Lodging Rome, Florence, Venice

While the touristic center of Florence is pretty compact, sightseeing in Rome and Venice is spread over larger areas, so being close to public transport is part of what makes any neighborhood convenient. Four people can also share a taxi pretty affordably in Rome. Are you working with any guidebook? Rick's hotel recommendations are all in his latest Italy or city-specific books, with a focus on a few neighborhoods he's selected, not every neighborhood.

If you want personal recommendations, you should mention your budget. Your train post says that you have 4 travelers. Are all adults? Two couples? Since this is a frequently asked Forum question, you can also use the search field above to see other Forum threads and sort them by time period.

I did this same trip in October 2015 going from Venice to Rome. If you search the trip reports forum for "My Italy Trip" there are four parts... (https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/my-italy-trip-1-of-4)

My suggestion would be to look at holiday apartments. Apartments provide you with more amenities (kitchen, clothes washer, etc.) and a lot more space to spread out and get comfortable. We were traveling with my mother and despite our requirements being 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms with a lift to the floor of the apartment, we still saved a lot of money as compared to 2 nice but economy priced hotel rooms. There are several web sites for booking holiday apartments but we happened to use TripAdvisor for ours.

My general advise.
Rome being the largest in my opinion matters the most where I would want to stay and I would spend extra in Rome to stay in the heart of the historic center.
Area around the Panthenon / Piazza Navona - not the most expensive couple of blocks in the city but definitely not the cheapest. While not that close to public transit staying here you will not need it except at arrival and departure where I would prefer to pay extra for a cab's conveniences anyway.

Florence is so small it really doesn't matter much where you stay an I would look to save a little here.
Just check on a map as some areas called Florence are not actually in Florence, ideally look for something within the city walls or just to the south of them by the river is nice as well.

Venice: ideally I would want to be on the island of Venice not on the mainland, not too close to Piazzale Roma and not on some other island. While not as small as Florence it is still small enough so the main thing I would look for is proximity to a vaporetto station stop and not worry about neighborhood or sestieri as they are called.. That will be a nice convenience and if you have that all of the main sights will be within easy reach by foot or vaporetto ride. Maybe moreso than Rome and Florence you will likely spend very little time in your hotel in Venice and probably need to at some point take an overpriced gondola ride so may look to save here if you can. If money is no object a nice restored Palazzo hotel with a private dock and taking a water taxi to and from the airport or train station is the way to do Venice.

I stayed in 95 Rooms in Rome in the Monti neighborhood. I thought the location was pretty good, near Cavour metro and bus routes on Via Nazionale (which I should have researched better). Monti area is a real neighborhood, but I guess most would say location good not great. A real bargain though, great breakfast nice staff. Hotel Arcadia in Florence, easy walking distance to train station where you can catch bus to Ponte Vecchio. Personally I did not find Florence to be so walkable as Rick thinks--I keep a brisk pace and my feet hurt like crazy from all the walking. Does not help that I spent nine nights out of twelve in big cities though. So being near bus routes is handy. I think most people would say Hotel Arcadia's location is also good not great, but very good if you put some though into taking the most direct routes and using the bus to save steps. These might not meet your only stated criterion perfectly, but might be good options if you have other criteria like price. I think the split of how you spend your days is about right, but if I had one more day I would add it to Rome. Plan for sightseeing to take longer than you plan for it to take in Rome. Also, strongly advise starting in Venice as transit to/from the airport is a challenge and you would otherwise probably end up having to sleep your last night near the airport. Venice while crowded is also calmer that Rome, at least if you get a couple if streets away from the big tourist places.

Are you thinking more hotels or apartments? I just did the same itinerary and stayed in Airbnbs. As there were 3 of us it worked out perfectly.

pf,

I'd suggest having a look at the Rick Steves Italy guidebook as there are numerous lodging choices listed there in each of the places you'll be visiting. The book also has a lot of good information about sightseeing, transportation, etc., which should help to get the most out of your trip.

In Florence the Hotel California is about as well located as one could want. Venice is so small and the vap. system is so good it really doesn't matter much about the location. With regard to Rome, here is a place you should check out. We have stayed at Hotel Fontanella Borghese many times and have always been pleased. While it is not "luxury", it is very nice and the location is great. The staff is very friendly and helpful. You can walk to Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Nuvona, even Vatican city. They also have a sister hotel closer to the Pantheon called Hotel Due Torri. We always send an email directly with our request for a booking and we get an answer back in 24 hours or less. Ask for a room overlooking the courtyard as rooms overlooking the side street can get noisy. The web site is www.fontanellaborghese.com.