itinerary suggestions/comments?

Try here http://www.elisabettacarro.it/ for lodging in Vernazza.

I loved Orvieto. Just sitting in the piazza watching the colors change on the facade of the Duomo as the late afternoon sun lights it up and the day trippers have departed was wonderful, even better with a gelato, best with an Aperol spritz.

Whether you can get to FCO depends on when you have to be at the airport. You can buy your Leonardo ticket in Orvieto so you save time at Termini, but you still may need 10 minutes to get to it. Check the trenitalia schedule and take into account that you may miss the Leonardo connection and need to wait for the next train. I had no trouble when I did it, but I had a 10-11 p.m. flight.

Consider going to Assisi instead of Civita. It's about 1.5 hours drive each way, but such a lovely town - plus the Basilica with its Giotto frescoes.

For me I would slot in 2 nights at Lucca on 11+12th Sep.

I love Orvieto but to travel from or to Cinque Terre, I think Siena is worth (2-3) Luca is also very very nice but deserve one day less (1-2 days)

By Civita, do you mean Civita di Bagnoregio, or Civitavecchia? Civita di Bagnoregio is certainly a good day trip, 23 minutes by bus, then you walk up the hill to the town. Civitavecchia is a 3 hour train ride.

Great itinerary, though!

Thank you for all your help! I meant Civita di bagnoregio. It sounds fascinating in the book. My main concern, actually, is how the heck to do the trains from Rome Airport (flying in from Santorni) to Vernazza and Vernazza to Orvieto. If I could figure that out, I would have no worries and just be excited! Should I buy the Italy railpass, just for the safety factor of missing a train? I have tried to use the trenitalia website but it's not super user-friendly, maybe it's me, though. Actually, I have no no luck with it. I keep getting "no trains" message when I enter the names. And trying to figure out which of the Rome stations is the one I want -- Yikes!! I will figure it out, though. I am going to do research on hiring drivers from Orivieto-Rome and La Spezia-Orvieto. I will report back with any findings. Thanks you all, again!!

Are you using the English translated page for Trenitalia? Click on the Italian flag icon at the top right and language choices will drop down. Then be sure to use Italian station names (start typing and menu drops down). You must choose a town in Cinque Terre (Monterosso is the biggest); La Spezia is as far as you can go by fast train, however. For a Rome, you want Roma Termini.

Railpasses are almost never cost-effective in Italy. If your train requires a reservation and you miss the train, the railpass won't help, anyway.

THANK YOU for that advice! That certainly settles it, no italy train pass! I am going to try the website again now. Thank you.

Also, the regionale trains only show up 7 days in advance. If a journey includes a regionale train, you need to look no more than a week ahead; since schedules don't change much, just pick the day of the week you expect to travel.

So THAT'S why I am not showing anything. It is too early! Thank you. I will try for sooner dates just to get an idea of the route and approximate price. Thanks!

Just saw your post regarding hiring drivers----Don't!! The trains are very inexpensive compared to the cost of a driver, if a driver will even take you such a far distance (Orvieto to La Spezia).