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Personally, I'd do Amalfi coast, Rome and Florence. You could easily include day trips to Capri and Sienna with this itinerary. I'd save Cinque Terre, Venice, Como, etc. for a trip to "northern" Italy.
Drives along the Amalfi coast are nice as are the Salerno - Amalfi - Positano boat rides. While along the coast, I'd probably spend a day in Capri by catching the early morning (and evening return) hydrofoils. It's also a very simple thing to catch the train to Pompeii (or even Naples).
As others have said, you won't be let down by taking a day trip to Sienna from Florence either.
I think you need one day more for Rome: 4 days
You can see Florence in 2 days. The other one (or two days more) maybe for Pisa; Siena or San Gimignano.
Venice 2 days? Well I went for one day and pretty good. By train, may be two days will be neccesary. It depend's on timetables.
Cinque Terre: does it worth it?
My proposal:
Rome 4 days.
Toscana 4 days
Venice 1 or 2 days.
Anyway, it doesn't matter, you'll feel very good everywhere you'll be. Good travel !!!
You just said like 5 words in this sentence I've never heard before.
So you're saying to skip the CT and spend more time in Rome?
yea,i've heard that the amalfi coast and capri are a better,albeit lesser known,choice than CT.
Myself,I'm interested in Lecce and the Marche...anyone?
Between Florence and Rome is a wonderful little town of Orvieto. By all means try and get up there. Pottery is fabulous and great little food places and cheese shops. Stop and look over the valley, beautiful.
A day trip to Siena is easily doable from Florence. There is a bus from the bus station in Florence. With that little time in Rome check to make sure that the Vatican museum is open on the day you are there. The Vatican actually depressed me; seeing all the riches of the world. Trains are easy to use in Italia and if you have Amex you can buy tickets at any Amex office; for the same price as at the train station. Enjoy!
Italy without visiting and admiring the Roman Catholic Cathedrals is like eating a hamburger without the meat. The Roman Catholic Cathedrals are the highlights in the architecture and history of every city and town in Italy. If that depresses you, it would be better for you to visit some protestant Scandinavian countries.
Here is what I did a couple years ago and still thought it was really short:
Rome - 4 days
Florence/Fiesole - 2 days
Tuscany & North - 2 days (Borgo San Lorenzo for the Mugello MotoGP race 1 day and Bologna 1 day)
Venice - 2 days (would've liked to stay 3 to see Murano as well)
Don't forget train travel will eat up some time as well! I would remove Cinque Terre entirely, it is on the other side of Italy from Venice and that means more train travel and less time to see other sights.
So I have 10 days and nights in Italy this spring. Here's how my itinerary breaks down:
Rome: 3 days
Florence: 3 days
Venice: 2 days
Cinque Terre: 2 days
How does this look for a first time Italy trip? Should I find a day/night for Siena? Any other places that I should try to squeeze in? Thanks.
I'd say 2 days in Florence and at least 1 in Siena. You can also drive through the Chianti Road between Siena and Florence which is one of the best enchanting roads we have in Italy. You can stop hardly everywere in B&B or for lunch\dinner.
Cinque terre is fine, but if I were you I'd spent 2 days in Umbria (Perugia, Assisi, Spoleto are way better choices).
The trip as you have it planned seems to me too much of a "touristic" tour. You are going all over the country - almost - and reserving very few days for cities like Rome and Florence, which will only allow you to run from landmark to landmark taking pictures to prove "you've been there". But in the end, you won't come back knowing much more than you do know about Italy.
I would stay with Rome and Florence and if you wish add a 1 day excursion to Siena or Pisa from Florence.
A stay in Rome should be planned and studied in advance or you are going to miss most of it. 5 days in Rome is good to have an idea. You can see the famopus places but also reserve some precious time to stroll around watching the people, sitting outside a cafe with an espresso or sipping a glass of red wine "al fresco".
based on your preferences and liking for history reserve 2 or 3 days to visit churces and old ruins and a couple of days to enjoy the city, the food, the people and the wine. Without doing that, you can't say you have been to Italy.
Florence.
Florence is different. I could personally (I did) spent a week in Florence but that's because my wife and I love arts. If you are the same Florence is your town. It's not just the museum (The galleria degli Uffizi is a paradise for art lovers), but it's the old churces, rich in paintings from the rinascimento era.
However if you are not into art and watching painting, sculpture and walking around museum is not your thing, Florence might become boring to you after a couple of days. In that case, enjoy the city for 2 days (a walk along River Arno is a must, especially at sunset and try to concentrate on the old city; the modern part is okay but looks like many other Italian cities). Then take a day trip.
Tuscany is beautiful so day trips will be good anyway.
Pisa has the famous pending tower, but not much else (unless, once again, you are into arts).
Siena is beautiful, still mantains his medieval configuration. Walking around the narrow streets on paved alleys where all you hear is the sound of your heels is almost magical. Plenty of small bakeries, caffe and good deals for leather bags if you have a woman with you.
The area outside Siena is peaceful on the hills. Try visit small villages like Sarteano where the up and down streets of the old city still carry the medieval symbols of each "contrada" (neighborhood).
Of course Tuscany is synonim of food, great food. Wine is at its best in this area, especially the reds and they don't have the crazy prizes they have in the US. (Brunello di Montalcino, Montepulciano, Chianti, Sangiovese just to name a few). There are also plenty of small medieval villages where you can hide and really take a break from modern life and shake off some stress.
I would personally leave Cinque Terre out of this and Venice as well.
Oh, from Tuscany day trips to Umbia are feasible too. Assisi and Gubbio are worth a visit. Spoleto is more touristic and Perugia is nice, but is more of a city. If you are a religious (Christian) person, Assisi is your best bet.
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