Suggestions For A 2 Night Stay

Andrea,

If you keep your car an extra two days, you could consider basing those two nights in Orvieto (exploring some of the Etruscan sites) or Perugia/Assisi (exploring some of the Umbrian countryside and villages, ie Gubbio).

Also, a week's car rental may be the most cost effective. I've often seen a 7-day rental being cheaper than a 4-day one, often with no drop-off charges either if returned to a different location.

I don't know if this itinerary is already set in stone, but this is my 2 cents.
4 nights in Venice may be one too many. You may want to take a day to visit Padua also 25 min away by train).
If you like small towns you should add one night to lake Garda and limit Verona to 2 nights. Verona can be visited in a day or less.
Florence for 2 nights will give you only a full day in my beautiful home town. How about adding a night there. Since you have two to spare, you might consider to add both to Florence (so u have a total of 4 nights, I.e. 3 full days in Florence), of the 3 days in Florence, you can spend 2 for Florence (and maybe Fiesole, atop the hill), then you can take a day trip to Lucca (and maybe also Pisa, which is next to Lucca). Both are a very easy trip from Florence (but not so from Siena). From Florence you can also take day trips to Arezzo, or Pistoia.

Roberto's suggestion of simply adding those nights to Florence is also a very good one.

I took a daytrip to Bologna from Florence last month for example (35-40 minutes by high speed train!). It was my fifth visit to Florence and I still will go back - there is so much to do and see!

I like your plan overall. Venice is a wonderful place to spend 4 nights at the start of a trip. Just soak it up and be sure to go to the islands.

I am not a Lago di Garda fan. We went there last summer for two nights and were quite unimpressed. But if you want some lazy days on the water, it could suit you (not sure May will be beach weather, though). Verona is not, IMO, a 3-night town. You can see it in less than a day. There are far more interesting towns in the Veneto, like Padova. Maybe you could use Verona as a base and go to Padova and Vicenza? The opera in Verona is spectacular, if that appeals. I do think Florence could use more time, but only if you really want to see all of the museums. If you want another small town experience, I agree that Assisi could be it. Go to Siena and Assisi first with the car, then Florence and on to Lago di Como.

Two nights in Bologna would leave you with lots of options for the day in between. Decide when you wake up.
-Mosaics in Ravenna
-Biking in Ferrara
-Ham and cheese in Parma
-Balsamico or Ferraris in Modena

Thanks for the replies. I made a mistake when I first posted. We will have 3 nights in Venice. I have edited my post. I have booked the lodging everywhere but Lake Como. While I can cancel and change things, I would prefer not to. I need to fill the 2 nights between Florence and Lake Como. My friend hasn't been north of Rome, but I have. I've been to Orvieto, Lucca, and stopped off in Pisa on my way to the CT. I've also been to Florence. My friend isn't into museums, so I'm not sure if Florence would be a good choice. The possibility of more easily doing day trips without a car does make it something to think about. I've been to Verona and loved it. If we see everything we want in the first day, we can always do a day trip the other full day. We were going to do a day trip to Lake Garda from there, but our plans changed and we decided to stay there for a couple of nights. It's has been pointed out to me that going to Lake Garda and Lake Como is a bit redundant. My interest in Lake Garda is that my father was there during WWII. I've been to Lake Como and would skip it this time, but it is the one place my friend specifically wants to see. I can't very well tell her no. I'm really looking for some new places to see, and our itinerary has ended up repeating places I've been with the exception of Lake Garda.

One place I considered is Bergamo. Opinions would be welcome.

Verona is indeed quite compact and the sites easily covered in one day.

However, it is a great town for the French term " flâner"... it offers many great shops to browse in (antiques, clothing, art & house decor, foodie stuff, etc.), offering really nice stuff, without the 'big city' feel. It has nice cafés and serious wine shops and enotecas.

Apart from the usual sites to visit, there is a garden that is very pleasant to walk in, the Giardino Giusti. You can also drop in at the quirky Club di Giulietta and chat with someone about the letters they get and the team of multilingual volunteers who respond - we spent a hour there just chatting with a lovely woman, who spoke excellent English.

As well, there is the possibility of arranging a daytrip to visit great wineries or to Vicenza or Mantova from Verona.

So if you rather take it at a slow pace, Verona is quite fine. I like it a lot.

I just read your follow-up post... glad to see that you liked Verona as much as I do and can see how to spend time there. :-)

I spent an overnight in Bergamo. Although the higher part is pretty, I did not like this city. It's the only place in Italy that I really did not like at all.

With plenty of time in Verona, consider Mantova or Vicenza for a day excursion. Both are wonderful for architecture fans.

As Roberto said, I think you should add a night in Florence. Florence is not just a city of museums!!! Florence is a city to remain outside not inside!
Go to the Teatro Del Sale and experience a night there for instance.
You ll eat well and listen to nice musical group.

If you have a car, you might want to go to Gubbio, it is a wonderful little town.
Your friend will love it.

I love Bergamo, especially Citta Alta. a beautiful small town near Firenze is Pistoia, about an hour away. It would probably be new for you, too. Arezzo is another choice.

Thank you for all of your ideas. I've suggested to my friend that we spend 4 nights in Florence and she has agreed. So with 4 nights in Siena (we will have a place to park) and 4 nights in Florence, should we plan to do day trips by car from Siena, and by train or bus from Florence? Or should we stay just outside Florence and keep the car for a couple of extra days for day trips? Help! Thanks!

Plans change. Instead of 4 nights in Florence we are spending 4 nights at an Agriturismo in Pontassieve. We will have a car for the time we are in Siena and at the Agriturismo. Thanks again everyone.