Italy in June

Open jaw - into Florence, out of Venice is the most logical. Use the multi-city search on kayak or other sites.

I suppose you could fly into Milan or Rome and take a train to Florence on arrival but...why bother?

Thanks. Looks like it takes an extra flight to get from where I am (Dayton, OH) to Florence, whereas it's one stop in and out of Venice. The extra flight after a transatlantic flight might be too much. Could possibly fly into Venice, spend a night or two in Padua to relax, then go to Florence. We went to Padua on the last trip and my 9-year-old daughter wants to go back.

robert, so the important information here is that Delta/KLM flies non-stop from Atlanta to Venice. Its been awhile since I've seen any direct flights between Venice and the US. You could consider Milan as another option, as its easy enough to get from there to Venice or Florence by rail.

FLR only has intra European flights.

Only Rome Fiumicino (FCO), Milan Malpensa (MXP), and Venice Marco Polo (VCE) have intercontinental flights to North America.

VCE has seasonal flights to JFK and ATL (Delta), PHL (American), EWR (United)

Since from DAY you cannot fly non stop to Europe, you must first stop and connect at a US hub, therefore your only option to get to Italy with one stop only is to fly in and out of VCE. Unless you are willing to go to Rome or Milan.

For most people that ask about flights, the distance of furthest cities apart is greater and the time is shorter.
In the OP's case it really is not a big deal to fly into and out of Venice and make the trip still work well, given that will likely be less expensive than an open jaw option and probably the only way to make it work without 2 stops instead of 1 ; it makes sense to stick with it.
2 stops flights really take a lot out of the you.

Keep in my typical advise doesn't work for all ; for example I fly out of Boston so can reach many places in Europe but not Italy non-stop except Rome so I would have a European connection anywhere else in Italy so the destination airport really makes little difference from one to the other anywhere can be reached with 1 stop. In your case since I think you need a connect in the US to reach Europe it makes a difference to try and have 1 stop instead of 2.

Thanks everyone. One-stop is what I can manage, especially with a kid. I tend not to sleep on flights, so the thought of getting on another plane feels extra difficult. I could fly into Milan and out of Venice, but that doesn't really accomplish much. I'd still have to get to Florence, either that day or after a day or so in or near Milan.

Forgot to add, the last trip was in and out of the Venice airport, so it's a known quantity. Not that I don't want unknown...

Maybe Verona as an alternative to Padova. You can always day trip between the two, plus Vicenza as well.
I would fly in to Venice. After Florence perhaps head to Lake Como for a few days before flying out of Milan.

I'd always choose to start a visit to Italy in Venice, just because it's the best place to be laid back and get over the jetlag while still enjoying the city.

Instead of backtracking to Venice, it's about 1.5 hours by train to Rome, not much more to Milan. If you can get a noon or later departure from FCO, you could even take the 7.38 train directly to the airport (arrives just before 10). An early departure from Venice means getting up in the middle of the night to get to the airport. Even if you need to spend your last night in another city, Milan or Rome would be easier. You don't even have to unpack, just take an evening train from Florence with a small bag of essentials for the night and shove them into the suitcase in the morning.

An early morning departure from Venice is not fun. You don't sleep well because you don't want to sleep through your alarm and miss your flight. I would fly into Venice but out of another city, unless the flight from Venice departs late in the day, which is unlikely.