Our proposed itinerary

To keep from backtracking why not take the train from Rome to Siena for your time exploring Tuscany and then continue by train to Florence. You can indeed fly home from Florence, or you could also fly out of Pisa, which is how we did it ourselves a couple of years ago.
From your other post it sounds like you're agreeable to renting a car during your time in Tuscany - good for you. Being able to explore all of the beautiful hilltop villages at our leisure was the highlight of our own 50th anniversary trip.
Siena would be a good base for exploring the area. There are a couple of rental car outlets just a short distance from the train station, and there's cheap parking (2 Euros per day) available in the underground lot there. We never had a problem finding a spot during a 5 day stay back in May '19. The train station is right on the main road (SR2) that will take you down thru the Val D'Orcia in less than 45 minutes, and it's well clear of the ZTL's that cause visitors so much angst. Best to study up on those, and the rules of the road for driving in Italy, before you get behind the wheel.
In March/April you'll be there during the shoulder season, ie not (quite) as crowded as it is during the height of summer. You'll need to be prepared for a bit more rain and cooler temperatures however.
I personally wouldn't sacrifice a day in the countryside for either Rome or Florence, but it sounds from your list of must-sees that this is your first trip to Italy, so your preference may differ.
No matter how you organise it you'll have a great trip. I wouldn't agonise over the particulars too much.

Congratulations on your upcoming 30th! What a wonderful way to celebrate! After maybe some eight (though I've lost track) visits to Italy over the past ten years, I admire that you are not trying to "do it all" but are choosing three bases from which to adventure, enjoy, and explore. One thought: I strongly encourage you to take a train onward to Florence once you land in Rome. We of course don't know what the train schedules will be in a year or two, but in the Before Times, there were two daily direct trains from the Rome airport to Florence. There were also trains from the airport into Roma Termini, the big main Rome train station, every 20 minutes or so. That trip takes approx. 40". Then, every hour or so there were fast train ("freccia") from Rome to Florence; that trip took about two hours. I learned that the first day that I arrived was pretty much a bust in terms of quality sight-seeing because I was so tired from the transcontinental flight. It made sense to travel onwards on a comfortable train ride to Florence (or Venice). If you do this, you'll probably arrive at your Florence hotel by early afternoon, just in time for regular check-in. One of the great benefits of doing this is also that you will have one less hotel change because if you end up flying home from Rome but your last lengthy stay is in Florence, you'll need to travel back to Rome the night beforehand, in order to be nearer the Rome airport. (I found that flights from Florence to the States were generally far fewer in number, cost more, and usually meant another plane transfer, like in Germany or London.)

Looks good but I strongly advise flying out of Milan rather than backtracking to Rome or Florence. Backtracking is usually a time-waster.

I suggest more time in Rome. Three days is not enough. I have been to Rome twice for a total of 12 days and still haven't seen all that I want to see.

What are you doing in Tuscany?

I would not take a train into your next stop in Tuscany. Driving a rental car is by far the best way to explore Tuscany. If you use public transportation you will miss so many places that are worth seeing. We rented one on Borgo Ognisanti in Florence which was very close to exit out of the city to get on the Autostrada.
In Florence I rank Accademia the top priority to see Michelangelo’s “David.” Add the Convent/ Museum of San Marco filled with artistic treasures.
In Rome, take time to walk through some neighborhoods such as Monti and Travestere . Stop for a meal there too.

you could also spend more time in Florence and do day trips into Tuscany. We used a company call WALKABOUT FLORENCE - we did TWO of the tours from Florence - THE BEST OF TUSCANY and THE CHIANTI WINE AND FOOD SAFARI - both fabulous with amazing scenery, good wine, and delicious lunch. Check out their website - walkaboutflorence.com

They also have great reviews on TripAdvisor with photos - but if you book, please book on the WalkAbout Florence website, not a 3rd party site like TripAdvisor/Viator.

Italy is our favorite European country.

Hi,

It depends on where you're picking up your car (which I assume you're using to get around Tuscany).
First of all, I think you're cutting Rome short - I agree with the others that at least one extra full night/day is what you need (and maybe then, even not enough). I also agree with the others that you don't want to "back track," so if your intent is to get a car, I'd travel to Sienna from Rome by train and rent a car there. You could certainly use the car to visit hill towns like San Gimigano, Montalcino, Pienza, Voltera, Montepulciano, etc. If you decide to forgo the car, you can use Sienna as a home base and do short train trips to Lucca and Pisa, both of which are beautiful. When you return the car to Sienna, take the train to Florence and from Florence it is just about a two hour train ride to Centrale Stazione in Milan. Remember that Milan's Airport, Malpensa, is about another 45 minute train ride from Centrale.

A couple sites you may want to add in Rome are the Piazza Navona (filled with Bernini fountains), the neighborhood of Trestevere, the Campidoglio and the Santa Maria della Vittoria for its beautiful Bernini statute of Saint Teresa in Ecstasy.

One site you may want to add in Florence is to spend some time across the River Arno in the Oltra Arno (sp?) neighborhood. It is beautiful and less touristy. Take the walk up the hill to the Piazza Michaelangelo which affords beautiful views overlooking the city, especially at sunset. The Santa Croce church is also beautiful.
Best of luck,

I would fly into Rome and immediately go to your furthest point -- in this case Florence. Use that jet lag arrival day when you are there too early for the hotel room anyway to train to Florence. You can buy the ticket on arrival at the airport so you don't have to worry about a late plane.

Then pick up your car and drive to your Tuscan rentsl and tour Tuscany.

Then Finish in Rome and fly home. Never build a rush to an airport city into your trip -- a hassle at the end takes the glow off the trip

I'd rent a car in Rome, drive up north to stay in Florence or nearby (4 hrs) to base yourself in northern Tuscany, then move to southern Tuscan stay in Siena or south of Siena, drive back to Rome (2-3 hrs).

Well I'm with Janet and the other poster who suggested the train straight to Florence when you land in Rome. Use that jetlagged time to sit comfortably and look at scenery or nap. Then your days in Florence, then elsewhere in Tuscany (Siena sounds good) with a car, then drop the car someplace you can get an easy train to Rome, then Rome last and fly home from there.

I don't remember your previous thread, so sorry if this isn't helpful, but If this were my first trip I'd spend more time in both cities and less in the rest of Tuscany. It looks like you're giving Rome only three full days, which doesn't seem like enough. And it's not clear whether you're giving Florence three full days (i.e. four nights) or only two (three nights). I think both cities justify additional time.

We had an apartment in Rome for a full week, and barely scratched the surface. Maybe you’ll be back again soon, but add a couple of days to Rome, maybe from the Tuscany countryside days. If Tuscany is you priority, though, you’re good to go.

And is Milan simply a potential departure city? You’d do well to have at least a full day in Milan.

for those who don't remember Laurie Ann's only other post it was the 30 year anniversary one.

Read up on the discussion so far at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/two-week-trip-for-30th-anniversary-a-few-questions-about-itinerary

Because it looks like we are starting with a new person many of the answers will be similar to before.

Laurie Ann, with Nigel’s astute connection regarding your earlier topic, it looks like you’ve dropped Venice at this point, but Tuscan agritourismo time is still a priority.

Our Vatican visit took a whole day, starting very early with the Vatican Museums that morning, and finishing with a climb up St. Peter’s Basilica dome just before it closed for the day. A guided tour thru the Museums could make the most of your time, especially if you have a lot to see and do that day, and let’s you do a one-way visit, rather than having to backtrack from the Sistene Chapel to the museum entrance to exit as well. That’s like an open-jaw museum-to-Basilica tour.

The suggestion to hop on the fast train (the Frecce) to Florence upon landing in Rome and then working your way south is pretty good advice I think. Would be more straighforward logistically, and it would make the best use of your time as you try to shed your jetlag and recover some of the sleep you lost on the redeye over.
Picking up your car as you leave Florence would allow you to enjoy the very pretty Chiantigiana road (the SR222 on the map) on your way down to Siena. It's one of Italy's great scenic drives and worth including in your itinerary. Can Google it to see what it's all about and to preview potential stops along the way for lunch, a coffee, or just to stretch your legs.
The alternative would be to take the train or bus to Siena and just collect your car there upon arrival as was mentioned earlier, then returning it there and taking the train back down to Rome for the last leg of your trip.
We enjoyed driving the rural Tuscan roads on our own trip but did not particularly enjoy driving on the Autostrada, which we found to be pretty utilitarian and without charm or any particular scenic value. Better to just take the train when connecting cities in my opinion.
You could spend a month in either Rome, Florence, or Siena and still never "see everything", and you could drive yourselves nuts trying to tweak your itinerary in an effort to settle on "perfect" as you run yourselves ragged trying to get to all of the attractions cited in the various guidebooks. It's a natural temptation for a first-time visitor to try to pack too much in to a short trip - we can vouch for that ourselves, but don't be afraid to build in some recovery days when you're not rushing around but rather are able to just throttle back and enjoy the experience. I personally think that times you've set aside for the various stops is about right, particularly when you realize that it's likely that you'll return to Italy someday - it does have that effect on people.

Edited to add : a quick scan of flights from Detroit to Rome shows that most of your available options get you into Rome in early or mid morning - a pretty common occurrence for transatlantic flights for most of us. The problem then becomes what to do with your luggage if you're facing a delay of several hours before your accommodation in Rome becomes available. Some places will accept your bags until check-in time, others will not. Though the option of dropping your stuff and heading out for several hours of exploring while waiting for your room to become available may sound attractive, it may not be so in practice. Your adrenaline will wear off in a hurry (especially after lunch) and you'll likely find yourselves dragging as your planned sightseeing excursion becomes a slog.
Which is another reason (IMO) to consider taking the train up to Florence upon arrival, where your arrival time will likely coincide nicely with check-in time, allowing you to shower, maybe take a short nap, refresh and generally feel human again before heading out on your great adventure.

You asked about whether to switch a day from Tuscany to Rome or Florence. There is no right answer but perhaps you could try laying out what you would want to see in Tuscany to determine that for you. It would be easier to return to Rome, for example, on a subsequent trip than to see something you missed and really wanted to see in Tuscany. The other thing is whether or not the villages in Tuscany become repetitive to you. Personally, I value variety when traveling and that would be a criteria for me to determine how many days I would enjoy in a region. But, of course, that may not be important to you.

Another thought to help you prepare and consider where you want to go in the cities and whether you want to hire a guide, join a day tour group, or do it yourself: The "Rick Steves Audio Europe" app is wonderful! He outlines walking tours of different neighborhoods in Rome and Florence. Once you download the walking tour, you can do it at your own pace. There are maps, photos of what you'll see, and great stories and descriptions. There are also walking tours of some of the great museums and historical sites, including the Uffizi Gallery, the Vatican Museums, etc. etc. Listening to these even now, before your trip, will give you further ideas about what you might want to see and where you'd like to spend more/less time. I've really enjoyed when traveling with a friend, that we are each listening to the descriptions on our own phones, but then can stop and start and skip around in the "tour" to talk together about what we are experiencing. There are also lots of podcasts on this app about Italian food, culture, music, and more. Oh: and the app and all of the tours, podcasts, etc., on it, are FREE!

Thank you. I guess I should have linked to my old post for it to be more clear. Thank you to the user who linked it.

As for Tuscany we really don't have any specific sites in mind. Just lots of exploring and seeing what we see. We found a place in Lucca that looks like a nice place to stay and in our budget. If we book there, we'd check out Lucca, Pisa, maybe Siena if we wanted to go that far. My husband actually loves nothing more than getting in the car and driving and exploring, even at home a few times a year we head out for the day just to explore. We love finding little towns and seeing houses (we love architecture and cemeteries) etc.

hey hey laurie ann
tuscany is a big big area and if you like lucca, go for it. so much to see and do. you can even hop on a train and take it to cinque terre for a day trip, short train ride to pisa to see the leaning tower and onto the town of pisa to roam along the arno river and have lunch within one of the plazas.
thecrazytourist.com/15 best things to do in pisa
tripsavvy.com/lucca day trips
check out the small towns/villages nearby that you can drive too, like what you and husband are aimed to do
get a good driving map, ask host/hostess where you are staying for info, get an IDP coincides with your drivers license at AAA/CAA for about $25 and 2 passport photos for each driver. it's mandatory when renting a car and driving.
it's a lot of research and stress but pays off in the end. make a folder with each place and what's important in that area to keep it together. you will have a great time and enjoy. keep asking questions, we all are here to help you out with good bad and ugly. you don't have to go go go everyday, give yourself some time to sit in piazzas, people watch, have a glass of wine with lunch and take in the atmosphere. download your italian translator site to correspond
aloha

I also think it's best for you to fly round-trip Rome and start your visit in Florence. Do not underestimate how much orientation is required and how exhausting and frustrating it can be, especially since this is your first trip to Europe.

Rome is a very big, bustling, noisy city, its sights are spread out, and there are multiple means of local transport to figure out (tram, bus, metro). I have often had trouble finding my way around Rome - it's often hard to find street signs, streets that run fairly straight change names, many curve, and the city's built on hills. Bus routes go every which way so you have to know exactly which bus to take and where it stops, large metro stations have multiple exits - use the wrong exit and it may take you several minutes of wandering to figure out where you are and how to get to where you wanted to be! Not to mention how difficult you may find it to cross a busy street. Also, Rome's sights are major. You need to have a clear head to take it all in. Yes, it's a real schlep to get come off a long flight and still have to take a train to Florence, but it will be easier than trying to see Rome on your first day. All of the sights you've listed are in easy walking distance of each other, as well as the train station and many other sights. Most of that area is off-limits to most vehicles, so there's little traffic noise and it's pleasant to stroll around. It's a great place to get acclimated, relax and soak up some Italian atmosphere over a glass of wine, a cup of coffee or some gelato.

If you're planning to have a car for all of Tuscany, it may be best to rent the car in Florence and return it there, then take the train to Rome. Driving in Rome is definitely not recommended! And Florence has the best rail connection to the capital.

Do your homework about driving in Italy. Learn the international signs, the rules of the road, and the dreaded ZTL rules. Know that you're likely to pay a premium for an automatic, that the bigger the car, the harder it will be to park, and GPS is a godsend. Many people think Italian drivers are quite aggressive.

Lastly, redo your itinerary like this sample:
Day 1 arrive, take train to Florence (3 nights)
Day 2-3. Florence sightseeing, 2 full days
Day 4. Pick up car, drive to Lucca (6 nights)
Day 5-9. Sightseeing in Tuscany, 5 full days
Day 10. Return car in Florence. Train to Rome (5 nights)
Day 11-13 Sighseeing in Rome, 3 full days
Day 14 Fly home.

This way it's clear to all exactly how much time you're spending in each place. Note that you "lose" about 1/2 day every time you change locations.

I suggest more time in Rome. Three days is not enough. I have been to
Rome twice for a total of 12 days and still haven't seen all that I
want to see.

We had an apartment in Rome for a full week, and barely scratched the
surface.

Geovagriffith & Cyn speak the truth. I heartily agree with them, but not necessarily for the reasons above. Rome is made out to be a hustling, bustling city, but I know from experience that if you find a neighborhood to your liking--and there are dozens--park yourself and just live, chill-style.

Four years ago, about this time of year (February), we found the Campo de' Fiori market & its environs. Rented an efficiency apartment overlooking the piazza dirt-cheap (85 Euro/night). I don't think I'd rent in this vicinity in the height of tourist season, but in the winter it was almost all locals, shopkeepers, market vendors, with temps between 40-60 degrees. Everything at our fingertips.

We spent a glorious week deciding each morning what--if anything--we wanted to do. Having done our advance research, and knowing with few tourists we could pretty much get in most any restaurant or attraction with little or no advance notice, allowing us to be spontaneous, was freedom to the nth degree.

However you slice it, I'd add a few days to your trip--the difference between 12/13 days as opposed to 16/17 days is huge. We're taking a trip in April 2022 of 17 days beginning in Switzerland, then by rail to the south, and we're finishing off with a week in the Eternal City, Roma--can't be beat. Enjoy your planning!

Don't feel like you don't have to see everything in Rome and Florence--we all travel differently. Most of us are also not lucky enough to have weeks to travel. Some of us are also lucky enough to return, so if you miss anything you can see it another year, fingers crossed!
Do you have a guide book? They usually offer day-by-day plans that loop close-together attractions so you don't have to sit there with a map doing it. For Rome and Florence, I would pick your top three so you can nail down reservations and such, and then fit in some others as you can.
I would recommend continued research of the area of Tuscany you will focus on though. Around Lucca and Pisa, you might be plenty happy, and I am not discouraging you as there is definitely plenty to see, but it is not necessarily the ideal of Tuscan scenery, which would be further to the south east. Lucca-Pisa are also fairly well connected by train and bus, and I figure if you are going to have a car, you should use it to its fullest potential (where transit does not reach). I just would not want to waste much time parking and exploring Pisa or Lucca when you could be driving in the areas around Siena. But all the research and reading is the fun part to me--there are some books devoted to scenic drives, so you might check out one of those.

"As for Tuscany we really don't have any specific sites in mind. Just lots of exploring and seeing what we see. We found a place in Lucca that looks like a nice place to stay and in our budget. If we book there, we'd check out Lucca, Pisa, maybe Siena if we wanted to go that far. My husband actually loves nothing more than getting in the car and driving and exploring, even at home a few times a year we head out for the day just to explore. We love finding little towns and seeing houses (we love architecture and cemeteries) etc."

You should definitely "go that far", google "Val d'Orcia" then click on the images search and look at the pictures--- Val d'Orcia in southern Tuscany is the "Tuscany" you see in calendars, post cards, movies and tv.

I love Lucca, one of my favorite places but that area is the least "Tuscany" feeling of Tuscany. If your husband loves to do nothing but get in the car and explore, then southern Tuscany is THE place to do exactly that. It is filled with 1000 year old walled towns and villages sitting strategically on hilltops, vineyards, the most famous wine towns, cheese towns, with Tuscan sunsets and sunrises over jaw dropping scenery.

Are you into wine? I can give you a list of wineries in any part of Tuscany, visiting wineries in Italy is not like visiting wineries in the US, With the exception of a few of the larger "commercial" wineries to access the majority of Tuscan wineries expect to make reservations in advance. This makes it hard to just drive around and 'discover' a winery in Tuscany and have a wonderful experience on the fly, but the advantages are that reservations give you access to personal experiences you can never duplicate in Napa valley. With reservations, you will arrive and be greeted as a long lost family member instead of a snoopy uninvited guest who will at best you indiscretion will be politely tolerated but likely turned away or at best offered an uncomfortable abbreviated experience that will never give you the amazing experiences that a reservation will provide.

If you do end up around Lucca, do yourselves a great favor and visit Pistoia. (Google it) Rarely visited by typical Tuscan tourists, located in Tuscany's "chocolate valley", it has a small and highly concentrated old city center, making it easy to walk around and is packed with amazing historic sites and will be one of the highlights of your trip that few other people will have visited.

Go to Pisa, everybody needs to see it, but Pisa is a tough nut to crack deeper than just a cursory visit to the field of dreams and be surrounded by thousands of people taking selfies or pictures of themselves holding up the leaning tower. If you get that far north and you like cemeteries / monuments Cararra is not far, this is where the famous marble quarries are located dating back 2000 years, where Michelangelo walked the quarry and hand-selected marble from his most famous sculptures. It's a cool place to nerd out if you are into that, there is a company that will take you up to the quarries on the insanely steep and narrow roads in their range rovers and let you see them up close. (Not for anybody with a fear of heights).

But whatever you do, get to southern Tuscany!

Hi Laurie. We struggled some in planning our time in Tuscany because our ideas about its size were so wrong. It might be helpful to know that Tuscany is 8,900 sq miles, about the size of New Jersey. Your home state of Michigan is about 96,713 square miles. We stayed in 3 different towns, but while we enjoyed each of them, they really were not that far apart. Just a fact to help you understand what you are looking at.

Re Pisa: Don’t just look at the Leaning Tower. Go into the cathedral and baptistery. They are both extremely beautiful. One more thing to note about driving in Tuscany is that while distances may be short, the nature of the roads - - - narrow, hilly, winding - - - means that it can take a long time to to cover short distances. An hour to go 25 miles is not unusual. Viamichelin.com is useful for route planning. Just remember to add around 25% to their time estimates.
I wouldn’t worry too much about what you might miss in Rome or Florence. Look on this trip as the start of what may be the first of many. I lost count of how many times we’ve been to Italy after the 16th. Rome and Tuscany (including Florence) were included on many of those visits; and we rarely repeated anything. I’d return in a heartbeat, covid willing.
Just one more thing on driving. Yes, Americans might find Italian drivers to be agressive,, but it’s a particular kind of aggressiveness. They drive fast, though this has abated a lot since the advent of speed cameras; and they often tailgate. They also honk a lot. Otoh, no one has a gun in his car, ready to use it in a fit of road rage. When I sense impatience in another driver, who can’t pass me because of road characteristics, I just pull over and let them have at. You may be surprised at what they consider enough distance for passing on those hilly, winding roads.