8 days in Italy

Pisa is nothing but a leaning tower...skip it.

If you aren’t spending at least one night in Cinque Terre, I’d save it for another trip.

Positano will give you that “riviera” experience, so no need to do that and Cinque Terre.

Rome in 2 days is busy (if you include Vatican City)...we did it that way but just know you’re hitting the ground running.

Potential to be a great trip, enjoy it!

As others have said, you’d be doing too much traveling from place to place for such a short trip. I’d advise you pick two places. Italy isn’t going anywhere. Can always go back and catch the other spots.

Thank's for tips I assume a lot of things obviously. I don't know when I will be able to make it back so I am trying to see more but I get what everyone is saying. May have to decide what is worth seeing more, Almafi Coast or Florence/Tuscany.

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May have to decide what is worth seeing more, Almafi Coast or Florence/Tuscany.

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Yes--that's a good planning strategy. Italy is an intensely regional place, and it feels/looks/eats differently as you travel around the country.

Amalfi gets lots of attention from Americans, and on this board. It is a very beautiful place, with little towns notched into tiny valleys and spilling onto hillsides. But it is over-rated, to me. There are plenty of other coastal areas equally beautiful, with mountains tumbling down to the sea. They just don't have a ridiculous number of foreign journalists writing about them, so you won't encounter boatloads of Americans.

Rome plus Florence and a smaller town or two in Tuscany/Perugia/Lazio is a lovely trip. Vineyards, olive groves, hill towns, gentle hills and valleys, Lake Trasimeno or Lake Bolseno, easy driving, good train access....if you're desperate to see the Mediterranean, work in two nights in Cinque Terre towns over an 8-day trip. You can take the train from Rome to Florence in 1 hr 15 minutes, with multiple departures each day.

On the other hand, Rome to Amalfi is 3.5 hrs by car...autostrada until you hit the peninsula, then very slow going on twisty, switchbacked roads (seasonally choked with heavy traffic and tour buses). By train, you would need to go to Naples, then switch to the Circumvesuviana local train, then a local bus to get to Posi or Amalfi towns. It's not easy on public transit with limited time, though it can be very interesting & entertaining.

Naples is wild, unkempt, old, decrepit in parts, some would say dirty....I love the place, many Americans loathe it. Traffic laws are considered loose guidelines, no one yields to pedestrians (even outside the main train station, where there is a marked crosswalk and more people than cars). It is not the placid, scenic, agricultural idealized Italy (go to rural Campania, or to Tuscany for that view). South of Rome vs the North are two different places...

I would scrub Positano and go to Cinque Terre instead.
Three days in Rome and three days in Florence/Tuscany is fine (two days will be rushing it).

I would start in Rome, then train to Cinque Terre, then train back to Florence.

Cinque Terre is beautiful and a lot less expensive than Positano.

We actually did a day train trip to Cinque Terre from Florence. We enjoyed the beach and some damn fine food.

Two days in Rome will be very rushed. You will need three at least.

Florence is beautiful and a lot less rushed than Rome. It reminds me of the French Quarter without the crime and odors. It has great street artist, food, sights, and museums.

I'm not knocking Positano. I plan to go back to there, but I feel it is a vacation all in itself, with a visit to Naples/Capri.