Winter in Italy-Rome, Florence, and Varenna (Lake Como)

hey hey LRieves
congratulations on your anniversay,
are you landing on Nov 24 and flying out Dec 2 and is this a multi-city flight, flying into rome out of milan? how many nights in each city, do you have early check in and luggage holds, departuring will take longer than you think, get ready, pack up, breakfast, check out, trans to train station, travel time to next destination, find hotel, check in may take half a day.
the weather will probably be cold and rainy, but then again mother nature..... today's news showed places in italy pouring rain so bad which brought flooding to streets, cars stuck in the water and mud,
i count 8 nights for your trip, what are you interested in? more info and we can better steer you.
aloha

I would avoid Lake Como at that time of year. Not lake weather at all. Stick with two destinations with 8 nights. As princess pupule points out, knowing your interests will help us guide you further. Have you looked at a guide book or perused the planning section of this website to understand what might (or might not) interest you in Florence? It is very museum intense.

For Florence, to me a must-see is the David at the Accademia. The Uffizi is also good, but it is very big. Book ahead at the Accademia and the Uffizi. A smaller, very nice museum is the San Marco Museum near the Accademia. It's less crowded and has gorgeous art by Fra Angelico, among others. My other favorite in Florence is the Santa Croce church. I tend toward the museums and art, but it's also fun to walk around the piazzas and people watch. Enjoy and happy anniversary!

Happy anniversary, LRieves. Italy is a great place to celebrate your special day! :O)

Are there any MUST-SEEs or MUST-DOs for Florence....

There were MANY for me but my interests may be very different than yours. As Laurel had mentioned, it's a very museum-intense city, and most of its treasures center around art and architecture. As she has also wisely suggested, a good guidebook will be helpful in choosing which attractions most closely match your own interests. We might also recommend some if you give us some idea of the particular sorts of things you enjoy.

It sounds like you are locked into stays in the locations you mention but if you could get out of your reservation in Varenna without penalty, I'll second the vote for spending all of your time in Florence and Rome. While a popular destination during the warmer months, a lot of restaurants, hotels, shops and tourist attractions - such as villas - in Varenna and other locations around the lake are reported to be closed during the winter. That's OK if you're fine with just some walkabouts and self-entertained hanging out for a few days but if not, Florence and Rome are going to offer much more to do, especially if the weather is wet, windy, overly chilly, etc.

I agree that time of year is not usually good weather for the lakes. But are you flying home from Milan. If so, I would book a couple of nights there and if you get lucky and get good weather you can always do a day trip to Varenna (and no you do not need to book train tickets ahead of time for that leg, it's a regional train). If the weather is not good there is plenty to do in Milan itself.

On the other hand, if you are not flying out of Milan then I would just stick to Florence and Rome.

Everyone's must see's are different. I think the architecture of the city, and view points like Piazza Michaelangelo and some of the piazzas and churches are must sees. Others think the museums are. But any good guide book will list them and then you can pick and choose.

If you do end up with just Rome and Florence and want to see smaller towns there are two excellent day trips - Orvieto from Rome and Siena from Florence. Both of these are -for me anyway - 'must sees' and they are easily done by public transportation as day trips (although both are worthy of several days, but you don't have that much time).

We have spent a lot of time on Lake Como in warmer months. Locals told us winter, fog, not nice.
After Florence visit another city such as Bologna or head south from Rome to Naples.

Just saw this and it might be of interest if you can't cancel Varenna without penalty? Christmas Markets in Bergamo:

https://www.visitbergamo.net/en/object-details/6371-christmas-village-2019/
https://www.visitbergamo.net/en/object-details/6473-piazza-dante-christmas-village/

Bergamo is an easy and inexpensive day trip from Varenna (1 train change in Lecco), and the lofty, Medieval part of the city, Città Alta, is an interesting ramble through the narrow, old streets. Enjoy expansive views from the city walls, visit the churches, admire the architecture and piazzas, cruise the shops, have lunch (we enjoyed il Circolino, also called Cooperativa Città Alta, very much during our stay)... Bergamo is a university town so it doesn't shut up tight in the cold months, and it would be a nice activity if the weather isn't particularly enjoyable on the lake.

The holiday markets will be located in the lower part of town (Città Bassa).

Definitely bring a winter coat that is water repellent. 40 degrees and humidity and rain needs something more than a rain jacket. (And hat and gloves)

I'm in Rome now, & have been for the last 2 weeks. Temps are in the 60s in mid afternoon & low-mid 50's at night...very nice, actually...EXCEPT... it has rained every day for 12 of the last 14. Never all day & often for only an hour or two but the sun has been a real stranger on this trip. I'd agree with the previous poster who recommended some warm layers underneath high quality rain gear. (including hat & gloves)