Need help planning a trip to Italy.?

My husband and I and another couple are planning a trip to Italy for Jan or Feb of '09. Since I just had a baby last Mar and he'll be almost 2, I didn't want to leave him for an extremely long time. So we were thinking either 7 or 10 days. We haven't decided that much yet. And i was thinking it'd probably only be wise to visit two cities/towns. We wanted to do Rome, Tuscany, and Venice. But seeing as we will only be there aobut a week, it seems more practical to only go to two places. Since we will also have to catch a train or something to travel between cities. Or would you recommend a car? I really need help deciding on where to go. I got a book about Italy but there is just so much in there, I don't even know where to start and I feel very overwhelmed with it. So any help or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Oh yes, we are most interested in ancient Rome. So I am thinking Rome is a must. But couldn't decide between Tuscany area or Venice b/c Venice is expensive and we are on a somewhat tight budget.

Hi, one week is a short time to visit my country so I suggest you to see Rome and Tuscany only. On your way to Tuscany you could stop in Perugia and Assisi that are lovely, especially the second one which is famous for the church of San Francesco. In Tuscany make sure to see Pisa and the leaning tower. it's only an hour from Florence and you can spend there ( actually here...) half a day only as there is nothing else to see. If you are not interested in visiting museums, you could spend no more than two days in Florence. It takes about 3-4 hours by train from Rome to Florence. You can check the schedule at http://www.trenitalia.com/it/nazionali.s...
Keep in mind that the main, central station in Florence is Santa Maria Novella. it's not far from the city centre, you can get there walking. It takes no more than 20 minutes. And it takes 20 minutes as well to get from Pisa Centrale station to the leaning tower. If you are interested in climbing the tower I also suggest you to schedule your visit in advance and buy the tickets online, just to be sure..
Bye bye!

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pack your ferrari duuuude

awww congrats on the baby!!!!! ok... my american friend came to visit Italy and really loved Venice.....I would recommend you count venice in as one of your 2 places......... she loved it so much she made another trip just to stay in Venice :P but you make it difficult, because you choose the nicest 3 cities :}
also I would reccomend train, they are faster and less... um traumatic than an Italian taxi I have heard :P um... I would not reccomend driving...........
whatever you decide I am sure you will love Italy - eat and see all that you possibly can!!!

i dont know if your interested in Romans like i am, it is a dream to go there and see the ancient buildings just beneath the modern streets and even above or the first stadium ever the clossesium or the fantastic marble fountains soo much great stuff i'd goto to Rome.

I bet if you contacted AAA travel they could help you out. Seems I saw a commercial and for $61 for a year they'd do all the planning for you.

Check the link out below and this one.

http://www.aaa.com/AAA_Travel/Travel/tra...

I would definitely recommend just two regions otherwise you would be rushed. You can take the train but a lot of the prettiest, oldest villages are only reachable by car. I live in Tuscany and would recommend Florence and Siena and there are many villages like Montalcino, Cortona , Viareggio and Montepulciano. Rome is nearly 2 hours in the car, Venice a bit further...I couldn't choose between them though because they are both fantastic! There is definitely a lot more to see in Rome though, maybe stay a weekend there before driving up to Tuscany. You can take a drive along the coast to see some amazing beaches too (iknow it's too cold for a swim though). There are absolutely loads of B&Bs and agriturismos to stay in too.

You might consider Arezzo, my wife and I have been to Italy many times. We stayed there during our last vacation and it was absolutely wonderful. A little quieter than some of the big tourist towns, but with in driving distance or a short train ride to any of the bigger cities.

There are a lot of villa rental websites to choose from, we have used a few different ones during our trips. I would suggest http://www.tuscany-villas.it/arezzo.shtm for some more information on the town. http://www.vrbo.com also has a lot of options, but a lot less information. http://www.initaly.com also has a TON of information, but it is not the easiest website to use.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

word of advise . Italy is a beautiful country with lots of places to visit... You should concentrate on 1-3 cities in your time period... and Returning on th enext trip to visit other cities..

on your first trip you could check out ..
Roma, Firenze and Pisa? or
Roma, Venezia, and Milano? or
Roma, Napoli, Palermo?
Roma, Bologna, San Marino?
Roma, Torino, lago di como?

Wow.. the choices are endless..
ci vediamo!