Itinerary Feedback - 1 Month Trip to Italy

I was nodding approvingly until I got to the five nights in Sicily. That's my hot button. It's a huge island, with interesting destinations scattered from one end to the other. 4-1/2 days there would frustrate me mightily. Have you had a chance yet to review a good guidebook? I think once you do that you'll realize that Sicily's not a great place to spend just five nights, especially given that you have to take two flights to make it happen.

In addition to the really significant classical ruins at multiple locations, Sicily has Siracusa (huge medieval district), the beautiful and beautifully situated Taormina, Palermo with its many magnificent religious buildings, Trapani with its handsome historic district and the evocative nearby hill town of Erice, a fabulous Roman mosaic site at Villa Romana del Casale, Baroque cities in the interior including Ragusa, beautiful beaches and some interesting islands. And that's just skimming the surface.

Might I suggest that you consider a different part of Italy--maybe Puglia or the many wonderful small cities around and north of Bologna (Ravenna, Ferrara, Verona, Padua, Vicenza, etc.) for the final segment of your trip?

acraven said everything I was going to say, and better. I'll just emphasize her point that you need two flights (in and out) to splice Sicily into an Italy trip. Either spend 10 days or so there (easy to do with a month in Italy total), or see other things. If you do go to Sicily, fly into Palermo and out of Catania, or vice versa. Note that while Palermo is a larger city, Catania has a larger airport with more flight options.

Instead of Sicily, I'd spend more time in the area formed by the triangle of Venice and Milan and Florence. In addition to Tuscan destinations, there's Ravenna, Ferrara, Padova, Cremona, Mantova, Bergamo, Bologna, Parma, Modena...I've actually been to all of these (on different trips, naturally), and if I had to pick favorites, it would be Ferrara and Padova (particularly for the Giotto frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel) and Ravenna (for the mosaics, and the rest of the town too). The only less than stellar place on that list, for me, was Bologna, but others do love it. Look into these places - I'm sure you'll find plenty to occupy the five "free" nights instead of schlepping to Sicily and back.

If nothing in that area appeals to you, there's always Umbria - Assissi, Spoleto, Spello, Orvieto, Norcia...

Your plan with 11 nights in Florence and Tuscany seems a little heavy (even over a month). Perhaps include an extended stay on the Amalfi Coast rather than do Pompeii from Rome.

Fly in to Rome, then direct to Florence - 3 nights
Cinque Terre - 3 nights
Venice / Milan - 4 nights (splitting up)
Driving through Tuscany - 5 nights
Vueling flies Florence to Catania
Sicily (Catania) - 7 nights (Taormina>Syracuse>Ragusa>Catania)
Easyjet flies Catania to Naples
Amalfi Coast - 4 nights
Rome - 5 nights

I'll join the chorus - not worth the hassles to spend 4 days in Sicily.

I would also go to Florence first, maybe spend less time in Tuscany (but visit Umbria while there), and put Rome last to avoid another hotel change. Why are you choosing Milan over Venice? With a month, I'd consider spending 5-6 nights in Sorrento or Salerno and day-tripping by bus, train, ferry to the Amalfi Coast towns, Paestum, and Pompeii.

I agree with moving Rome to last. If you have a delay on one of your flights to Rome the day before you leave for home, all of you are immediately under lots of stress. If you have Rome at the end, you would only lose one night in Rome.

Why skip Venice? I may have missed it but you are not visiting the Lake District or the Dolomites?
If you decide to skip Sicily, you could add it.

Great feedback! Particularly regarding the Sicily portion of our trip. I think I misjudged the number of sites to see and time required, especially after making the extra effort to fly there (and costs). Before we drop that part off entirely, would you folks have a different opinion if I made the following changes?

• Florence - reduce to 3 nights from 4
• Cinque Terre - reduce to 3 nights from 4
• Tuscany - reduce to 5 nights from 7
• Sicily - add 4 days, making it now 9

Also, the suggestions regarding the other areas to see instead of Sicily (Bologna, Ravenna, Umbria, etc) are very tempting as well. Geez, who knew this itinerary planning would be so challenging! Oh well, we still get to visit Italy for a whole month either way - life is good!

About the few comments why we're not visiting Venice - My wife and I were there in 2011 and my wife ....... well......... didn't really like it. She found it too confining and crowded. Personally I would go back in an instant. However, it will give us a short break from our travel partners to have little time apart.

I like the idea about keeping the Rome portion to the end to alleviate any worries about arriving from Sicily the day before and possible delays. However that would mean when we first arrive in Rome we would then have to take the train(s) to Florence. From our home on the west coast to Rome is about an 18 hour travel day. The thought of having to spend another 4 hours or so to then travel from Rome to Florence has me a little worried. That's a long day. Does anyone have some experience doing that and how was it?

Thanks again for the tips and advice.

Well, 9 days is getting close to "worth the trip" territory, I guess, especially if you think this might be your only realistic chance to get to Sicily.

One concern I have is that you are a party of 4 adults, all of whom will presumably have views about what is most important to do each day. There could be some sharp divisions on the desirability of going to four or five different Greek sites (many of which are in the SW corner of the island not too close to other top tourist destinations) or spending time at the beach vs. seeing the city sights.

There may be some things you can do to retain some flexibility. The historic fishing village-turned-beach town of Cefalu is an easy daytrip from Palermo. Rick loves it; to me it was a bit too touristy. The church junkies could stay in Palermo while the beach people trained it to Cefalu.

For one of your days in Siracusa, the classicists could go to the archaeological museum and the archaeological park while the cute-small-town people took a day trip to Noto and Modica (or Ragusa if there's not time for an overnight there). But everyone really should see Ragusa.

While in Taormina some of the group could do an Etna excursion while others relaxed (shopped?) in Taormina and saw the Greek theatre.

Me, I'd probably still use the time on the mainland because there are also good destinations there and you'll have to spend less time (and less stress) traveling to a new area. You'd almost certainly want a car in Sicily, so don't forget to factor in the time to return the mainland car and deal with a separate Sicilian rental. But the car will make your time in Sicily a lot more efficient than mine was, so I guess your 9 days would be equivalent to about 11 days on buses and trains.

I would finish with 5 nights in Rome and start with Florence -- arrive in rome, take the train to Florence or Venice and proceed from there. This schedule has you rushing back to home base to fly home and that last minute waste of a day disrupts the nice relaxed feeling of a month long vacation. Always end the trip where you need to fly home from -- and the first day is wasted jet lag anyway -- so use it getting to your furthest point. It is only 90 minutes by train to Florence, so buy a ticket at the FCO train station for the next train you can catch and head for Florence. By the time you get there it will be hotel check in time and you will have used this first worthless day productively rather than wasting the second to last day.

You only need one lucid person on the train trip from FCO (there are direct trains to Firenze from the airport, much more convenient to do this than to go back and forth to Termini). The train ride is about two hours, and a chance for the jet-lagged among you to nap.

Nine nights puts Sicilia within range, especially if you rent a car.

Now that we're talking Sicily seriously, I'd scrap the CT altogether and add those nights to Sicily. You can't have too much time there - it has everything from Greek temples in the west to a volcano and a WWII museum in the east, with beautiful beaches everywhere.

Look for open-jaw flights into Palermo and out of Rome. Start in Sicily, then fly from Catania to wherever on the mainland. You could even split up here, you flying to Milan and they flying to Venice. Then meet up in Florence, on to Tuscany/Umbria and lastly Rome. There's a table on this wiki page for Catania airport that shows all the airlines and destinations.

We flew from SFO, mid afternoon, to Heathrow(two hours layover) to Rome(arrived close to 11 pm) last Feb. We stayed that night at the Hilton at the end of the FCO tunnel. Had we arrived earlier, daytime, we probably could have handled the train trip to Florence. Tired yes but its doable. I prefer to do that in daylight hours as it was our first time to Italy.

I'm not a Sicily expert but my thinking is it can easily be done in 2 equal parts of about 6 nights each.
1) Taormina > Catania > Syracuse > Ragusa
2) Palermo > Cefalu > Agrigento > Marsala
So if you can't manage 12 nights for the whole island then why not leave half for another time.

David, 2 nights each looks good on paper, but travel time between destinations takes longer than in Northern Italy. There are no high-speed trains, for one thing, and not as many departures (train or bus).

You are right to advise concentrating on one area if the OP stays with the original plan.

Thanks Zoe.

Sicily is on my list .... which now appears to be on the floor, out the door, round the corner, along the hall, down the stairs. Actually, I think I need a benefactor to help me with my list.

If you go to Sicily, and Taormina in particular, be sure to go up to the Greek Theater to see the view of Mt Etna. Of course it helps if it is sunny and the air is clear. Here are some Google Images:

https://www.google.com/search?q=etna+italy&espv=2&biw=994&bih=453&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwprmjubPRAhXJj1QKHd9XBvMQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=greek+theater+etna+italy

My favorite town in Tuscany is San Gimignano - the medieval Manhattan.