Since this topic comes up quite often, I thought I'd post my recent packing list for a 2 1/2 week trip to Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan) over the Christmas holidays. Although it might not be "perfect" for everyone, it was for me so I thought I'd share it in hopes that it will help others (ladies I'm talking to you) with the age old dilemma of "what do I pack???"
Background: I only do carry on and am a 52 year old female. Objective was to be warm, comfortable and "somewhat" stylishly attired. Weather ranged from high 30's/low 40's to high 50's with 5 or so days of rain. Color scheme - black, grey, teal and burgundy. So, what did I take?
3 pairs of pants - 1 pr. trouser styled jeans, 1 pair black skinny jeans and 1 pr. dark denim boot cut jeans. Wore the trouser jeans on the plane.
3 long sleeved, crew neck t Shirts (black, charcoal and burgundy). Wore one on the plane.
2 lightweight merino wool cardigans - grey and teal. Wore the grey one on the plane.
1 lightweight merino wool v neck pullover (grey)
1 lightweight merino wool turtleneck (burgundy)
3 Uniqlo heat tech t shirts in teal, burgundy and grey (these were absolutely key!!)
1 pr. pj's
1 pr. velour sweats (we rented apartments so I wore these to cook and lounge in)
2 bras (wore one, packed one)
4 pr. underwear (wore 1, packed 3)
4 pr.smartwool socks (wore 1, packed 3)
1 pr. black long underwear
1 pr. black leather clarks walking shoes
1 pr. black short boots (Born)
3 scarves (1 wool, 2 modal)
1 pr. gloves (zipped into pockets of raincoat)
1 black rain coat with liner (carried onto plane)
1 black Primaloft packable women's jacket (the jacket stuffs into it's own pocket and I put it in a velour pillow cover and used as my pillow on the plane)
toiletries
1 black leather crossbody bag (fit into "personal bag")
1 small tote bag (personal item) - pillow, Kindle, ipad, camera, headphones, velour sweats, liquids bag
suitcase
Overall, this wardrobe worked really well - the key pieces were the Uniqlo t shirts which I wore every day as my base layer. I washed these out in the sink and they dried by the next day. Second key piece was the Lands End primaloft jacket. It provided great insulation under the raincoat and I wore it with just the t shirts/sweaters on the warmer and less rainy days. Last key piece was my long underwear.