If you had to choose another country to visit

A little short on info, Jeanie. Do you mean to add to a planned Italy trip (since you are posted in Italy)? Similar to? Different from? Heck, stick a pin in Europe and there is going to be something interesting.
More info and some explanation of time of year, length of time, your interests will perhaps give you some relevant useful info, otherwise all we can offer is a list made up out of our head.

Budget is also a factor, and the ages of any children who would be traveling with you.

Other in relation to what?

How about USA??? Give us a clue as to your interests? No mind readers here.

From Italy? Instead of Italy? If looking for an alternative, why? Europe only? Beyond Europe? What time of year and for how long? To do what? Hike? Scope out museums? Do history/architecture walks? Shop? Lay on the beach?

Yep, more info would be helpful or you could get a laundry list of pretty much every country in the world that isn't on the U.S. State Dept's Level 4 Do-Not-Travel list.

Assuming you are talking about Italy plus another country, the easiest thing to do is to pick a country that is touching Italy. So for example you could do France, Switzerland, or Austria using trains. Alternately, the rise of cheap flights within Europe enables you to tack on a lot of other countries easily. So what else do you want to do? You can fly from Rome nonstop to many other cities in Europe such as London, Paris, Berlin. Personally I try to balance out big cities with nature. So if one part of my trip is all museums in big cities then the next part of my trip will either be a beach or the mountains.

Ok didn't give details. My bad. No kids. Traveling second half of May. We loved italy..went to Rome 3 nights 4 nights in Tuscany and three in Umbria. Loved the countryside and beautiful hill towns. What other European destinations would you recommend?

I'd go back to Italy--seriously, you just got a taste! Each region feels like a different country--I could go back every year and never get bored. But if you are really wanting something different, Croatia, Greece, and Spain--basically any Mediterranean country, only omitting France because I have not been there.

Florence, Bologna, Venice, wine country and the Po valley.
Spain, but limit the distance. Sevilla may be reaching 100F by May, but 10 days in Andalusia is just about right. Just fly into the area. Even if it means a connecting flight in Madrid, it just makes sense to do the 1 hour flight as part of your international flight,....at least price it out. Alternatively, use Malaga as your arrival airport and you may consider a car rental through the white hill towns around Ronda to Sevilla, then drop the car and use train.
Alternatively, Barcelona and Catalonia. Temperate to hot
Alternatively, Madrid, a road trip in the area, and if you want more city, depart from Barcelona. Madrid is cooler than the coast or inland.
Or, off the high tourist track and do the northern Spanish coast and Bilbao - cool
Ireland

Anywhere offsetting Italy works. France, Switzerland, Austria etc. Shoot you can even take a flight to Greece or Croatia any will work. As a previous poster said stick a pin in place and go.

Greece and Croatia are on the top of my list. Also Barcelona, Malaga, Mallorca...oh the list goes on and on for me!

Thank-you everyone for your responses and ideal. Croatia peaks my interest. I will check out that forum. Wonder if we could do Venice and then go to Croatia? Will be exploring our options.

Slovenia and Croatia

You have barely touched the surface in Italy. Croatia and Slovenia work well together. You could fly in and out of Venice too,

Jeanie, yes, you absolutely can do Venice and Croatia and that is exactly what I was going to recommend to you. You can fly into Venice, spend some time there and then take a ferry or bus (either works) over to Croatia. It's easy to do, I've done it twice, once by ferry and once by the bus. Croatia is beautiful and easy to get around.

Your question is very broad, but if you liked Italy, Spain or France (especially Provence) might be good. But you might want to do something very different, in which case ... most of Europe.

You could go almost anywhere including a repeat visit to Italy. Google images of several destinations that appeal to you and see what catches your interest the most.

Lisa I like your idea of flying into Venice. Now thoughts of Croatia or Slovenia? Not seeing a way back except returning to Venice. Maybe do Venice on the back end and go straight to Slovenia or Croacia first? 7 full days not enough to hit the highlights in the 2 countries? (3 nights in Venice on the backend)

Slovenija.
We just spent 10 days there (4-Piran and 6-Ljubljana).
A wonderful country.

Venice is a great gateway to Slovenia. But, 7 full days (6 nights?) is not nearly enough to see the highlights of both Slovenia and Croatia. You could spend 7 days/6 nights in Slovenia alone.

Fly into Venice.
Bus or GoOpti to Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ljubljana (3 nights)
Lake Bled (2 nights)
Piran (1 night)
Catamaran, bus, or GoOpti back to Venice
Venice (3 nights)

or

Fly into Venice.
Bus or GoOpti to Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ljubljana (3 nights, day trip to Lake Bled)
Bus or GoOpti to Rovinj, Croatia
Rovinj (3 nights)
Day trips to Pula (Roman ruins), to hill towns - rent a car or take a tour
(Rovinj is a cute little Venetian town that makes a good base for exploring the area)
Catamaran, bus, or GoOpti back to Venice

--

If you really want to explore Croatia, I suggest 1.5 to 2 weeks minimum. Many people add parts of Bosnia and Montenegro as well.

Why wouldn't you do an open jaw or Multi city flight? Into Venice and out of Ljubljana? I did a dummy booking on Matrix ITA in May Charlotte to Venice, Ljubljana to Charlotte for $587 entire flight. Sure, it means Slovenia to Frankfurt to Chicago to Charlotte. But I am not understanding how you can say you 'have to' go back to Venice?

Croatia and the Czech Republic

Of course it all depends on the pace you prefer, but for about a week, I would consider that enough time for Venice plus one place in Croatia, Rovinj by ferry (and explore a bit of Istria). If you'd rather do a road trip, I'd say drive into Slovenia and then back to Venice (unless you can find an outbound flight from Zagreb, Ljubljana, even Pula could offer you a connecting flight).

But I am not understanding how you can say you 'have to' go back to Venice?

It sounds like she wants to. I don't blame her - I've been back four times myself. Another reason to fly out of Venice instead of Ljubljana might be a less complicated flight home. Yeah, it's about 2.5-3 hours to Venice Marco Polo airport from Ljubljana, but if that means one connection instead of two, I'd probably do it.

Andrew H , the comment was 'not seeing a way back except to return to Venice'. That doesn't sound like a choice to return. Not everyone understands an open jar flight not that it is different and cheaper than 2 one ways.

Another Country: Ireland

Italy: Tuscany is up next for me.

Thank-you all for your suggestions. Acknowledge that I am no expert at "open jaw' flight inquires. Any tips appreciated. I will begin exploring your suggestions.

"Thank-you everyone for your responses and ideal. Croatia peaks my interest. I will check out that forum. Wonder if we could do Venice and then go to Croatia? Will be exploring our options. "

I just did that. Am in the process of posting a trip report. Here is the link - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-5-weeks-in-italy-croatia-france-summer-2019

For open jaw you would choose "multi city" option on the airline website when entering departure and arrival cities. You would fly into Venice and out of - where ever. You could try Split, Zagreb, etc. Problem is that severely limits the airlines you can use cause many do not fly to Croatia. This makes tickets more expensive. However, you can fly out of Split, Dubrovnik, Zagreb, etc. on Easy Jet to many other cities in Europe. Very cheap (we flew from Split to Lyon France for about $50 last summer, years ago we flew Dubrovnik to Rome for even less). Then you use whichever city you choose in Italy, France, etc. to fly back home. This of course means you need to spend at least one night in that city but by doing so you can save a bundle.