24 Hours in each of Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome; what are the absolute must-dos of each?

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24 Hours in each

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the frick

why on earth would you do this?

Are you just going to teleport between these cities?

Just spend 4 days in one

(I personally love Florence the best of these cities. Rome might have the most to do and Venice is a cool experience)

Milan is the most skippable

But again...no.

fly into Milan, that's about all its good for. you might want to see the duomo there, but that's it.

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I can manage maybe 11 days total in Europe

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Ok, then pick 3 places in the same country (or very close by) to go to in those 11 days. Where are you going for the other 7 days?

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it may be a one time ever thing

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Never plan your trip like this because 1) Its unlikely it will be if you don't want it to be, and 2) doing a trip like this will make sure you never go back because you won't want to

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Two hour train between each location

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Maybe, but you aren't accounting for getting to the train station, getting to the hotel from the train station, delays, strikes (which happen a lot). Italian trains do not run with the time precision of Japan. Packing and unpacking from each hotel, etc.

If you are deadset on doing this:

Skip Milan.

Pay more for hotel accommodations so that you are centrally located, in a nice hotel with access to the things you want to see, and if you can afford a nice hotel the concierge can be helpful with logistics, getting cabs if you need it, directions, and making restaurant reservations

Book the fastest train.

Use whatever app service they are using in Italy these days instead of public transport in cities. You'll need to conserve as much time as possible

Make restaurant reservations at night so you aren't wasting time looking for places to eat. For lunch you'll have to eat near tourist sites which will feature a lot of shite, so do your research.

In Venice and STAY IN VENICE not one of the other islands or on the mainland. If you can afford to use the private water taxis (very expensive) do so

Venice is lovely at night when the crowds are gone

If you are hellbent on 4 days in Italy, I'd at least cut it to Florence and Rome to be honest though

We did 10 days in Italy once, did Rome (3), Florence (3), Cinque Terre (2), Venice (2)

And THAT was kinda whirlwind and a bit much. I wished at the end of that that we had more time in Florence

4 days is insane.

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I can manage maybe 11 days total

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We did 11 days.

4 days in Rome (Sposi Novelli)

3.5 days in Florence / Tuscany

Stopped in Bologna for a few hours on the way to Venice

3 days in Venice.


Would do about the same in Rome just because there's so much to do and see.

Would do more in Florence because it was our favorite

Would do less in Venice. To be honest we could have done one day in Venice to do the tour and been happy. Food was good but anticlimactic after coming from Rome and Florence.

I've been to all those cities before, but I'm taking my daughter and son-in-law next summer. My daughter went to Milan for 2 days with me in 2022, so it's off the itinerary this time, but I think Milan sometimes doesn't get the credit it deserves. We did:

- Duomo, including the roof
- da Vinci's Last Supper
- Sforzas' palace tour
- Some fun window shopping on the streets of the top designers
- Saw Verdi's Rigoletto at La Scala

And all of those are great, high-level activities. But Milan is still the city to skip out of those four that he listed, if he doesn't have more than a week.

For my trip next summer, we were going to do the classic "Italy in a week" tour of 3 in Rome and 2 each in Florence and Venice, but with adding in 5 days in Umbria and the rest of Tuscany. But I just realized that June 2nd is Republic Day, and it will be difficult to do much sightseeing in Florence that day, so I'm adding a third day for Florence and cutting a day out of my Tuscan sightseeing.

I think you all have convinced me to reverse course. Italy was always the place i wanted to see most so no sense in rushing it.

I really do appreciate all the responses.

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He’s doing 7 days somewhere else in Europe 

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London, Dublin, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Berlin, maybe?

I will be now; that's what I was trying to say