Italy travel

How many nights will you have in Italy? I would say you need at least 9 nights to make this itinerary work, and more is better. Fly into Firenze (Florence), spend you time there, then a train to the Cinque Terre town of your liking, and finally train to Lago di Como. Varenna makes a nice base as you can easily take a train to Milano to fly home. Rick Steves' guidebook for Italy will be an invaluable resource for you.

You don't say where you're flying from. If from the U.S., flying into Milan is less expensive, and you'd just be 45 minutes south of Lake Como by train. (I assume that's the lake you're wanting to visit.)
You could go to the Cinque Terre from there. Then, local train down to La Spezia and over to Florence--usually via Pisa.

You will find more flights into Pisa than Florence (and cheaper too).
You could either head straight to Cinque Terre, then Florence (or vice versa).
On to Milan and Lake Como.

Sorry. Yes we fly out of Boston.

ek,

As the others have mentioned, some further information would really be helpful. Getting to all the places you mentioned is very easy by train (in most cases). Which of the Italian lakes were you planning to visit? Also, is this your first visit to Italy?

We have been to Venice. We don't know which lake or lakes to visit. Whatever is easiest. I assumed we would have to fly into Milan

I prefer Lago di Como to Lago di Garda. Very easy to reach before or after Milano, depending on your itinerary.

You don't need a car for your itinerary.

If you fly into Milan, Lake Como is less than an hour away by train. Perfect place to relax, get over any jet lag, and regroup for the rest of the trip.

ek,

For Italian lakes, I'd suggest looking at Lago di Como (Varenna) or Lago Maggiore (Stresa). If you fly into Milan those are both easily accessible and as someone else mentioned, either of those would be great places to recover from jet lag.

Which airports in Italy offer the best flights from Boston? WHEN will this trip take place? Also what is the time frame for this trip?

You could consider a route Italian lakes > Cinque Terre > Florence. With more information, it would be easier to provide more specific suggestions.

Try Lufthsana into Pisa and out of Milan. This is an open jaw or multi city ticket.

Your path would be...Cinque Terre, Florence (Firenze SMN) Then either Como (Varenna Esino)

or Maggiore (Stresa). All easy to do by train. Look at Trenitalia.com. for tickets.

I'm with Gerri (or is Gerri with me?)