Yet another itinerary question

Twenty days with six of them spent lugging junk from hotel to train to hotel is the wrong ratio for me. Any tour has the logistics down pat and can cover a lot of ground. You have no idea where the hotel is or how to get to it from the train or bus. Pisa's off the track. CT is third or fourth tier for anybody but an RS fan.

In general, I really like your routing. I would suggest that you don't need a night in Pisa. For me, there is nothing else in Pisa besides the leaning tower and adjoining Field of Miracles. You can be in and out of Pisa in a couple of hours. You can really do this on your way from Siena to the CT. You could add the night onto Florence.

We recently returned from Italy and had 19 nights in 5 places. You need to realize that it takes at least a half a day to check out of your hotel, get to the train, ride the train, get to your hotel and check in. It gets to be tiring. That also means that at those locations with 2 nights you really have 1.5 days there. You need to research each town and have a tentative list of what you want to see and do and figure out if the amount of time will allow it. We generally stay three nights in each town and often find that's not enough time to get the feel of where we are. We did the day trips to Pompeii and Amalfi on this trip and believe me, you will be tired after walking more than five hours in Pompeii. You can do it faster with a guide, but we used RS guide book and wandered on our own going where we wanted. If you like to do quick travelling, then go for it. But you can at least drop the night in Pisa and add it to Florence. You can do it as a day trip from there if you have time.

Nice planning overall. Just to give yourselves a break from so much moving about, consider combining Siena, Florence and Pisa into one 5 night stay in Siena. Daytrip to Florence, and add in some hilltowns via bus, or a nice wine tour from Siena. See Pisa on your way to the CT. This 5 night stay can become sort of a centerpiece to your trip where you s-l-o-w d-o-w-n just a tad. The daytrips will keep you hopping! The CT to Venice is a bit of a long transfer by train. We did it in reverse and enjoyed the day of trains, though. This trip will give you a great taste of Italy. Bet you'll be planning your return trip by the time ot reach Orvisto! In Siena we loved this B&B http://www.anticaresidenzacicogna.it and in Orvieto highly recommend http://www.ripamedici.it.

Thanks guys! I did think this was going to be too much traveling. I think I've decided to ditch the nights in Pisa and Orvieto. So with my 3 extra nights I'll add a night to Rome (with an Orvieto road trip), Siena (possible Pisa road trip?) and Florence. The new itinerary is... 3 nights Sorrento 5 nights Rome 3 nights Siena 3 nights CT 3 nights Florence
3 nights Venice I cannot wait!

Pam, The revised Itinerary looks much better! The Orvieto day trip is absolutely a good idea (be sure to tour the Duomo). However, I'd still skip Pisa as I'm not sure it's worth the travel time and effort just for a short view of the Tower. Happy travels!

Pam, if you are taking the train, you can easily see Pisa on your travel day from Siena to CT. I did the opposite and had plenty of time to see the tower and have lunch