overwhelmed with trip to Italy

Perhaps you are feeling overwhelmed because, to my mind, you are trying to cover too much territory in too little time.

Since you don’t have hotels or train tickets yet, I’d suggest editing a bit. I’d probably cut the 2 days in Florence and add a night to Venice and Rome ( not because it’s not worthy but because 2 nights in Venice and Rome are too few). Or cut the Amalfi/Sorrento area and divide those nights across Venice, Florence and Rome.

I would make sure you get Ricks’s Guide to Italy ASAP. As far as travel to your destinations, a car is not necessary or advisable unless you want to tour the area around Pescara - then rent one there. I personally feel that you’re overdoing the number of places you want to visit. The rule of thumb is 15 nights equals 14 days. The arrival and departure days are basically travel, not vacation days.

With that in mind, I think you are cutting the time spent in Venice, Florence and Rome too short. As nice as Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are, I think it would be overdoing it. Add time to Venice and Florence, take the train from Florence to Pescara. Then go back to Rome for a few days before your departure. Time is growing short so sort your plans immediately.

As far as rail travel goes, you can purchase tickets in advance on TrenItalia.com. The sooner they are purchased, the more you will save. Check on family plans and child fares. When using the website, you must enter Italian city names and you need to know the stations.
Venice is Venezia S. Lucia, Florence is Firenze S. M. Novella, then Pescara Centrale and then Roma tutte la stazioni. Rome has 2 large stations, Termini and Tiburtina. Choose the one that is most convenient for your family.

Count your nights, not days.
2 nights is really just 1 day, 1.5 days at the most
Each time you move you lose a half a day- travel to/checking in, getting oriented, etc

You are giving Venice, Florence and Rome short shrift- maybe skip Florence and give a night to Venice and a night to Rome
Train from Venice to Salerno then start your Amalfi coast segment from there

I would also put all of Rome together at end of your trip

Amy,
Do you really mean nights or days? For instance, often two nights in a city functionally means one full day; two days could mean three nights, etc. Is your arrival day in Venice also a sight-seeing day?
Definitely agree that the time in Venice and Rome isn't enough.
Have you already studied the RS Guide books? We all could be more helpful if we know your interests and priorities; have you been to Italy before?
Are you talking about June 2019? If so, you do need to book hotels asap, and get ticketed entry to your designated sites.
It is overwhelming, but you'll do a great job. Safe travels!

First off, what do you and the rest of your family want to do in Italy? Obviously, visit your husband's family in Pescara, but what else? What do you want to do with your five days on the Amalfi Coast other than Sorrento? Do you want to visit Pompeii?

Plan your trip thinking in terms of nights. For example, two days in Venice could mean one, two or three nights.

If you like ancient (Roman) history, then I would suggest more nights and days in Rome. If you like Renaissance art, then more days / nights in Florence. If you and your family prefer the countryside, then I would suggest that you drop one of the cities (probably Florence) and add some time (with a rental car because it's easier) in the countryside, for example, around Pescara.

To help you decide what to do and where to go, in addition to Rick Steve's Italy, also watch his travel videos. Note which things look the most appealing to you. If you haven't been to Italy before, reading his book will help you with all sorts of travel details.

I would suggest that you put all of your time in Rome at the end, so you don't have to pack and move as many times.

In terms of hotels, what price range are you looking for? You are planning to visit some very popular destinations, and availability over the weekends, in particular, will be low, especially if you want a family room (room for 4 people). Rooms for 2 people are more common in Italy.

I will echo what Pam said, you are overwhelmed because you are trying to do too much.

Sorrento and Amalfi coast are the 'out of area' destinations and therefore suggest you eliminate them and add more time to your other destinations.

Do all your Rome days at the end.

You are covering way too much ground here. I suggest removing Venice or Amalfi/Sorrento. Look at connection times on rome2rio.com, or trenitalia to be more precise. You could do fine with Venice-Florence-Rome plus Pescara.

Agree with the others, you need to do some cutting/prioritizing. As much as I love Amalfi/Sorrento it’s the logical cut. That area is the most complicated logistically, and still demands more time than you give it here. All those days in Pescara are going to be pretty laid back and provide that nice, slow experience. So, I’d use the other days to hit the “big three.” How to divide that time will be up to you, but consider your first and last days to be non-factors. I’m kind of assuming you’re on a schedule for Pescara? Is there any other reason you’re splitting that time in Rome?

Amy, this is how I see your current itinerary:
16 nights/15 FULL days of sightseeing.

6/08 - arrive Venice - jet-lagged partial day
6/09 - Venice
6/10 - Florence - partial day
6/11 - Florence
6/12 - Amalfi/Sorrento - partial day
6/13 - Amalfi/Sorrento
6/14 - Amalfi/Sorrento
6/15 - Amalfi/Sorrento
6/16 - Amalfi/Sorrento
6/17 - Rome - partial day
6/18 - Rome
6/19 - Pescara - partial day
6/20 - Pescara
6/21 - Pescara
6/22 - Pescara
6/23 - Pescara
6/24 - fly home from Rome

As the others have expressed, you're not allowing enough time for Venice, Florence and Rome: only 1 full day for each of them will hardly give you time to get your bearings. I vote with the others for eliminating Amalfi/Sorrento as it's really out of the way and will require backtracking, and adding 1 night to Venice, 2 to Florence and 2 to Rome. I'd order your trip Venice>Florence>Pescara>Rome as you'll want to be in the city of departure the night before your flight.

You can do 1 day trip out of Florence and 1 out of Rome if you'd like to stretch a bit: that's more easily done than a packing/unpacking move to a new accommodation.

So, you have kids. In my mind, that changes up priorities a lot. I haven't traveled with kids for years, and we couldn't have done international travel even then - but I do know their priorities were different to mine....as was their patience and boredom factor.
It looks like you are keeping some of that in mind, minimizing big cities. I can see that. So why not talk a bit about the inspiration of your itinerary and what you want to get out of the trip?
Your kids are a little older, and I don't know the gender, but one of Rick's Italian guides - Sarah Murdoch - brought her sons on a mom/son Italy trip and blogged about it. Rome offers more than just the Colosseum. How about Gladiator School or biking the Appian Way? Here is her first post - for Rome. https://adventureswithsarah.net/adventures-with-nico-episode-one/
I would have missed Venice if it were me, but as it isn't, then skip Florence and add to Rome for more things for kids. As said, put it at the end of the trip. If they must see David and the Leaning Tower, then take the days from Sorrento and/or Pescara to add to Rome.
A quick look seems to offer a long bus or train ride from Amalfi area to Pescara, or this might be the time to have a car. Pick up in Sorrento (or wherever) and drop in Rome. Otherwise, I would stick to train.

Rome needs more time-Almost everyone who goes for just a couple days ends up not liking it.

Since Pescara and the Amalfi area are your primary interest, I'd drop Florence. Try this instead.

Day 1. 8th. Travel.

Day. 2. 9th. Arrive Venice. Probably jet lagged.

Day. 3. 10th. Venice.

Day 4. 11th. Venice.

Day 5. 12th. Venice-Naples. 10:25-15.34. 5 hrs.
Circumvesuvian to Sorrento 1:06.

Day 6. 13th. Sorrento/Amalfi.

Day 7. 14th. Sorrento/Amalfi.

Day 8. 15th. Sorrento/Amalfi.

Day 9. 16th. Sorrento-Pescara. Rent car in Sorrento, 3:30 drive. You might need a car in Pescara so it makes sense to rent here.

Day 10. 17th. Pescara.

Day 11. 18th. Pescara.

Day. 12. 19th. Pescara.

Day. 13. 20th. Pescara.

Day 14. 21st. Pescara-Rome there's a regional Train at 9:23-12:45 takes 3 :22. # 3229.

Day. 15. 22nd. Rome.

Day 16. 23rd. Rome.

Day 17. 24th. Travel home.

Edit. There's also a flight to Naples (NAP) but it will only save an hours total travel time.

I just noticed this. If your arrival in Venice is the 8th you would have an extra day which could be added to either the Amalfi Coast or Rome.

I am doing a very similar trip, except I’m not going to see your in-laws. We also did this trip similarly last year with our two children of 10 and 12 years old . Start with your accommodations. I often book things that have free cancellation and then go back and see if I can’t find something better later, knowing I have somewhere to stay. Once you have your accommodations, then work on your train tickets. Break everything into little chunks and do a little bit at a time. It is overwhelming. I was right there with you a year ago. You can do this! Get the Rick Steves book and do as much research as you can. And then simply enjoy!

Thank you to all of you wonderful people to take the time out of your busy day to respond.

I think we are going to go to Venice, Amalfii, Pescara and then Rome.
We land in Venice June 8, 2019 and fly out of Rome June 25th.

If anyone can suggest any accommodations or private tours. I would be open to suggestions. I didn’t realize that I should have booked this months ago. Most accommodations are booked. It is difficult to find a place for a family.

Thank you again :)

Sounds good
I don’t have any specific lodging recommendations, I always start looking with booking.com
Good luck!l

Booking dot com, tripadvisor, airbnb, vrbo all offer apartments for family sizes. Venice could be tight for budgets. Legal apartments should provide a registration number and request that city tourist raxes are paid in cash upon arrival. As it seems to cause concern for some, know they may ask for a copu of passport/s. This is a common requirement to register guests in a city....whether apartment or hotels.

I heavily recommend Airbnb and or VRBO for a family. You should be able to find places that will give you more room for much less money than multiple hotel rooms!

I have, and will continue to use these 2 services to book my stays when traveling overseas.

Two trips to Venice, and both times stayed at apartments we found thru Vacanze en Famiglia ( http://www.vacanzeinfamiglia.it/?lang=en ) . You can get a kitchen for making your own breakfasts, which will help get your days started.

We based ourselves in the Sorrento area, at a B&B to just the northeast, but I don;t think they're in business anymore. Around Sorrento was a great area from which to explore the greater region.

(Corrected) In Rome, we've stayed on the west side of the Tiber River, in the Trastevere neighborhood. Close to the Pantheon and city center, without being right in the hectic center.

In Rome, we've stayed on the west side of the Arno River, in the Oltrarno neighborhood. Close to the Pantheon and city center, without being right in the hectic center.

Correction:
Arno/Oltrarno is in Florence.

We've used Booking.com many times. I like it because you can filter for price, location, and type of lodging. You can keep all pertinent info plus multiple bookings right on your phone.
Most of the places we've stayed have also had free cancellations. Just make sure you have A/C in ALL rooms. And the bed configuration works for your family. You might need to add a person or two to get exactly what you want bed (room) wise.

In Venice, I recommend these tours. Fun, personable, informative guides. That give you a good amount of info. While they're free, please tip.

http://www.venicefreetours.com/venice-free-tour-english/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoteH6Oi24QIV1FqGCh1_1A67EAAYASAAEgKcofD_BwE

We've used Booking.com many times. I like it because you can filter
for price, location, and type of lodging.

Echoing Gerri here: that site has worked very well for us.

Amy, when you’re in Rome you and your kids may enjoy a bike tour with Top Bikes. They use electric assist bikes so nothing strenuous. I did the tour that rode down the Appian Way to the catacombs, then to aqueduct Park for a close look at two runs of aqueducts, then a refreshment stop for cheese and bread (and wine for the adults). A very enjoyable afternoon. There were only six people in my group, so not to worry about tour size. I also liked food tours by Eating Italy, particularly the Testaccio one. (Did several — that was my favorite. )

Patricia,

Thank you for your suggestions!

This sounds like my kind of holiday. We love food and we would enjoy biking around town.
There are many things we want to do and your suggestions were in the list :)

Hotel Panda in Rome near Spanish Steps has a quad room available for June 21-24th. We stayed in a squared room there 12 years ago and enjoyed the location. Very basic, small, clean and stairs. Good luck

We did all our lodging via Airbnb or booking.com and never had issues. When using Airbnb be sure to filter for superhost as well as applying a filter for any "must haves" (i.e. wi-fi, washing machine, etc.) . Repeating what other said - 2 days is not enough. You may want to revisit your itinerary and think about the absolute must see for this trip. You will not enjoy yourselves if you are rushing to see things and have to worry about getting from point A to point B. The great thing is, you can always go back to Italy.