Itinenary Questions and Transfers - 14 days

Is there a reason to skip Rome? Have you been there multiple times and are bored with it? If not I would recommend NOT skipping Rome!

Without knowing the reasons for your itinerary, the Naples to Venice backtracking at the end caught my eye, as opposed to beginning in Venice and drifting south.

In any case, make sure you know which Venice airport you are landing at. Marco Polo requires a short bus, train, or taxi ride to the island; Treviso, used by a few budget airlines, is further away. Also, if your hotel is in Venice proper, know the various options for getting from airport to hotel, especially if the hotel is not close to a vaporetto stop.

I have no problem skipping Rome- It is HUGE-notorious for pickpockets (especially near vatican)and unless you are impressed with the gold encrusted everything in the vatican- I find the rest of Italy entirely enchanting. I would go to Rome for the sistine chapel-and the statue of Moses by Mich. You can have the rest- yes, the restaurants are fab- but where are they not? It's not a town that you can wander around so much- it's much like NYC- go if you have a friend to bring you around-
I may get hammered for this but I adore the smaller towns.
For Venice, the vaporetto pass also includes the bus from the airport, and I don't know any hotels that are too far from a vaporetto stop that are in Venice- part of the fun is getting lost there-
above all else PACK LIGHT. Only your companion knows you wore that top 5 times last week!

I'll put in a vote for Rome as one of the great cities of the world and not to be missed if you haven't seen it and are in the area, going right by it. For too many reasons to list here (books have been written...)IMHO (just an opinion), someone who is curious about what Italy has to offer should see Rome at least once, when the time and itinerary are right.

It is so interesting to me that people can visit the same city and come away with such differing opinions. To me, Rome is NOTHING like NYC. And i believe it is perfect for wandering . It is one of the most amazing cities I have ever visited.
PS. I also love NYC

As you plan your tour of Siena and SanG, you might want to know that Grayline has a one-day tour out of Florence that covers both. My wife and I took this tour. About 52Euro per person. The stop in SanG is about an hour which is short but you get 4+ hours in Siena. The Siena part used to include a nice guided tour which included the entry fee to the main church. Quite nice.

Grayline tours in Florence are offered by CAF Tours. They are located at Via San Antonio 6R (Red). From the front of the Florence SMN train station, you are about 1,500 hundred feet from the CAF Tours ticket office.

CLICK HERE to see more info on this tour.

I am so sorry that MJ thinks that Rome is not a city that you can wander around in. That's part of what we love about Rome. I don't think that you should get hammered, everyone has had different experiences, I'm just sorry that MJ's weren't that positive.