March Italy Trip

Sounds good.
For your trip I suggest you buy an open jaw multi city air ticket:
Fly to Venice (VCE)
train to Rome
Fly home from Rome (FCO).

Since flights to North America (I assume you write from North America) depart in the morning it is better to fly out of FCO, which is close to Rome city center (35 min) rather than from VCE which is difficult, costly and long to reach from Venice's historical center in the middle of the water.

If you already purchased your tickets, and the flight is in and out of Rome FCO, then it is best to go to Venice upon landing. You can catch a train at the FCO airport and be in Venice a few hours later. There are numerous trains departing from Rome central station (Roma Termini) to Venice. You can reach Roma Termini from the FCO station by the Leonardo Express train in 32 min. There are also 2 high speed trains headed to Venice which depart directly from the FCO airport station (at 11:08 and 15:08). If you catch either of those, you don't even need to change trains at Roma Termini.

Check schedules in:
www.trenitalia.com

Station names (in Italian):
FIUMICINO AEROPORTO
ROMA TERMINI
VENEZIA SANTA LUCIA

My rule is: Always visit for last the city you fly home from.

Rparsons,
You may consider visiting Padua (Padova) from Venice. It's an easy 30 minute train ride & you can visit the amazing Scrovegni Chapel (advance reservations required) & Saint Anthony's Basilica.
If you go there on a Saturday, you may enjoy the open street market held on Pratto della Valle, a beautiful plaza.

Have a wonderful trip!

Orvieto makes a nice day-trip from Rome if you'd like to see a very pretty, smaller city. It's a hill town with a lovely cathedral and several museums, including an archeological museum. Those might be handy if you are unlucky with the weather. It would be easy to spend a full day in Orvieto, or even longer.

Ostia Antica is close to Rome and good for about half a day. The site is very exposed, though, so probably not ideal in bad weather unless Roman ruins are a top priority for you. There is a cafeteria on the premises if you just need a break from being outside.

For planning those day trips use www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en for train schedules. »Regionale« trains don't need reservation; just buy your tickets at the station. They must be validated (stamped) at greenish machines which hang on some wall.

Depending on your Venice city tour don't forget there's a lot to see there. The laguna islands beyond Murano for example. The lido, Guidecca, st. Giorgio, the cemetery if you lie that sort of thing.

Then consider Trieste by train. Someplace few people go. It is said it has the prettiest piazza in Ialy.

Rparsons,

I concur with Priscilla about Padua but I would go one step further and suggest Vicenza in the morning to see the Teatro Olimpico (and other Palladian architecture) and then the afternoon in Padua. It's all really easy by train and tram.

As for Rome, if you've never been there before, I wouldn't bother with a day trip outside the city. There's just too much to see. If you want to get out of the old city, plan a trip to Tivoli or Ostia.

You have to go through Bologna to get to Venice. It would be easier to do day trips from Bologna, where you can easily get a hotel half-way between the train station and the old city center (and have about a 10-minute walk to either), and then end in Venice. Unless you stay near the train station in Venice, it's not really convenient for day-tripping. Getting around Venice means either lots of walking (up and over bridges) or very slow rides on the vaporetto. Of course, I'd be happy spending 4 full days in Venice without going anywhere else.