to do, probably not much choice of restaurants then either. And you'll use up way too much time getting there from Florence and more going on to Rome.

I was in Italy this year in late March to early April. The Tuscan scenery wasn't much to look at - the vineyards were just rows and rows of black skeletons of the vines and a lot of the trees were just beginning to open their leaves. You'll be there 2-3 weeks earlier.

Embrace the benefits of late winter - the beautiful buildings won't be obscured by trees. Most tourist sights won't be crowded. It gets dark early, so stay in places that will be interesting on those long evenings. Rome is beautiful at night. Little towns - not so much.

Bologna is a university town and a rail hub. Restaurants and cafes will be open, it has an interesting historic center. You can day trip to other towns to explore - Ferrara, Modena, Parma, Padua. It's about 1/2 an hour farther from Rome by train than Florence. Go straight there and day trip to Florence instead of changing hotels.

Consider Orvieto for 1-2 nights. It is a hill town with interesting sights, a beautiful cathedral and nice views of the countryside. It's in Umbria, but there's no difference for tourists between that and Tuscany. It's about 3 hours by train from Bologna, 1-1/2 hours from Rome.

Orvieto is on the plan for my next trip to Italy. It has a lot to offer above ground and underground, where you can visit the areas of Orvieto where the Etruscans, the people who pre-date the Ancient Romans, flourished and lived around the year 1,000 BC. By train, Orvieto is about 1 hour from Rome. and 2 hours 15 minutes from Florence. Check out “ Underground Orvieto.”

Three nights is not enough time in Rome unless you cut out Vatican City that requires a full day. To see the best of Rome requires four nights minimum.
I visited the Cinque Terre in late Mar and found the weather to be warm with constant sunshine. I hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza and wished I had worn shorts and a tank top. Here’s an itinerary I came up with:
Mar 4 - from Rome’s Fiumicino (FCO) airport take a train to Riomaggiore that requires two transfers taking 5h 15m; sleep in Riomaggiore.
Mar 5 – Take ferries to the Cinque Terre towns but to reach Corniglia involves walking up close to 400 stairs. If you don’t want to climb this many steps that took me 30-minutes then skip it; sleep in Riomaggiore.
Mar 6 – take an early afternoon train from Riomaggiore to Montepulciano that requires 2 changes taking 6h 30m. There will not be a taxi waiting but supposedly there’ll be a phone number posted that you can call for a taxi pickup; sleep in Montepulciano.
Mar 7 – sleep in Montepulciano.
Mar 8 – take the train from Montepulciano to Rome’s Termini station (2h 30m) that requires a transfer. Sleep in the Trastevere neighborhood or the nearby Hotel Smeraldo.

Mar 5 – Take ferries to the Cinque Terre towns but to reach Corniglia
involves walking up close to 400 stairs. If you don’t want to climb
this many steps that took me 30-minutes then skip it; sleep in
Riomaggiore.

Just a wee note that, as Chani previously mentioned, the ferries will not be running in early/mid March. There is also a bus that runs between Corniglia train station and the village above. It's usually timed to train arrivals so there's no need to climb the Scalinata Lardarina. We did take the stairway going back down to the station; easier that way! :O) I believe this timetable is current but I'm cheerfully open to correction if there's a better source! I believe tickets are just a couple of euros or so if one doesn't have a CT trekking or Treno card.

https://moovitapp.com/index/en/public_transit-line-CORNIGLIA_STAZIONE-La_Spezia_e_Lunigiana-2743-856601-345595-0

Yes, there's little to do at night in the CT, especially in the off season when it gets dark early and not all places will have opened for the season. With as little time as you have, I'd re-consider this one? In general, I think you have too many locations involving too much time lost to moving around for only 7-8 FULL days.

Thank you all this very helpful. Is the amalfi coast a better option this time of year. I know it will be cold but I read less windy ?

Ok so we getting to rome on march 4 leaving rome march 12. Going to cut cinque terre but want to go somewhere in addition to rome.

You don’t have time to go to the Amalfi coast which takes much longer to get to than the CT.
You don’t have very much time to begin with and if you really have to go to the CT you should just plan on one night, and use your other days for Florence or Rome, and a small medieval hilltop town which doesn’t have to be Montepulciano.
And as for weather at the CT, I have been there twice in March and it was pleasant, although the crowds were not, and the last time I was there was in 2011, and I can imagine it’s way more crowded now, even in March. So you could go just to see what it’s all about, but you won’t find much to do there at that time of the year when the likelihood of the trails being closed increases.

Perhaps you could go straight to Siena upon arrival, spend 4 nights, including a day trip or 2 somewhere by bus, then 4 or 5 nights in Rome. I think that would do places justice with the time you have.

Thanks all.

Tiffany, here are some possible day trips from Siena.

These towns are easily accessible by bus and train. Some towns I've combined with others. (B=bus, T=train)
Siena-Colle di Val d'Elsa ( B 30m)-San Gimignano (B 35m)-Siena (B 1H05m)
Siena-Montereggioni (B 18m)-Castellina in Chianti (B 30m) Siena
Siena-Radda in Chianti (B 55m) Siena
Siena-Buonconvento (T 28m)-Monteroni d'Arbia
(T 12m)-Siena
Siena-Rapolano Terme (T 37m)-Asciano Mont Oliveto (T 10m)-Siena (T 26m)
Siena-Sinalunga (T 53m) Siena
Siena-San Quirico d' Orcia (B 50m)
Siena-Certaldo (T 39m)

Look them up to see what interests you.
Check return times carefully.

I'm going to say less is more. While you can set foot in all the places you've listed you won't be spending much time in them. Take Florence, for example. I don't know what time your flight arrives, but it takes 45 minutes from touchdown to standing in the airport; you still need to clear immigration. Then you need to get to Roma Termini for the train to Florence, probably another hour or more. You'll want to arrive 20 minutes before the hi-speed train to Florence (a 1.5 hour ride). So that's at least 4-5 hours or more from touchdown to standing in Florence. And you're leaving the next day.

Furthermore train tickets purchased in advance are less expensive but you'll either have to book a later train to account for possible flight delays (and even then take the chance of having the tickets expire worthless if you miss the train) or buy full-fare walkup tickets. The difference in price is significant. The point I'm making is that Florence doesn't seem worth visiting on your schedule; if it was me I'd either skip it or spend 2 nites there.

We love beautiful scenery wine and food and just walking around the towns.

It sounds like you won't have a car at all during the trip. Some Tuscany towns like montepulciano are less accessible by train; I think the station is in a suburb about 5 miles from the center. Without a car Tuscany and Umbria are a bit harder to get around but it is possible although slow. We've traveled thru Umbria and visited hilltowns using the train. Perugia, Cortona, Assisi, etc. My sense is Umbria is a bit easier to visit using trains; you take shuttle bus from the station to the hilltown.

If I was doing your trip I'd start with 2 nites in Rome. That way you don't care if the flight is delayed, when you land you go to your hotel, drop your bags, then start sightseeing. I'd then go to Bologna for 3 nights. As mentioned by another poster an attractive and enjoyable town, with miles of covered sidewalks in case it's raining and wonderful food. Easy day trips by train to Parma and Modena among others. Or go to Florence instead of Bologna if you prefer. Then I'd go to Umbria for 3 nites and use Perugia as a base. I'd then go back to Rome for a final night and fly out the next day.

With such a short trip I’d try to spend as little time as possible in transit/on trains between locations
Every time you change locations you lose at least a half a day, in some cases even more.

Pick 2 locations and day trip if you want from those. Do 4 nights in one place, 5 in the other

Maybe 3 locations if you must but realize your first day is a wash
A 3 night stay gives you just 2.5 days to sightsee/explore.

I like John’s plan for that reason
Other day trips from Bologna would be Ravenna, Ferrara, Verona and even Florence. Venice is possible as well but to me too far as a day trip and deserves way more than that
All short train rides and worthwhile visits.

Agree with Chani that Tuscany won’t be as beautiful as you might be imagining at that time of year and CT would be out completely IMO- unless you are into hiking and have good weather karma!

Thank you all so much. We have decided to divide between two spots. Rome is one we are thinking orvieto and do some day trips. I am going to look into the other areas mentioned

as Chani previously mentioned, the ferries will not be running in early/mid March.

I read that too and it didn't register, thanks for pointing that out.

There is also a bus that runs between Corniglia train station and the village above. It's usually timed to train arrivals so there's no need to climb the Scalinata Lardarina.

Wish I had known that.

Orvieto is not really a good base for day trips. From Rome you could day trip to Tivoli (esp. Villa d'Este) and Hadrian's Villa. I went on a small group tour that was very good, well worth the money for transportation and, of course, the guide. You could day trip to Naples. Ostia Antica is a nice half-day outside Rome.

My friend and I flew into Rome for a week in March this year. It was her first trip to Italy. When we arrived we rented a car and spent our first two nights in Orvieto to give her that hilltop Tuscany/Umbria experience. It was an easy drive but it's also an easy train trip from the airport with one train transfer. The train from Rome stops right by the funicular which transports you up to the walled city of Orvieto. We did a side trip to Civita di Bagnoregio with a car it is a great location to visit other Tuscan or Umbrian towns. Without it's more work, Florence is an easy connection. I would highly recommend spending more days in Rome there's so many spots to visit that people skip when only spending a few days there. My recommendations of hidden gems to do in Rome with more time. Walk up Aventine Hill, eat an authentic Roman meal in Testaccio, take the VR tour at Baths of Caracalla, Domus Aurea, and Circo Maximo. Visit the Fountain of Frog and Quartiere Coppede. Don't forget to bring winter coats, scarves, gloves, and waterproof comfortable shoes. It was cold and wet most of our trip at the end of March but after our visit this June I think off season is the better than the heat and crowds of June, July and August. Enjoy!