My husband and I are traveling to Italy April 19/20, landing in Rome, then departing May 9 from Venice. That gives us almost three weeks to explore. Our plan is to focus primarily on Tuscany. These are the main cities I've identified in our itinerary: 1) Rome, 2) Assissi, 3) Siena, 4) Florence, 5) Lucca and Villa Basilica (my ancestral village), and Venice. I was thinking 2 nights in Rome and more like 4 in Venice, and 2-4 in Florence. I know I could do Lucca and V.B. as a day trip from Florence, but I wanted a bit more time, and I can't figure out what order I should book lodging, trains, etc. in. Ideas?
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1151 posts
Hello mariasilvermoon,
With three weeks I think Rome deserves more time. Obviously your interests are up to you but especially if one of those days is a post flight day I would afford Rome more time.
One real question you will need to answer is whether you are interested in or willing to rent a car and drive in Italy. Tuscany is one of those areas that benefits from a car if you want freedom to visit the exact towns you want on your schedule and if not then you need to plan your trips around the public transportation options. Someplace as small as Villa Basilica will present some challenges to visit with public transport. If you decide to rent a car book that ahead and make sure all the things you want to drive to are in that block of time and plan for where you will pick it up and drop it off.
Transfers with fast trains between large cities should be booked before you go. The price goes up as the dates get closer and are really expensive 'day of ' purchasing. There is no reason to book slower regional trains - eg Florence to Lucca - beforehand.
I really like Lucca - despite the lack of big sights - and would recommend a couple of nights there. If you want to use it as a base to visit Villa Basilica as day trip(s) then I would plan on even more time there.
Late April and early May are relatively early but you should still nail down the things you can. I would lay out the nights you know about - Rome, Venice at least and then start to plan your time. Depending on how open you are to not have all your lodging booked and winging it when you get somewhere should dictate how much before you book places other than big cities.
Keep in mind that even early in the season if you have some "must sees" - liek David - then it might be worth booking those tickets in advance and planning those stays out some more.
Get the Trenitalia app for checking trains and booking tickets and use it for ad hoc purchases to avoid ticket machine lines. Book flexible tickets for pre-booked trains if you want more flexibility (at the cost of higher price) and decide how much you want to play it by ear versus having everything pre-planned and booked. This comes down to a personal comfort level with adventure travel versus predefined travel.
Have a great trip,
=Tod
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
8002 posts
We did something similar last fall, starting in Rome, then north to Lucca, over to Sienna, then on to Florence, with additional stops in between some of those. We didn’t have Assisi on that trip, but you could visit Assisi after Florence, then finish with Venice.
Posted by
8337 posts
Rome is special and deserved way more than two days.
In two days, you can to the Forum, Coliseum, St. Peter's and Vatican Museum, but there is much, much more to see. Plan on 5 days.
Siena is an easy day trip from Florence by car or train. Lucca is worth a day, but it is a bit farther than Florence. You can do Pisa and the Leaning Tower when you do Lucca. Assisi is in Umbria and consider seeing Perugia nearby when you visit.
Fly into Rome and out of Venice.
Posted by
Fort Myers, FL
1901 posts
The short answer is you can spend as much or as little time in any place you want.
The bigger question to ask yourself is why am I going to each and what do I want to see? This is helpful in determining if you have the right amount of time allotted. For example, 2 days in Rome is okay, but will you miss things you might regret not seeing. Same with 4 days in Venice, is it too much time for what you want to see and do. I suggest taking that extra step to determine what to see and do to help determine time spent in each place. The answers about an itinerary depend so much on your interests. I would suggest Rome-5, Assisi-2, Siena-3, Florence-3, Lucca area-3 and Venice-remainder of your time.
Enjoy.
Posted by
267 posts
When looking at trains, check out Italo train as well. https://www.italotreno.it/en (they also have a pretty good app)
If you make an account you'll get weekly discount newsletters.
I've found their prices are slightly less than trenitalia for the base or flex (highest price, most flexibility, no need to buy ahead unless the train is sold out, which I don't know if that happens). Their discounted, non refundable tickets are fairly cheap, for example we booked Rome-Florence in the prima section for less than $10 each - that was a super discount sale that I got from an email.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thanks, everyone. I know Rome has a lot to see and based on what you all have advised, we might stay an extra night in Rome, but it's really not our priority. All your ideas and opinions are helpful, and I didn't know there were two apps for the trains!
Posted by
267 posts
Just to clarify, Italo is a different (private) rail company than Trenitalia. Italo operates high speed trains for some areas especially Rome and north, but Trenitalia offers both regional and high speed trains and covers the whole country. Have you seen this site, it's a great intro to the trains https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-italy.htm#travel-tips