Italy in Early December

You could look at the itineraries for all the 'Italy' tours and use them as a guide and stitch together your own or adapt one of them to suit your time and interests

Check your local library for guidebooks, visit bookstores and glance through them and you’ll have an idea about which ones might fit your your needs. Rick’s are my favorite but I’ve also used Lonely Planet and Rough Guides. The suggestion to look at his tour itineraries on this site is excellent. You have to remember that certain areas will,be closed down because it’s not tourist season and others might be expensive because it’s ski season. Last November I took the Sicily tour which ended on December 1st and I spent another 10 days roaming around Naples, Amalfi, Ravello, Paestum, Orvieto, and Tivoli. Wonderfully tourist free.

Italy is a great idea for December, when weather is usually mild - little or no frost or snow, probably a good deal of sunshine and even coat-less days. Using any suggested RS route, whether it's in a guide book or on a tour is very difficult when you are on your own in unfamiliar places. Since you're going in December, consider spending a few days in southern Germany to see the Christmas markets and the rest of your time in Italy. My only specific advice is to stick to cities since weather can put a real damper on outdoor plans, also days will be short so you want to be in places where you'll enjoy the long evenings.

The caveat I would offer is that a tour group with a professional guide will move much faster and efficiently than someone on their own will on a first trip. You will need to allow more time for orienting yourself to each new location. Where Rick’s tours spend two nights, consider making your stop 3 nights.