Italy itenary

"Must dos" are best discovered in a good guidebook. the guy who sponsors this site writes a fine one. It is too early for beaches, however.

"3 full days and nights" does not make sense to me. You only get FULL days between the nights you stay in a location because arrival and departure days are always partial what with check-in/check-out and transfer times. So 3 nights = 2 FULL days. And if you are into nightlife, you may lose out on the mornings. :-)

Seems you have 12 nights and 7 locations in that short period of time means you have an endless stream of check-in/check-out and seeing the insides of train stations.

Since you are flying out of Milano, I would stay central and north. Drop Naples and the Amalfi Coast which is a long way to travel from Rome for such a short stay.

Restrict yourself to Rome (4 nights), Florence (4 nights), Bologna (3 nights) with a day trip to Verona if you like, and a final night in Milano to facilitate flying out.

Note that it is less than an hour by train from Bologna to Verona.

thanks for your response!

I actually land in Rome and fly out of Milan. Also just extended my trip by two days. Maybe this helps! Is April a good time for the Amalfi coast? I am thinking 3 full days in Rome (i land very early in the morning hence full days) 3 days naples (2.5 with travel). 3 days florence (2.5 again)I have to spend one day in Milan since my flight out is from there. Open to suggestions on how to fill the remaining 4 days

I have been to all the place you listed. Nothing wrong with any of them.

However, I would suggest you spend more time in some places and eliminate others.

Rome deserves more than three nights. You will only see the tip of the iceberg there in three days.

No problem with Naples, however, consider Sorrento as another choice. Not sure what you plan to see in the Naples area. Are you going to Pompeii or the museum in Naples?

The Amalfi Coast is cool, but you can do it on a day trip from Naples or Sorrento.

Bologna and Verona are nice to visit, but pale when compared to Florence, Venice and Rome. Milan is where you flight departs from, so you probably need to stick with it.

I am thinking 3 full days in Rome (i land very early in the morning hence full days) 3 days naples (2.5 with travel). 3 days florence (2.5 again)I have to spend one day in Milan since my flight out is from there. Open to suggestions on how to fill the remaining 4 days

Your arrival day you will be lucky to be out touring before 14:00, and that is if your flight lands by 09:00 and nothing delays you. By 19:00 you will be dead on your feet unless you can sleep on the plane. (Where are you flying in from?)

Devote more time to Rome than Naples. There is so much more to Rome. Make it 4 nights, if not 5.

If you still decide to go south to Naples and Sorrento, then cut out Bologna, etc.

5 nights Rome

3 nights Sorrento and Naples (you can stay in Sorrento and day trip to Naples or stop in Naples on your between Sorrento and Rome)

3 nights Florence

1 night Milan

More nights in fewer places = a better experience in Italy.

I would give another night to Rome.
Skip Naples and give those 2 nights to the Amalfi Coast instead.
Skip Bologna and Verona ; just too much moving about for 1 night stays ; what exactly do you want to see there that makes it worth all that moving about.
Base the couple of nights in Milan if you need to be there the last night anyway and day trip to Verona from Milan for example. Verona is a good day trip place as the highlights can be easily walked to and seen in a day.

Skip Bologna and Naples for this trip ; they are popular but not as much tourists destinations as your other locations.

I have lived in Europe for the past 20 years. I have travelled extensively in Italy and until you get there, you don't realize how big it is. Your itinerary as it reads now is going to mean a lot more time on trains and a lot less time actually sightseeing. If this is your first time there I would suggest not going below Rome. You could easily spend a week there alone of course, but if you narrow your geographic area you will get a lot more out of the trip. Beaches in the north of Italy aren't great. You have to go well below Naples before you get lovely beaches and April is definitely not beach weather. I laid out an itinerary below that, after Rome, keeps you in the area of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. It also lays your travel out more linearly so there is less time getting from A to B. This gives you the big 3 of Milan, Rome and Florence but also some of the smaller cities and towns. Of course the time in each can be played around with. Hopefully, some food for thought.

3 days in Rome,
2 days and nights in Siena - try to get to San Gimignano or Montelcino from your base there on one day
3 days Florence
3 days Bologna - using this as your base, from here you have several places within 30 minutes or so on the train that are well worth visiting - Parma, Modena, Ferrara, Reggio Emilia. Pick one or two of those. The Emilia Romagna area is the food capital of Italy so worth spending time here. You can get day tours from here based on some of the products such as the cheese, wine and balsamic vinegar,
1 day in Milan - it is worth taking a full day for Milan. There is plenty to see.

Hi Donna!

Thanks a lot for this. Its really helpful.
If I have 2 more nights on the whole trip how would you edit the below plan?

Thanks once again!

There are a couple of possibilities. You could extend in Siena and use that as a base of some of the other Tuscan towns. Montepulciano is great to visit if you are wine lover. There are lots of local vineyards around it so it should be easy to set up a day tour and it is a wonderful town to spend some time in. I'm not a drinker myself but have been the designated driver a few times here and Montepulciano is one of my favorites. Pienza is a very small town nearby that is worth a visit as well. The area is full of little picturesque villages.

The other possibility is go into Milan early and use that as your base to explore Lombardy and the lake area. Como is an hour on the train north and is a great place to spend a leisurely day. But my favorite is Stresa on Lake Maggiore, also an hour away. In Stresa you can take a boat over to the Borromeo islands. One island is a garden on an old estate. Another is a small fishing village and the island closest to Stresa has the Palazzo Borromeo that can be visited along with lots of little shops and restaurants. I would even suggest staying overnight there in one of the grand old hotels. You are up near the alps so the scenery is amazing. Another place easily accessed from Milan in an hour is Bergamo. It has a lovely old city center.

I would just suggest trying to keep your travel limited to within the hour in/hour out rule. There is so much to see in Italy but it best to take a region or two and explore them so you aren't on the road all the time. Hope that helped.

This was brilliant Donna! You have been of great assistance. Thanks for the in depth analysis!