Our First Trip To Italy - planning stage

Michael, there is no one answer to this, so I'll make a suggestion based on what I did. Consider the Rick Steves Venice-Florence-Rome tour (or the Heart of Italy tour), starting a few days early in Milan/Lake Como, and ending with extra days in Rome and beyond. That would be a great way to see the heart of things, with time on your own to explore.

I would fly in a day early and do the tour first, you will pick up lots of useful info that you can use later on your own (how to use public transportation, for example).

I would suggest visiting Florence without a car, renting one when you leave. Siena, Arezzo, San Gimignano, Cortona, Todi, Assisi, Spello, Montalcino, Orvieto, all great hill towns with great regional food. All can be daytrips if you base in/near Florence, Siena, or Assisi.

I love Milano, spend your last day/night there and arrange for a taxi to the train station, take the train to the airport. Plan ahead if you want to see Leonardo's Last Supper. Take the elevator to the roof of the Duomo, walk through the Galleria, visit Castello Sforesco if you have time.

First, feel free to ask lots of questions on this forum as you plan. Don't be intimidated about language. Get a phrase book/DVDs and learn a few phrases. Usually, there is someone around who speaks English. Not a big issue. I suggest you take the Rome tour first. That way, you are familiar with the Italian customs - things like tipping, etc.. Plus, your guide can answer your questions as you go along. You can take trains or buses in Tuscany as well as drive. Places to consider in Umbria would be Assisi. Tuscany: think about Orvieto, Montepulciano, Pienza, Siena. Florence is a must. Try to spend a few nights there if you can. Start learning about Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture. RS has some free audio downloads and shows on YouTube you can watch. There is so much to see in Italy. You will need to do some editing based on your interests and time frame. Have fun!

Thanks so much for the input. We will take all into consideration.
Michael

I'd do the tour first. As other have said you get an idea of how to use the public transportation etc. We did the Heart of Italy then went on to Venice did a few days we definitely felt much more comfortable dealing with things after 8 days with the "training wheels" of a guide and getting around.

Have a great trip!

Great advice from Zoe on doing the tour first to get your bearings and learn some travel skills. As to the rest of your itinerary your say We would like to see some of Tuscany/Umbria, Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice and Lake Como. This is a lot of territory. Wisely you say you want to try for 3 nights each place. Taking your list of interests into consideration, I would suggest the following plan for the remaining two weeks.

Oct 10 - Head to the Cinque Terre, a lovely respite from 7 days in Rome. Direct high-speed train to La Spezia, then a regionale to the town of your choice. (My current favorite is Manarola. Quieter than Vernazza at night.) As an alternative, go to Lake Como. There really isn't time to do both. 3 nights.

October 13 - On to Firenze, 3 nights.

October 16 - Choose an agriturismo outside of Siena. Use this as a base to see some of the Tuscan countryside/hill towns. Rent a car when you leave Firenze. 3 nights.

October 19 - Drop your car in Firenze as early as possible. Take the high speed train to Venice, 3 nights will give you a taste.

October 22 - High speed train to Milan for one night. As Zoe mentioned, get your Last Supper ticket reserved as early as possible. Build the rest of your day around that. 1 night.

October 23 - Homeward bound

If you choose Lake Como over the Cinque Terre, I'd re-order the trip and go there last, before Milan.

I like to recommend that you travel as early as possible on the days you change towns. You will beat some of the crowds and have a little time to enjoy the new location and get oriented before dark.

Take this itinerary or any other plan-of-attack and plot it out on a spreadsheet, noting times for trains, hours of operation for the car rental agencies (many are closed Sundays for example), and make a list of what you want to see in each location. Have a back-up plan in case of bad weather. There are always weather considerations, but October has been a good month for the 4 of them I have spent in Italy. Yes, it rains sometimes and the Cinque Terre would be awful in the rain, but we've been there 4 times/16 nights in 4 Octobers and only had rain one afternoon and one departure day.

Laural,
If we wanted to stop and see the Tower in Pisa where would you suggest we add that to our itinerary?
Michael

As to Pisa. Depending on how you decide to order the trip, you can stop between the Cinque Terre and Firenze for couple of hours.

I also would start with the tour, to get your bearings. I drove to smaller towns in Abruzzo, Umbria, Tuscany, and Liguria (Rapallo/Santa Margherita) this October and enjoyed great flexibility. I either called hotels early on my arrival day (family-run places with 5 rooms) or just showed up and found them in the evening. A couple of days of rain did not ruin any plans, as I could easily change my schedule.

Michael, two years ago my husband and I (who are also in our mid sixties) spent two months in Italy. Five weeks in Lucca and three weeks in Rome; language was never a problem. As a matter of fact, we sat in restaurants where French, German and Russian tourists all ordered in English. While in Lucca we made side trips to the Cinque Terre, Chianti, Sienna, Barga and Pisa with a three hour layover in Florence (we had been there before and opted for other sights this time). Some of these trips were day trips, others were two to three days. Lucca is a very walkable city with a lot to see and has very easy access to both train and bus stations. To say I loved our trip and that we had a wonderful time would be an understatement of huge proportions.

We also had a wonderful time in Rome and had both touristy and non-touristy adventures. If you want to see an insiders perspective you can read the following blog and look at the pictures, beginning with Lucca and all of our side trips, and ending with Rome. Our thoughts are to go to England and/or Scotland next year. I'd love to get your perspective. If you do decide to read the blog, you can contact me by email. Maybe we can pick each other's brains.

Tourists were everywhere...even in October and November. I think the weather depends on Mother Nature. It was anywhere from warm to cool, but not cold. One thing you can count on is rain.

We flew from DFW to Rome then took the train to Pizza, then hired a car and driver to take us to Lucca.

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