US Flights to Italy

Have you done a search? Just type it into google, you will see all results.
Your goal should be Pisa or Florence with one layover.

Thanks for the quick reply @valadelphia! Yes, I’ve done google flight search and some direct airline searches. Quickly became overwhelmed. Not sure if it matters where the layover occurs (London, Frankfurt, somewhere else?) - is one airport better than others? Ease of going through Passport check? Ease of catching connecting flight? Are any airlines recommended over others for comfort, dependability, etc…?

Appreciate the advice on flying into Pisa or Florence - besides proximity to Lucca, wasn’t sure if one airport would be better than the other.

Where in Nevada? If you are close to either Las Vegas or Salt Lake City, those are international airports with direct flights to Europe (London or elsewhere). British Airways and Delta, maybe others. For example, from LV you could fly BA to London and change there to a flight to Florence or Pisa.

I’d suggest starting by using a search engine like google flights. Pisa will be the closest airport. Narrow it down and come back with your choices and ask for input.

One caution … British Airways flights between the U.S. and Italy often require you to change airports in London (from Heathrow to Gatwick). This is a huge hassle. If you see a BA flight, look closely to see if it requires an airport change; BA doesn’t always make this obvious. If an airport change is required, I’d recommend against it.

I hate transfers at Paris CDG, so I avoid transfers there when there are other decent options. Munich and Zurich are both very efficient for transfers. Amsterdam used to be a good place to transfer, but last summer they had many problems.

Since you are booking on one ticket, you generally will not go through the passport check at the layover airport; you stay airside and transfer to the second flight, then present your passport on arrival in Italy. At least that is how it works with British Airways and Heathrow layovers.

As for which airport is easiest, you will get lots of different opinions. I find Frankfurt more confusing than Heathrow, but we have never done a layover there, just landed there or taken off from there.

Some airports may be easier than others, but schedule and price are the determining factors for me. Get me there the fastest with one change is all I focus on. I do try to avoid Heathrow if possible, but the airline is going to give you a layover they expect you to be able to make. As for Pisa v Florence, same thing--choose the better price and schedule, though Pisa is closer.

Nevada where? Las Vegas? Reno? Winnemucca? West Wendover?
Using Kayak (or any flight search website) enter your departing airport, then your destination airport.
Lucca is between Pisa and Florence airports, so either one would be the closest (Pisa is a bit closer).
Neither airport has flights from/to the US, therefore you need to change somewhere in Europe.
Florence has more choice with traditional airlines, such as:
AIR FRANCE (via Paris CDG)
LUFTHANSA/AirDolomiti (via Frankfurt or via Munich)
SWISS (via Zurich)
KLM (via Amsterdam)
TAP (via Lisbon)
IBERIA (via Madrid)

Pisa is closer but most of the airlines using Pisa are low cost European airlines. The only options for a through ticket with traditional airlines are probably with Lufthansa/AirDolomiti via Frankfurt, via Amsterdam with KLM/Transavia, via Zurich with Swiss/Edelweiss.

London LHR with British is also an option, but there is only one flight a day (around Midday) therefore if you want to return with BA, you probably need to sleep in London on the way back.

If everything fails, try Rome. The largest airport in Italy is Rome, and Pisa is only about 4 hours away by train (change in Florence).

Since you are booking on one ticket, you generally will not go through the passport check at the layover airport; you stay airside and transfer to the second flight, then present your passport on arrival in Italy. At least that is how it works with British Airways and Heathrow layovers.

Not always true. It depends on where you connect. If in Schengen, you will go through passport control at your first airport in Schengen. Heathrow is not in Schengen.

I was looking at this from Las Vegas. I noticed that Pisa was significantly more expensive than Florence, although layover times to Pisa were better.

When you say least amount of time total door to door, or actually least time in the air?

I'd suggest using Flight Aware to research the dependability and on-time history of your intended flights. One can spend hours selecting the best flight, after which the airlines cancel the Flight or change the times. Since COVID, IMHO, delays and cancelations have markedly increased. This was discussed thoroughly recently in the link below,
Safe travels!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/culture-of-cancellation

Really helpful replies, thank you!

I’m departing from Las Vegas, NV. Am looking for reasonable amount of flight time in the air (for example, approx. 10 hours from US to Europe).

Good to know about the difficulties that can be experienced with connecting flights/changing airports (e.g., Heathrow or Paris). Would this group recommend flying into Switzerland vs Germany vs something else?

If flying to Florence, my preference goes to Munich or Frankfurt (Air Dolomiti) or Zurich (Swiss). Both airlines are part of Lufthansa. Amsterdam is also a good choice with KLM, although I've never used it to Florence (my wife has).
I've also flown to Florence via Paris CDG (Air France), and actually Air France has to most flights to Florence (6 daily in each direction in summer). However I don't like layovers at Paris Charles De Gaulle too much because it's the hugest airport ever and you need a minimum of two hours to hope to make the connection. The good thing is that if you miss the connection, AirFrance can easily put you on the next flight to Florence. Coming back home is more challenging because of the short layover in Paris and there is only one or two flights daily to San Francisco (my home airport). In your case I don't think AirFrance flies to LAS anyhow.
In your case, flying from LAS, you have both Frankfurt and Zurich as an option, so I'd explore that first, since both entail one layover only and both Frankfurt and Zurich are more manageable. Another great option from Las Vegas (maybe the best) is KLM via Amsterdam. KLM flies non stop from LAS to AMS. KLM is a decent airline (part of AirFrance) and it flies to Florence with 3 flights daily. KLM's low cost affiliate (Transavia) flies also to Pisa (in summer only).
LAS also has direct connections to London LHR with British.
The problem with British is that if flies to Florence only from London City (not Heathrow) and although it flies from LHR to Pisa, it does so only once daily and the return is too late in the morning to make the connections at London back to the US. If you fly BA prepare to fly to/from Bologna or Rome or spend the night in London on the return leg.
Just be aware that if you return from Florence, you need to spend the night before the flight in Florence, because to make your connections to the US you need to take the very first flight out of Florence at Zero Dark Thirty.
Pisa is closer to Lucca, but still 30-40 min by taxi.

Zurich is a very easy airport to change at, but when I changed there in twice in January and February, they still make you traipse through the duty free shopping mall. Munich is also easy.

Munich is a terrific airport to change flights. And you WILL go through passport control in Munich. Don't worry, it's fast and easy. They have both agents and scanners. The flight into Italy is considered a domestic flight, so you arrive, grab your bags and head out no problem.

You could also make your layover in the US say Atlanta and then direct to Milan or Florence.

No direct flights from the US to Florence.
Only Rome, Milan, and a few to Venice.

I have never had to go to Gatwick when using BA. My flight to Italy in April is to Pisa and the connection is in LHR. LHR itself is no walk in the park though because usually we have to go from terminal 5 to 3 but other than that, just give yourself plenty of time for the connection and you'll be okay.

Are you looking for comfort? Just to get from Point A to B?
My criteria is using a major airline, no extreme budget or no frills. I want the frills, the comfortable seat, the meal, the entertainment.
Layover must be at least 2 hours.
No 6AM flights (that means I need to be at the airport at 4AM which means I need to get up at 2AM and may be an hour drive to the airport..no thanks)
Think outside the box, we have used Aer Lingus (layover will be in Dublin) and Air Canada (layover was in Toronto) to get the airfare I wanted with a major airline. Others have mentioned different layovers they like, as long as I have at least 2 hours I don't have a favorite.
If you're not sure about an airline you can do a google search for reviews, use the search function on this forum or just ask.
I just checked prices, whooweee, they are expensive right now, I would start tracking the prices and I think you may be able to get a better deal closer to your travel date. Use Google flights to track then book directly with the airline.

There are many flight options from the US to Milan (MXP). From there you should be able to connect to Florence or Pisa. Trains from Milan are also an option to consider.

We find that it's almost always better for cost, flight schedules, layover times, and number of stops to fly into and out of Rome or Milan, then take a bus or train or rent a car to get to our actual destination in Italy. Our only exceptions so far have been when we flew into Venice and out of Palermo on our very first rookie trip to Italy together 22 years ago (we DROVE from one to the other city), and when we were staying in Florence for 5 weeks and it seemed easier to use the Florence airport.

This morning, I've been looking at a trip for which we want to fly in and out of Bologna, but will probably decide to fly into Milan and out of Rome. We may be biased in our preferences because we live 15 minutes from a Delta hub airport and are a little paranoid about using budget airlines and are old enough to want to minimize doing things like, as someone already said, waking up at 2am for a 6:30am flight.

I have tickets for Pisa on American airlines May 15,return May 27.
They are business class tickets that were MUCH less than flying into Rome, Venice, Florence or Bologna.
Although Bologna is where I have found less miles if I'm using air miles. Less as in often an third less. But I digress.
In May flying into Pisa (PSA) because it is only 34 minutes from Lucca by train.
Since my airbnb in Lucca is very affordable, I am going to Pontremoli in the Apennines and spend the night but return to my Lucca airbnb. Probably also Barga which is about an hour train ride from Lucca, will be back in Lucca in time for the nightly opera!

Does LAX not offer opportunities? LAS to LAX is fairly easy isn’t it?

Are you going to Lucca for work and will you be there for a longer stretch of time than just vacation? If so, maybe the getting there could include some other travel in Italy to get you to Lucca?

catch your flight to Italy on the East Coast, keep possible immigration matters simple. JFK, EWR, mebbe BOS.

Also check out Dulles. Good connections to Europe can be found there and a more pleasant experience.
JFK and EWR (Newark) as another said are often the best connections to Europe.
But coming from the west spending a night at the airport where the international flight departure is often a good idea.

Thank you so very, very much for the helpful information. Tickets are booked - went with Condor (after comparing flights & prices of the other airlines listed in this thread as well as google flights & kayak). Flying into Frankfurt then on to Florence. Grazie mille!