Itinerary for 13 Days Rome to Venice

You might consider one night in Siena, or do it as a day trip from Firenze, and add that time to Lago di Como. If you arrive at the lake large in the day, you won't have much time for ferrying to some of the towns.

Appreciate the suggestion. If we end up keeping Siena (but reducing to one night), does the order look right?

Many people prefer to start in Venezia, since departure flights tend to be early in the morning and transportation options to the airport are better in Roma. Venezia is a nice place to unwind (if you get off the tourist path during the day trippers' hours).

The order looks good to me but some suggest Firenze before Cinque Terre. I have only gone to Cinque Terre from Genova, so I have no experience with that part of your plan.

I'd do it in that order but in upside down order.

It is unclear from your profile or your question where you will be arriving from or departing to, but if you are coming from somewhere in North America, you may well find that flying into Venice (Marco Polo) and out of Rome (FCO) is dramatically easier than the other way about. That's because many flights from Venice to North America actually have a short hop to another European city and a connection there, so they have to leave Venice very early in the morning which causes difficulty getting across the Lagoon to airport long before normal people start their breakfast.

It works really well landing in Venice and leaving Rome.

It's a matter of travel style, of course, but I think you will enjoy your trip more if you do try to go so many places in so few days. You have 13 nights and 5 travel days. Given time spent, on trains, waiting for trains, checking in and transporting luggage two and you will lose much of your vacation to the logistics of moving from place to place.

I suggest you drop staying in Sienna and do it as a day trip from Florence. You will still get almost a full day in Sienna and have night left over.

I don't think a single night on Lake Como will leave you much time to see the lake.

Rome 4
Florence 4 (including day trip to Sienna)
Cinque Terre 2
Venice 3

Would allow you much more actual sight seeing time.

Alternatively if you have your heart set on Lake Como you might do:

Rome 3
Florence 3 (with day trip to Sienna)
Cinque Terre 2
Lake Como 2
Venice 3

Since you state that it's your 1st trip to Italy, I have a few suggestions. Whether you do Rome at the beginning or end, you need more time there. You've allotted it what amounts to 2 days. If at the beginning, your 1st day will be a jet-lagged one. If at the end, part of the 1st day will be spent getting there from elsewhere. Rome is immense and chock full of fantastic sights. In what amounts to, at best, 2.5 days you'll barely scratch the surface.

I agree with those who say to do a day trip to Siena from Florence. Save yourself the hassle of one extra move. Or, you could just omit Siena.
As I have said many times on this site, I am not a fan of the Cinque Terre. I think they may be the most over-hyped travel destination in the world. They are certainly not in the class of your other destinations. If you want to include a beauties-of-nature place, add a day to Lake Como.
To my mind a better itinerary would be:

Rome 4
Florence 4 with a day trip to Siena)
Lake Como 2 (or 3 if you skip Siena)
Venice 3
Or, you can do the reverse.

Cinque Terre to Como is approx 4 hours by train.
Como to Venice is approx 3.5 hours by train.
Florence to Venice is only about 2 hours by train.

So you can see you are adding a lot of extra travel time just for that one night on Lake Como.
I'd suggest a few options, trying to avoid 1 nights stopovers, to make things easier ..

Option (A) - Make Siena a day trip from Florence, freeing up an extra night on Lake Como.
Rome (3nts) >> Florence (3nts) >> Cinque Terre (2nts) >> Lake Como (2nts) >> Venice (3nts)

Option (B) - Drop Como and spend an extra day on the Cinque Terre
Rome (3nts) >> Florence (2nts) >> Cinque Terre (3nts) >> Siena (2nts) >> Venice (3nts)

Option (C) - Combination of (A) and (B) above.
Rome (3nts) >> Florence (4nts) >> Cinque Terre (3nts) >> Venice (3nts)

Thanks to everyone for the terrific (and timely!) recommendations. We're dropping Siena in favor of another night at Lake Como and have decided to start in Venice and reverse the order.

Thank you again. What a fabulous resource.

With a 3rd night in Florence ??

Sounds good. Wise move. Great trip. Enjoy.

Coming from Lake Como make sure you book a direct train from Milan to Monterosso on CT.
eg. IC665 departs Milan at 12:10, arrives Monterosso at 15:05.