Itinerary for seven days in Italy

7 or 8 days is not much when you are including Rome & Florence( big/many sights at these 2 locations). But since you want another town or area I suggest Tuscany area. you can day trip by public bus (short ride)out to Siena from Florence easily. Venice will beautiful requires alot of travel time and is worth staying at least 2-3 days min.same with Amalfi area. Do not rush Venice and amalfi area. go when you have more time.

I would limit it to 4 days in Rome and 3 in Florence. There are easy day trips from both, if these 2 cities' treasures can't keep you occupied.

From Rome: Ostia Antica or Orvieto
From Florence: Siena, Lucca or even Pisa

A lot depends on your interests: archeology, art, architecture, scenery, fine food & wine. . . .

And on the season. . .

I agree that Venice and Amalfi are too far for such a short visit.

For 7-8 days, I would stay focused on Rome and Florence because you will lose too much of the experience by jumping that far in that small amount of time. I went for 10 days and we couldn't fit in Vencie due to travel time and our desires of what we wanted to see in other locations. Rome and Florence will keep you quite busy! You could very easily do a day trip out of Rome and a day trip out of Florence to add two more towns to your itinerary to still have time to experience what the two cities have to offer. When I was in Florence, we spent a day in Siena. We left around 9 in the morning, arrived by 10:30. We spent the day there (the duomo is excellent there and the time spent Il Campo is great!) and were back in Florence for dinner. We didn't do any day trips out of Rome because there was plenty there to keep us busy for four days!

I agree.....with only 7 or 8 days, I would focus my time and energy on Rome and Florence.

As long as you know you'll get little more than survey visit of each site, I'd fly into Venice (or Milan then train to Venice), spend 2 nights in Venice, 2 nights in Florence and 3 in Rome, flying home from Rome. Our first trip to Italy was like this, and we did it knowing we'd be back, so we don't regret it at all. Here's a link to our 8 night itinerary (our first Italy trip):

http://moltogentileitalia.blogspot.com/2008/09/itinerary-8-night-christmas-trip-to.html

PS: Amalfi is great, but just too far south, I think, for a week that includes Venice

Gio offers a very do-able itinerary. I would consider these factors:

Are you going to be jetlagged and tired on landing? Most folks are, and lose most of the first day because they are just too exhausted and/or disorientated to enjoy it.

It takes time to get from one place to another. Yes, you can take a fast train from Venice to Florence (about 2.5 hours), but you still have to pack and get to the station, then from the station to your new lodgings, and unpack. Suddenly you've used up almost 1/2 day in moving.

That being said, I think I would go with Gio's plan, but start in Rome and end in Venice. Of the 3 cities, I think Venice is the most challenging to get around in and therefore the worst to attempt when tired and jetlagged. BWT it is my favorite.

I think Chani, as usual, makes a lot of sense, Chris. To some extent this is a personal decision on your part, rather than an 'expert advice' kind of thing. If you look at the time on the vaporetto, the train station experience, the time on the train, the taxi or walk from a station to your new hotel, all as PART OF your Italian experience...and talk with people, take it all in, don't rush, leaving yourself plenty of time...then this amount of movement in a short period of time can be okay. If you're rushing, if your luggage is too heavy, if it's overly-crowded at the station or on the train, or if the trains are really late, etc--then this level of movement can be a real buzz kill. And we seem to do okay on arrival day ignoring jet lag until we go to sleep, usually after 9 PM. But Chani's right: some people lose most of that first day. Don't know how YOU will be. As for Rome first or last, to me, it's the city that's the most difficult to manage, and you'll have your "Italian legs" under you by the time you get there if it's last. On the other hand, Venice would sure be more relaxing at the end of a trip. Another factor is your flight home. If you can fly direct from Rome to your home airport or at least to the states, I like that heading home--a shorter flight with few possible missed connections.