Moving to Rome or Florence Italy for 3 or more months

My advice . . . take me with you! LOL - Both cities are beautiful in their own special and unique way. Rome is spectacular for its ancient history and intense culture. Florence is fantastic for its Renaissance art and history. Italy has mastered train travel so you can go to any other part of the country from either Florence or Rome. Florence is a little less expensive than Rome. I suppose it depends on your purpose for being in Italy for three months. Pure cultural exchange? Business? academics?

Contact Ron in Rome.

He's an ex-pat American living in Rome and can probably answer some of your questions.

What Dan says is true. Florence is smaller and a bit more pedestrian-friendly. When I first set foot in Rome, actually, before I even got out of the airport shuttle--I saw an accident in which a pedestrian had been hit by a car! As one is walking around in Rome, struck by the wonder of it all, and maybe a little jet-lagged, it is easy to not be so alert to the traffic. And just when you think it is safe to cross--a Vespa comes hurtling at you out of nowhere! They are very noisy though, so you can step back. Rome is awesome, but there is lots of traffic.

You want advice? how much time have you got? You have also got to be a little more specific about why you will be in Italy etc...

First things first. You have 90 days without getting a visa. So you may want to plan accordingly around that. 90 days can be a long time, but getting an elective visa can be a LOT or work (believe me, we have done it). So maybe you want to stay 3 months :)
Also - you can't just cross a border and come back to Italy any more, the Schengen countries "share" you now - and you'll have to return to the states or somewhere outside the Schengen zone for 6 months before you can come back.

That being said - if you plan for 3 months my advice would be to find a place (Craigslist is good, and there are also Italian classified sites if you can read the Italian http://www.bakeca.it http://www.kijiji.it ), buy a ticket and get over here. Things to consider - car or no - proximity to public transportation, food markets, etc.

The main difference to me between Florence and Rome is size really - Florence is pretty much a village (if you stay in the center, which I would highly recommend for that period of time) and Rome is a huge city. I think with a small child Florence may be a bit easier -

Of course, it depends on the reason for going to Italy, but Florence is a bit more geographically centered. You can go north to Milan and Venice easier from there, yet Rome is only 2.5 hours by train away.