March Northern Italy Trip- Advice Needed

I'm guessing that when you say "3 days" in Tuscany, you are thinking of 3 nights. Am I correct? That would be about 2-1/2 days, which seems a very short time for Florence, Siena, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a day in rural Tuscany.

I'd use at least one of your extra days in Tuscany.

You are correct, we're thinking 3 nights in Tuscany. The plan was to hit Pisa on the way from Camogli to Florence where we would pick up a rental car and drive down to the Salvadonica Borgo del Chianti agriturismo for three nights. The travel day on the back-end is also going to be a partial Florence day before boarding the train to our third location, which is tbd at this moment. However, point taken that 3 days may not be enough for Florence, Siena and the countryside.

Try Parma it's a great place to do a wine or foodie tour. We did the Parmegiano Cheese tour, enjoyed it hugely and top of our stay was the art Uffizi gallery visit in Florence. More information is in our trip report posted on the Rick Steves Forum : https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/italy-2019-sicily-sorrento-amalfi-pompeii-rome-orvieto-tuscany-siena-florence-cinque-terre-milan, https://foodnwalktours.com/cheese-and-ham-tours-parma-half-day/

Camogli is great yep been there twice!

We had considered Parma/Modena as well! Thank you for the recommendation and I will definitely check out your post. Thank you!

Glad to hear that Camogli was a hit! We are excited.

Just a thought, but have you considered taking a quick trip into the Swiss mountains? The Italian town of Tirano is easily reached by train. Then switch to Swiss Rail to go through the Bernina Pass. One option is to take the Bernina Express, which is a tourist train, or simply use the Swiss regional trains that travel on the same rail line through the exact same scenery. I've never done this is March but I think the winter scenery would be stunning. This would be a different experience from the rest of your itinerary.

Anita, "different" experience is definitely appealing to us. We have the Italian Riviera, Tuscany, and Venice, which are all unique to each other. That was why we were considering the areas around Como/Garda, because we were thinking that might give a different look and feel. I had considered trying a train trip into the mountains, but finding the right option where you will actually have something interesting to see on the train and also not have to stay so far outside of the Mlian/Florence/Venice triangle was the challenge. There is a train route going from Verona up to Switzerland (towards Innsbruck through Merano) as well. Trying to find that last piece has definitely been challenging, but not for lack of options!

Have you considered a Day Trip to Padua (train 30 min from Venice)? There is a Free audiotour at the T.I. recommended by Rick Steves, and you could Reserve Scrovegni Chapel tickets to see the amazing Giotto frescoes. You could also try Montepuciano if you both like wine. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Padua was definitely a consideration, however I was leaning more towards Verona in that either/or battle, as much as anything because we could go to the lakes/mountainsvia train pretty easily. I had a friend suggest Padua today too, so now it's back on the list. Have you done Padua and Verona? Pros/cons?