Italy Itinerary Question

Given the time required to travel to a new city and get settled in a new hotel, you have at best 1-1/2 days in Venice and not much more in Rome. Both of those visits seem short, especially Rome. Much as I like Venice, I'd recommend leaving it for another trip so you have time to enjoy the other locations without so much time pressure to rush around seeing things.

To start in the Cinque Terre you could fly into Pisa or Genoa (fastest), Florence, or Milan (farthest of the four options). I have no idea which of those airports is easiest to manage when you are heading for a train (maybe Pisa?).

Rome's too important to cut short as it's more of a 4 day city. I'd forgo going to the Cinque Terre to see Rome properly.
But if you're going to see the C/T, Pisa is the larger and closer airport to fly into. You'd catch the train to La Spezia and connect to a short local train into the C/T.

When are you traveling? IMO, that would make a big difference on where I would go.
I am also not as much of a Rome fan as others so I think 2 nights is OK. Being beach fans, Venice has a great public beach, Lido, just a short vaparetto ride from Venice proper. The CT is stunningly beautiful for the scenery, but some of the towns in the CT don't have much of a beach, so if that is important, choose wisely. I love Florence but wonder if you couldn't take a day from there and add it to either CT or Venice. Time of year would be the determining factor for me.

Fly into Florence instead from London. I counted 4 non-stop flights from London. I would add one day in Florence and one in Rome and a just do a day trip to Venice from Florence.

Thanks for all the advice so far.... We are going in August to answer your question which we know is a very busy time of the year there.

For some reason, we just arent as excited for Rome as most people are. We can only see so many churches and museums in one trip.

"We can only see so many churches and museums in one trip", so you would skip the churches and museums in Roma?

It's your trip, but Roma has some of the best artwork and architecture in Italy. And so much more than churches and museums. Just take a glance (RS guidebook?) at what you would be missing if you do skip it (which is fine to do).

Trust me, Stephen. Rome is that good. After doing a fly-by for 2+ days in 2010, we just returned from 6 nights at an apartment on the Campo de' Fiori fruit market. Not only was that part of it wonderful--the fruit, bread, and prosciutto shopping--but we had friends from a previous trip to southern Italy that spend their winters in Rome, and they escorted us around to some of the tour-skipped churches: Sant Andrea della Valle, St. Agnese, St. Constantia. St. Peter-in-Chains was unexpectedly awesome. The Baths of Diocletian--containing the oldest artifacts I've ever seen, from the Early Iron Age in 1000 B.C., are right next to the Termini train station for Pete's sake.

Spend as much time in Rome as possible. The vibe is unmistakable, business as usual with wonders around every turn.

Fly London either LHR or LGW to Pisa (PSA). Train to CT. 2 nites.

CT-Florence 5 nites. Day trip to Venice.

Florence-Rome 3 nites.

If you already have flight to Florence.

Florence>CT>Rome.

I love Rome. But I didn't see it at all on my first trip to Italy, because I wasn't drawn to go there at the time. So, if Rome is not as appealing to you now as other Italian destinations, cut it out, and just spend your last night there before your flight home. In 10 nights, you can't see everything, or even everything wonderful. So, just put more time to the other destinations that draw you more now. I'd add the extra night to Venice.