First trip to Italy, do you want a perfect itinerary? Then in this article I’ll give you some tips that only travellers know!

When we set up a European travel itinerary, we usually want to mix several countries, but then we get to Italy and it gets difficult to divide the trip. If there is one country in Europe that is worth exclusive trips, it is Italy.

So to make your life easier and let you choose your Italian itinerary, I’ll leave you with two suggested itineraries, one for 9 days one for 14 days and I’ll also give you a suggested end of trip extension for the Amalfi Coast.

9-day trip to Italy

So start with the most basic itinerary possible, a 9 days and 8 nights itinerary, less than that is not possible, you will waste your trip to Italy. This itinerary has three main destinations: Rome, Florence and Venice.

You arrive in Rome, on the first day of the trip you do nothing, you walk around the historical centre of Rome, the idea is to be surprised by the monuments, suddenly you are in front of the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Campo de Fiori, and so you will dazzle a little bit of Rome.

First 3 days of travel

On the second day you start the touristic itinerary normally, you will go to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, if you buy the Roma Pass, you will not face the queue at the box office, it is a ticket that will compensate financially.

On the third day, having previously bought the ticket, you can go to the Vatican, going to visit the Vatican Museum, you will pass by the Sistine Chapel and then if you still have strength in your legs, you can visit the Borghese Gallery, which is a small but wonderful museum.

So after those three nights in Rome you take a train to Florence, it’s an hour and a half train ride, you buy in advance and the idea is you spend three nights in Florence.

In Florence, besides visiting the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia, which you should also buy the ticket in advance to avoid queuing, from Florence you can do some beat-ways, there are two options you can do.

The first option is to the city of Pisa, which is 1 hour by train from Florence, if you are excited, you can go to Lucca, which is 20 minutes from Pisa, departing from the station.

The second option for a return trip, in this case you can choose between Siena and San Gimignano. For these two towns you go by bus, going and returning in the same day. San Gimignano is known as the medieval New York of Italy, families competed to see who built the tallest towers and Siena is one of the cradles of the renaissance, it is a beautiful city, it has more medieval features than Florence.

You still have 2 nights, so take the train and go to Venice, it’s a 2 hour train ride. Stay in Venice those two nights, do NOT do what people do of going during the day and coming back, those people only see the worst side of Venice, a city full of people, sometimes smelly, and they can’t glimpse with what the city has of most beautiful and charming.

To see the best part of Venice you have to get out of the flow of tourists that stay there from the station, Rialto, Piazza San Marco, of course I recommend going to quickly visit these super traditional places, but the most amazing and magical of Venice is to get out of that area and cross to the other side of the big canal, walk through those Dorsoduro neighborhoods, go in Campo Santa Margherita, where you have fantastic bars, have a real SPRITZ, it’s a wonderful end to this short 8 day trip summarized by Italy. This was itinerary number 1.

15-day trip to Italy

The second itinerary is a bit more complete, it is 15 days and14 nights in Italy, two weeks. You think you will see everything in Italy, but no, the country is very big from a touristic point of view.

Start this itinerary by Milan, you stay two nights in that city.

NOTE: Please do not forget to buy in advance your ticket to visit the Last Supper of Leonardo Da Vinci. On the third day you go by train from Milan to Venice, making a pit stop, stopping in Verona, but how do you do it? You buy a ticket from Milan to Verona with a 5 to 6 hour gap between arrival in Verona and departure from Verona to Venice. More or less like this↓

Milan→Verona→ (5 hours in Verona) →Verona→Venice

There is luggage storage at the train station, it’s a wonder in Italy because of this, store your bags and take a stroll around Verona.

In Venice stay 3 nights, this first day does not count as you will arrive at the end of the day.

Use the station’s cloakroom in Venice

A good trick for Venice that I recommend to everyone is not to go to the hotel with your bags, leave the big bags at the train station, in the luggage locker that is open until 11pm and go to your hotel with just a small backpack that you will use in the next two days, it is much more interesting, you will thank me because the bridges in Venice have stairs and you will miss the way a lot.

So go light, use the lockers at the station in Venice, use the advice I gave in the other itinerary, get off the main axis of tourists, go to the other side, you will have a happy and magical experience in Venice. After your three nights in Venice, take a train and go to Florence.

In Florence stay three nights and do a quick side trip to Pisa and Lucca, and enjoy Florence more, you are not so rushed on this trip compared to the other itinerary.

Getting to know Tuscany

After those three days you will rent a car to do Tuscany, that will be beautiful. On the way you will drive through the Chiantigiana Road, which passes through the chianti vineyards, you can stop at a winery to visit, to have lunch and you will sleep outside Siena.

Caution if you rent a car in Italy

If you are driving around Italy it is important not to park in the historic centres as it is a fine, people usually come back full of fines. So find a hotel on the outskirts of Siena. Do this in every small town you visit.

In these surroundings of Siena you can spend 3 nights, taking one day to visit Siena, the other day you will do a tour of the Val d’Orcia, which is the most beautiful place in Tuscany. On your way back, stop in San Gimignano, get to know the town and go to Florence to leave the car and continue to Rome.

On the way to Rome

In Rome you will have those three nights again, you will already arrive late on the first day, so the end of the first day will be for that wander around the historical centre.

On the second day you do the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Remembering that it is not only these 2 places, the cool thing is to enjoy the route, the places, take pictures and make videos, stop in restaurants, have a snack, know the local cuisine until you reach these main points.

On the third day the Vatican Museum, with ticket bought in advance and perhaps the Borghese Gallery.

Bonus: Travel extension

Now, if you have four or five more days on any trip to Italy that you want to devote to the Amalfi Coast, which is an object of desire for many people, I give you a basic and certain itinerary.

But in case you want to see our Best Amalfi Coast Itinerary, just check out this article by clicking here!

First requirement, go between June and September, which is the beach season in Europe. It is not good to go to coastal places in Europe outside this range, avoid August, it is unbearable at the beach in Europe, it is the peak of the European holidays.

Leave Rome by train in the morning for Naples. In Naples, leave your bags in the luggage locker, same as in Venice and Verona. From there you go next door at Naples suburban railway station and take a suburban train to Pompeii.

You will visit the Pompeii excavations, getting off at Pompei Scavi station. You will spend a good part of the day there in Pompei, you will return to Naples and hopefully you still have time to go to the Archaeological Museum of Naples, where you will see pieces that were taken from Pompei and are on display in Naples. It is an excellent addition to that trip.

Then you go back to the station, pick up your bags and go to your hotel in Naples. At night you can go out for dinner, go to one of the authentic pizzerias of Naples. There is the pizzeria Da Michele, super famous there.

Heading to Capri

The next day take the boat to Capri, I stayed one or two nights there. You will have a totally different experience than most people who do the day trip. Enjoy the historical part of Capri, go to the many beaches on the island, visit the sights and take lots of photos.

From Capri you take a boat, not to Naples, but to Sorrento, already on the Amalfi coast.

You avoid the commute from Naples to Sorrento which is super chaotic. Near the ferry station there are car rental companies, you take your car there and you have as many days as you can have on the Amalfi Coast, it can be 2 or 3 days, you name it, to see those beautiful sights.

Sorrento, Positano and Ravello

From Sorrento you can go to Positano for the day and then on to Ravello, an amazing town, it has an amazing garden with spectacular views, a beach village a little away from the coast but well worth it.

Finally, you can return your car in Salerno, which is the place on the Amalfi coast that is connected by fast train to Rome and so catch your flight back home;

These are the three basic itineraries for Italy, I hope you enjoy them a lot and apply them to your trip.