Choose your time
Start with the time you have.
7 days
Choose one of three very different weeks
Rome and Florence for art; Bologna for food; Naples and Sorrento for the bay.
- What you give up
- You cannot see the whole country. The choice is which Italy you want first.
10 days
Rome, Florence and Bologna, or two slower bases
A third city makes sense if you want a change in food and street life, not just another hotel.
- What you give up
- A three-base route has two transfer days. The two-base version gives you more evenings in one place.
14 days
Make room for a region beyond the classic cities
Keep Rome and Florence, then choose Venice, the coast or a slower countryside chapter.
- What you give up
- More distance means fewer unplanned afternoons. Resist making every region a stop.
Shape the route
What matters most?
First visit, mostly art
Rome and Florence give the Colosseum, Vatican, Uffizi and the Duomo two proper city stays. Put the hard-to-get museum entries on the calendar before train times.
You came to eat
Base in Bologna and visit Modena without changing hotels. You gain market mornings and dinners you can return to instead of treating food as a stop between monuments.
The sea is the point
Naples and Sorrento put Pompeii and the bay in one week. Choose Sorrento for transport convenience; choose the Amalfi Coast for a more particular coastal stay.
Avoid a fast north-south sweep
Sicily, Puglia and Tuscany each deserve a week of their own. A regional trip is often stronger than a rushed list of famous Italian cities.
Before you book