Italy trip advice?

I think you already answered your own question. Too many destinations in too little time.

The biggest expense on a European trip is typically the airfare...pretty much the same if you stay 5 nights or 15 nights. If you’ve not already plunked down the money for airfare then consider staying more nights and then you won’t have a problem trying to cram too many destinations into your itinerary.

Hi there, Laura -
Yep, the standard advice is not to try and cram in too much. There are many good reasons for this, including the flex to work around weather, unexpected transport snags, closed attractions on the one day allowed for city ___, and the time it takes to physically pack up and move to a next location.

That last point is really important as it's usually the most underestimated. Packing up, checking out, getting to stations, waiting for trains, sitting ON the trains, finding the hotel, checking in (or dropping luggage if it's too early to do so), unpacking....figure the process for each move is going to eat at least half a day of the very few days you have to begin with.

2 nights in any city = only 1 full day of sightseeing. No, you don't have time for a Tuscany day trip if you want to do any justice to Florence itself but maybe you're not all that interested in the attractions there?

Additonally, it's very likely going to be brutally hot in most, and very busy in all, of your listed locations. IMHO, one of the best ways I know to get a negative impression of Rome, Florence and Venice is to try and sightsee the top attractions with very limited time. You end up smack in the middle of the biggest tourist masses ALL day, and that can get real old in a fat hurry. Add summer heat and humidity to that and it's a recipe for exhaustion versus fun.

Also, where are you flying home from? You'll want to place that city at the END of your trip.

Sample itinerary with the 8 nights you have (and it's tighter than I'd personally enjoy):
Night 1 - arrive Venice (partial day)
Night 2 - Venice
Night 3 - Florence (partial day; transfer from Venice )
Night 4 - Florence
Night 5 - Florence - day trip day
Night 6: Rome (partial day; transfer from Florence)
Night 7: Rome
Night 8: Rome
Next day: fly home from Rome

If it were me? I'd drop Venice and stick to Florence and Rome, depending on your specific sightseeing interests.

My first trip to Rome, I spent 6 nights there and didn't see it all. I have been back for another 4 nights and still haven't seen it all.

My suggestion is to eliminate two of your places with 5-6 nights in Rome and 3-4 nights in Florence.

Before you plan, take a look at TripAdvisor's Things to Do in the places that you want to visit. Even TripAdvisor doesn't list it all, but it will give you an idea of what to do. Then plan your trip.

...the time it takes to physically move to a next location...Packing up, checking out, getting to stations, waiting for trains, sitting ON the trains, finding the hotel, checking in (or dropping luggage if it's too early to do so), unpacking....

Please heed Kathy's advice above as she is spot on about losing time moving from place to place.

Suggest you split the available time between Venice and Rome or Florence and Rome. If possible fly into one place and home from the other to eliminate lost time back tracking.

It would help if you provided some additional information. What are your arrival and departure dates and what airport(s)? That will clarify what "roughly 9 days" means and whether you're flying open jaws or round trip to one city. How important is Assisi? For some people it's an extremely important stop (often for religious reasons) and for others it's just general interest.

Thank you all for your advise. I should clarify some of our details. We will be travelling the last two weeks of August, with the last 5 days dedicated to visiting family in southern Italy. (we are flying back home from lamezia airport). We plan to visit the most touristy places in each city, Vatican, Colloseum, statue of David, St. Marks square, etc. Assisi is important to someone in our party of 5. As for Tuscany I guess we can skip it this time :( Also, if anyone has any train travel tips or advice that would be appreciated!

I was going to say
* skip the day trip to Tuscany countryside
* skip Assisi
But Assisi is a priority for someone.

Travel times eat into the days very quickly. Weigh the cost and benefit (joy of "a short visit" vs pain of "travel" and "seeing so little at one place" and see if Venice can be eliminated (as an example - because it is so far North and then you seem to be traveling back south again)

That frees up time in the Florence/Tuscany/Assisi region for more exploration and relaxation.

Wait a minute.... you're planning to travel late-Aug, but you want to tack-on 9-more days to see the originally listed destinations? What's your ENTIRE itinerary or, what you're thinking? Have flights been booked? Need some more details, as time and geography are working against you, not to mention the budget if you haven't locked-in certain aspects.

Firsly, it's going to be hot, uncomfortably hot in a variety of places. Dragging your luggage around and route finding will take it's toll.
Secondly, to go from Venice, to Florence and Rome is a well worn path however, continuing on, all the way to S.Italy is quite a long ways. You can do it via high-speed rail but, it'll still take some time, in other words, you're going to be spending a fair amount of time riding the rails versus enjoying the destination.

Your best bet would be to focus on S.Italy, drop Venice and Florence. Start by flying into Rome enjoy 3/4-nights there, you can do a day-trip to Assisi; perhaps an over-night instead. Continue South, enjoy the Naples/Pasitano/Sorrento-area, then continue on to the rest of your trip.

In that case I would plan for 2 nights and 1 full day in Assisi, especially if that person plans to visit the religious sights outside of town. It's still not clear how many actual days you'll have before you need to be in southern Italy and where you'll arrive. Sounds like you arrive in Rome, so you may want to work your way north, Rome to Assisi to Florence to Venice, and then fly to southern Italy. Four destinations will be a bit rushed with only 9 nights (possibly 8 days), so you may need to either short-change one of the large cities or drop one.

I never travel as if I will never be back. And you are so lucky to have family to visit. August requires a reality check. If I was visiting in August, I would do something entirely different, but maybe you really want to do this...
Share if any other things are set in stone, such as airfare.

OK, that you have to end the trip in Southern Italy was an important detail. WHERE do you have to be/plan to be in Southern Italy once you leave the more northern part? And have you purchased your plane tickets to Italy yet? If so, what city are you flying into? And how many in your party?

Not to drown you in details but if you haven't booked hotels or advance tickets to some major attractions yet and your trip is just a month away, it's already a bit late in the game so the clock is ticking on a plan. Budget may be part of this picture as well?

Can you give us some more details? With 5 of you, what is the breakdown adults/children? How are you traveling--train, car, bus? Where are you going in southern Italy. Some places are relatively easy to get to, but others are a traveler's nightmare.

You say you are flying home from Lamezia airport, but you will have to change planes to get back to the U.S. somewhere. Where will that happen?

Please flesh out your plans so we can give you productive input.

We just returned from our Italy vacation. We spent 3 nights in Venice (arrived the first night at 10pm so we went straight to bed), 2 nights in Florence, 4 nights in Rome, 4 nights in Amalfi coast. We had our 3 teens/tween (18,15,11). The time in Venice and Florence was enough. Of course you always want more time but we hit the main sites without feeling like we were running ragged. I wouldn't eliminate the places you want to see. Just be efficient when you are in those cities.