Need help with itinerary to Italy in July!!

I think your itinerary looks good. Two weeks is much better than the standard 10 days. It's good to have a "soft landing" in Venice, as it's smaller and not as 'intense' as Rome! If you want to do a wine trip to Florence, it can probably be arranged by your hotel, but 3 nights is barely enough to see the sites there. I would add one night to Rome, because there's just so much to see and do. I am watching this thread and hoping that someone will make suggestions re Calabria, because it's next on my list! In Rome, the Trastevere neighborhood has many, many good restaurants pizza ala marmi, and dar poeta. Near the Vatican I love Piacere Molise via Candia 60, and Rick Steves book has many recommendations for restaurants near major sites. In Florence: you must have a splurge meal of Bisteca ala Florentine basically a super special porterhouse steak to share - Mario's is well liked as is Il Latini. They will decide how much you will need and will also decide how it's cooked (very rare, but you WILL like it, because it's dry aged) Order sides to share, spinach or asparagus or potatoes. Many people on this site will tell you 4 days in Amalfi at Positano is too much and even advise staying in Sorrento for the travel connections. That's up to you. I'm a 'slow traveler' and tend to even stay in one location in an apartment for a week and day trip from there. I hate repacking the suitcase every few days and also the waste of time spent on trains and busses. I'll go through my notes for wineries in Florence. When you get the info from your cousin, please private message me! I've GOT to go there~!

I am hoping you've got your hotels booked! If not, try to book through booking.com or venere. These two sites require a stay in the hotel to give a review. Of course, if you find an availability in any of the hotels recommended in the RS guide, booking direct is advisable. Really, if your rooms are booked, I'd leave your itinerary as is and see which areas you enjoy the most and come back and spend additional time there!

Sorrento's probably a better choice if you want to explore the Amalfi coast. It has better transportation connections. I used the Rick Steves audio guides in Venice, Florence and Rome. In Pompeii too, which is an easy day trip from Sorrento. They cover the "top" sights.

I was going to agree that Amalfi or Sorrento would be the better choice for the Coast (Amalfi for the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento for the Sorrento Coast haha)due to the transportation connections, because Amalfi is that side's transport hub and easier to get places you wanna go.... With ease, you could get to Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples, and Capri from Sorrento...but you could also get to Salerno, Positano, Vietri, and Ravello (Capri might involve a transport change, I'm not sure) from Amalfi....

Maybe you should post another question with "Calabria" in the subject! I'm dying to know :-)

Thank you guys! Yes Donna, I def will post when I speak to my cousins! Ido not have anything booked yet so any recommendations at all would be great!!!!