Italy in two weeks: The sane whirlwind (Amalfi Coast edition)

The Pantheon in Rome.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing, here are some walking tours from our partners at Viator.com that cover many of the sights featured on this day:

• Best of Rome Afternoon Walking Tour
• Baroque Rome Small Group Day Tour
• Rome Photography Walking Tour: Learn How to Take Professional Photos
• Classical Rome Morning Tour
• Rome Angels and Demons Half-Day Tour
• Private Tour: Classical Rome Art History Walking Tour
• Ancient Rome Half-Day Walking Tour
• Rome Hop-on Hop-off Double Decker Bus Tour (no site entries)
MORNING: Most transatlantic flights land in Rome in the early morning (around 8am), and by the time you collect your bags, go through customs/immigration, get downtown, and check into your hotel, it'll by 11am—plenty of time to check in, splash your face, and head out for an afternoon of sightseeing.

Just don't give in to the urge to lie down and take a cat-nap. Trust me. Those first-day "catnaps "have a nasty habit of lasting until 7pm, at which point it takes supreme willpower to drag yourself out of bed to find dinner. Best just to stay moving and stay awake.

Now I know the first day can be rough, what with jet lag and the fact that you probably didn't sleep well on the plane, so today, though it seems packed with activity, is really not all that taxing. It's mostly just poking around the greatest churches of the Tiber Bend, the center of the old city (plus one small museum). Plan to spend only about 10–15 minutes inside each church—give yourself permission just to look at the highlights and not to try and appreciate every altarpiece and architectural element—and you will keep on schedule and not feel too overwhelmed.

Piazza Navona.AFTERNOON: Sitting down to a leisurely lunch will only exacerbate the jet lag, so just grab a quick bite en route to Rome's prettiest square, the gracious, fountain-studded, cafe-lined Piazza Navona.

Pop out of the north end of the piazza to see the church of Sant'Agostino (works by Caravaggio and Raphael inside), then head south past San Luigi dei Francesi (more great Caravaggios) to the courtyard hiding the curly-cue dome atop Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza. Walk through the courtyard, past the church, and out the east side of the building to Piazza Sant'Eustachio, home to the most famous cappuccino in Rome at the Caffé Sant'Eustachio. Don’t linger too long, or the jet lag will start to catch up with you (an extra cappuccino or two helps).

Just a bit farther east is the noble Pantheon, the only ancient Roman temple to survive the millennia virtually intact and one of the best sights in all of Rome (if you skip everything else on this day, at least see the Pantheon).

The area around the Pantheon is the best spot in Rome for ice cream fans, so don't forget to try some gelato (Italian ice cream) in between the sights (gotta keep your strength up, after all).

Just south of the Pantheon, on the piazza with the Bernini statue of an elephant carrying a tiny obelisk on its back, rises Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a gothic church with Michelangelo's Risen Christ statue and Filippo Lippi frescoes inside.

Head north, past the baroque optical illusions in the church of Sant'Ignazio and the ancient Roman Column of Marcus Aurelius, then turn east across the Corso to find the iconic Trevi Fountain, into which it's tradition to toss a few coins and will ensure that, one day, you'll return to the Eternal City.

The evening passeggiata along Via del Corso. Head north again from the Trevi Fountain, perhaps pausing for another gelato at nearby San Crispino—after all, how will you know whcih is best if you don't try them all? You're aimig for the lovely and lively Spanish Steps. Mingle for a while, then window shop down fashionable Via dei Condotti and the surrounding streets.

By now, the evening passeggiata see-and-be-seen stroll will be in full swing, so you can strut your stuff with the Romans along main drag Via del Corso and Via del Babuino—both of which lead north to converge at Piazza del Popolo, home to the fabulous church of Santa Maria del Popolo at the far end of the square. If you manage to make it here before the church closes at 7pm, so much the better, as inside are works by Raphael, Caravaggio, and Bernini.

Passeggiata your way back south to find a hearty and well-deserved dinner somewhere in the Old City.

(I know you're exhausted, but Italians eat late, so try to hold out until at least 6:30 or 7pm before heading to a restaurant).

» Stay: Rome

The Roman Forum in Rome.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing, here are some walking tours from our partners at Viator.com that cover many of the sights featured on this day:

• Skip the Line: Ancient Rome and Colosseum Half-Day Walking Tour
• Private Tour: Ancient Rome and Colosseum Art History Walking Tour
• Ancient Rome Half-Day Walking Tour
• Imperial Rome Afternoon Tour
• Private Tour: Imperial Rome Art History Walking Tour
• Private Tour: Ancient Roman Art History Walking Tour
• Capitoline Museums and Origins of Rome Walking TourMORNING: Rome's all about Caesars, right? Start off day two in Rome by crawling around the ruins of the Roman Forum, where, two millennia ago, great orators held forth, senators debated, and Julius Caesar strode the streets.

Unfortunately, little is left to see in this dusty jumble of foundations, arches, and standing columns—and much left to the imagination. But so much the better, as this way you can be out by 11:30 and on your way to see Michelangelo's Moses in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli before it closes at 12:30pm.

AFTERNOON: After lunch (the old-school wine bar Cavour 313 is conveniently located nearby), pay a visit to the Colosseum. You just kind of look at it, take a peek inside at the floor plan, and you're done (save time in the often long lines by booking your entry ahead).

Now walk several long blocks farther south to tour the church of San Clemente, with medieval mosaics glittering in the apse, Renaissance frescoes in the chapels, and a door off the gift shop leading down to the first of several basements that provide an unparalleled tour through Rome's layer cake of history: below the current, medieval church is a 4th century church, and below that is a pagan temple to Mithras and the remains of several ancient Roman buildings, streets, and the splashing waters of a still-functioning aqueduct (go ahead and fill your water bottle; the water is clean, cold, and delicious).

Catch a bus to head back north to Piazza Venezia, at the north end of the Forum. Nearby is the elevated square Piazza del Campidoglio, where the Capitoline Museums will entertain you with ancient sculpture and Renaissance and baroque painting until 7pm.

Make sure that before sunset you nip around the back of the right side of the central building on Piazza del Campidoglio where you're treated to a surprise panorama of the Forum from above, with the Palatine Hill and the Colosseum as a backdrop. Have dinner in the Old City tonight.

» Stay: Rome

The Sistine Chapel ceiling in Rome.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing, here are some walking tours from our partners at Viator.com that cover many of the sights featured on this day:

• Skip the Line: Vatican in One Day
• Private Tour: Vatican Museums and St Peter's Art History Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica Half-Day Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Walking Tour including Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Rooms and St Peter's
• Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Tickets
• Private Viewing of the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums
• Private Tour: Vatican Museums Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Tour
• Rome Angels and Demons Half-Day Tour
MORNING: Today we spend on the other side of the river from the bulk of old Rome. Be up bright and early (I know, you never seem to get to sleep in) so that you beat the legions of tour buses to the Vatican Museums. , which open at 9am.

Spend all morning in there, drinking in such artistic wonders as Raphael's Transfiguration, Caravaggio's Deposition, the Raphael Rooms, and Michelangelo's incomparable Sistine Chapel ceiling.

tip
Early risers who want to cram more in can visit St. Peter's first—it opens at 7am—spend 90 min. there, then walk around the Vatican walls to tour the Vatican Museums when they open at 9am. This'll free up more time later for Castel Sant'Angelo and some sights in Trastevere.AFTERNOON: They shoo you out in early afternoon, so grab a snack on your way around the Vatican walls to visit the grandiose church of St. Peter's. See Michelangelo's Pietà and tour the tombs of popes under the basilica before climbing its dome for a panoramic sweep of the city across the river.

If you finish with St. Peter's quickly, you may want to head to the pope's nearby Renaissance fortress, the Castle Sant'Angelo on the river, which has a nifty museum of arms and armor. (If, however, you left for this trip on Friday, today would be a Monday and the castello is closed—which is why you visited the Vatican today; its one of the few museums open Mondays in Rome.)

Either way, spend the evening in the medieval neighborhood of Trastevere, where you can find lots of excellent Roman restaurants.

» Stay: Rome

Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide and no-hassle transportation, here are some Campania tours from our partners at Viator.com. Some are day trips in and around Naples (so you could stay in Naples if you prefer and day trip out for days 4–6); others are multi-day tours of the highlights of Campania leaving from Rome:

Day tours:
•• Naples City and Pompeii Half Day Sightseeing Tour
• Pompeii Half-day Trip from Naples
• Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii Day Trip from Naples
• Private Tour: Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Ravello Day Trip from Naples
• Capri Day Trip with Lunch from Naples

Multi-day tours out of Rome:
• 2-Day Southern Splendour: Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri
• 2-Day Italy Trip: Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri
• 3-Day Italy Trip: Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri
• 3-Day Italy Trip: Naples, Pompeii and Amalfi

A street at Pompeii.MORNING: Grab an early morning train—the earliest you can drag yourself out of bed for (seriously: try the 7:34am IC, which will have you in Naples by 9:30am). Now here's where you are going to think I am crazy: Drop your bags at the deposito bagagli (left luggage office) near Track 5 in the train station. Have your daypack already packed with the essentials, guidebooks, toiletries, and a few changes of clothes. You will live out of this for the next four days. (Seriously; it's not hard.) If you'd prefer to drag all of your luggage with you, go ahead, but don't say I didn't try to make your life easier and load lighter right here and now.

OK, so either laden with bags or not, head downstairs to find the separately-run Circumvesuviana commuter train line (a more-complicated-than-it-needs-to-be procedure detailed here); buy tickets to Pompeii. The ride takes 36 minutes (Pompei has two stations; get off at Pompei-Scavi—and yes, the modern town's name has only one "i" at the end). Keep an eye on your bags and pockets; pickpockets infest this train line (see the box on the right). Spend the morning amid the amazing ruins of this ancient Roman ghost city. Make sure you bring plenty of water, sunscreen, and a hat.

Beware of pickpockets
Naples is as physically safe as any big city, really, but you do need to be extra-vigilant about pickpockets here. This is especially true in the Naples train station, on Piazza Garibaldi just in front of the station, on city buses and trams, and on the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii and Sorrento.

AFTERNOON: You should aim to get out of Pompeii by 2pm, just when it is getting its most brutally hot in summer. Either have packed a bag lunch, pick up something in the Naples train station, or grab a panino from one of the stands across from the Pompeii site entrance.

Continue on the Circumvesuviana to the end of the line at Sorrento (about another 30 minutes from Pompei-Scavi) and check into your hotel. After this whirlwind day of changing trains and dealing with the chaos of Naples and the dusty, hot streets of Pompeii, might I suggest a relaxed Sorrento dinner at La Favorita-O Parrucchiano?

» Stay: Sorrento

Sorrento as a home base
The main itinerary is designed for those who like spending a night in each destination. If, however, you prefer to check into just one hotel and make sightseeing sorties from there, Sorrento is perfect. Sorrento is not the most interesting or charming of the coastal towns, but it is heart of the public transport network to tour everything else. If this appeals, book a Sorrento hotel for all three nights of Days 4, 5, and 6. On the evening of Day 5, simply hop a late bus from Amalfi back to Sorrento. On Day 6, board an early ferry over to Capri and return to Sorrento on an evening one. In the morning of Day 7, ride the Circumvesuviana back to Naples, then switch to a train for Rome.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide and no-hassle transportation and prefer to do Days 4–6 all as day trips with Naples as a homebase, here is an Amalfi Coast tour from our partners at Viator.com:

• Private Tour: Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Ravello Day Trip from Naples
ALL DAY: Return to the Sorrento train station, in front of which park the buses that head down the Amalfi Coast.

You have several choices here, depending on where you want to spend the night: posh Positano, historic Amalfi, or (via another bus from Amalfi) the garden hilltown of Ravello. It is easiest to stay in either Positano or Amalfi—and of the two, I'd pick Amalfi, though your tastes might differ.

If you choose Positano, get off the bus there and check into your hotel first, then return to the bus stop to hop the next bus down the coast to Amalfi. See the sights of Amalfi (1–3 hours), head up to the gardens of Ravello if you'd like (90 min–2 hours), then grab a late afternoon ferry (or the bus, but the ferry's more chic) back up the coast to Positano.

If you choose to stay in Amalfi, I wouldn't bother with Positano at all; simply admire it from the bus as you approach and leave town (Positano is a postcard-perfect town on an idyllic little beach, but there's nothing really to see or do), and continue on to Amalfi town. Check into your hotel, check out the famous Amalfi cathedral and the town's other sights, and catch a bus up to Ravello for lunch and an afternoon amid its amazing gardens. Return to Amalfi town for dinner.

(If you're home-basing in Sorrento, after you've wandered around Amalfi a bit and seen its handful of sights, hop the return bus back up the coast.)

(Real gung-ho types might even be able to swing hopping a ferry—in summer only—from Positano or Amalfi over to Capri to spend the night there.)

» Stay: Amalfi or Positano or Sorrento or Capri

Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide and no-hassle transportation and prefer to do Days 4–6 all as day trips with Naples as a homebase, here is a Capri tour from our partners at Viator.com:

• Capri Day Trip with Lunch from Naples
ALL DAY: Whether you've stayed in Amalfi, Positano, or Sorrento, on the morning of Day 6 catch an early ferry over to the fabled island of Capri. Tour the Blue Grotto, gawk at the obscene prices in Capri boutiques, explore the ruins of Tiberius' Villa, take a hike through the undeveloped bits of the island, and visit the mountainside village of Anacapri to ride the chairlift up Monte Solaro.

Stay where you'd like. Eat where you'd like. Capri is all about relaxing and enjoying la dolce vita—the good life.

» Stay: Capri

Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing, here are some walking tours from our partners:

Naples
• Naples City Hop-on Hop-off Tour
• Small Group Naples City Sightseeing Tour

Rome
• Skip the Line: Borghese Gallery and Gardens Walking Tour
• Private Tour: Borghese Gallery and Baroque Rome Art History Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Borghese Gallery Tickets (no tour; just the tickets)
• Trastevere and Rome's Jewish Ghetto Half-Day Walking Tour
MORNING: Get up early and take the 8:05 high-speed ferry from Capri to Naples. You will dock just before 9am. Most ferries arrive at the Molo Beverello docks (if yours does not, the following bus instrcutions will be useless, so just take a taxi). You are headed for the Museo Archeologico. Here is how to get there by public transit.

Exit the dock area toward the big castle (the Castle Nuovo), turning right up Via Ammiraglio Fernando Acton (be on the lookout on this walk for any newsstand or tabbachi so you can pop in and buy two bus tickets per person). Turn left up Piazza Municipio along the north side of the castle, then take your third (quick) right onto Via Agostino Depretis. (If you haven't found a newsstand yet, there is one just around this corner). Cross to the far side of the street and walk up to the bus shelter just beyond the narrow cobbled sidestreet of Calata San Marco. Here, grab bus R4 (headed back down the main road) and ride it to Piazza Museo and the Museo Archeologico. (If you only visit Pompeii itself, you only get half the story, since nearly all of the best bits from the Pompeii ruins—sculptures, mosaics, and frescoes—were carted here for safekeeping, alongside still more amazing ancient statues and art from elsewhere in Campania and from Rome as well.) Spend at least 90 minutes in here.

After two hours, though (just before noon), it's time to walk two blocks soth of grab some heavenly pizza from Pizzeria Port'Alba, one of Naples' most famous pizza parlors. Be out of here soon after 1pm so you can hop on the Metro (subway) at Piazza Dante to ride back to Piazza Garibaldi and the Naples' Stazione Centrale train station to retrieve your forlorn bags form the left luggage (if you were smart enough to ditch them for your Campania adventure) and grab the next train back to Rome. (Aim for the 2pm; if not, get the 2:40pm.)

AFTERNOON: In Rome, you should arrive by 3:10pm—plenty of time to check into your hotel before your 5pm entry time at the Galleria Borghese museum in Villa Borghese park. (TIP: you will need to purchase tickets in advance for this; see the "Before You Leave" sidebar at the end of this itinerary). Tour its collections of amazing early Bernini sculptures and Raphael and Caravaggio paintings until they kick you out at 7pm.

After dinner, make your way back across the river to the famous Trevi Fountain, into which it's tradition to toss a few coins and will ensure that, one day, you'll return to the Eternal City.

» Stay: Rome

Piazza del Campo in Siena.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing, you can take the train straight up to Florence and then tour Tuscany with guided day tours from our partners at Viator.com. (Since tours start in the morning, either take the train to Florence on the night of Day 7, or flip-flop days 8 and 9—do the Florence activities today and take the Siena day trip tomorrow.) Here are a few that cover Siena:

• Tuscany in One Day Sightseeing Tour (Siena, Monteriggioni, Chianti, San Gimignano, Pisa; 12 hrs)
• Siena and San Gimignano Small Group Day Trip from Florence (8 hrs)
• Private Tour: Siena and San Gimignano (8.5 hrs)
• Siena and San Gimignano Day Trip from Florence (8.5 hrs)
• 5-Day Best of Italy Trip (5 days/4 nights)
MORNING: Grab an early train to Siena, the granddaddy of Tuscan hilltowns. Drop your bags at your hotel, then hustle to the Campo, Siena's gorgeous sloping scallop-shell of a central piazza. Wander the wondrously frescoed rooms of the Palazzo Pubblico town hall at the base of the square, then head around the corner to have lunch at La Torre.

AFTERNOON: After lunch, scurry through the medieval streets to the zebra-striped 12th century Duomo (cathedral), with its medieval carved pulpit inside and a library frescoed in bright, Fujifilm colors by Umbrian master Pinturicchio (helped by his young apprentice Raphael).

As huge as it is, Siena's Duomo was actually meant to be much larger (turning the present church into merely the transept of what would have been the largest church in the world). The Black Death of 1348 put an end to those plans, but two mighty walls of the would-be expanded cathedral survive, and are now installed with the Museo del Opera Metropolitana, a magnificent collections of art from Duccio's seminal Maestà to carvings by Donatello and Jacopo della Quercia (and a great city panorama from the top of the wall).

In the evening, you have two choices:

1. If you are enjoying the small town vibe of Siena, stick around. Take the evening to wander the nearly-car-free streets, pop into the shops (Siena does good ceramics) and cafes (mmm, cappuccino), and join the locals in their passeggiata stroll along Via Banchi di Sopra and Via di Città. Have dinner and spend the night here in Siena.
2. If you're done with Siena and want to get a jump on the Florence sightseeing tomorrow, take the bus or train on to Florence (75–95 min.) for dinner and to spend the night in Florence.

» Stay: Siena or Florence

The Duomo in Florence.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing, here are some walking tours from our partners at Viator.com that cover many of the sights featured on this day (as a bonus, many include the Accademia, which would free up tomorrow morning):

All sights:
• Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour
• Private Tour: Florence Sightseeing Tour

Duomo:
• Skip The Line: Best of Florence Walking Tour including Accademia Gallery and Duomo
• Skip the Line: Florence Renaissance Walking Tour with Accademia Gallery
• Private Tour: Florence Walking Tour
• Florence Walking Tour

Uffizi:
 • Skip the Line: Florence Uffizi Gallery Tickets
• Skip the Line: Florence Uffizi Gallery Tour
• Skip the Line: Uffizi Gallery and Vasari Corridor Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Small Group Florence Uffizi Gallery Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Florence Accademia and Uffizi Gallery Tour
MORNING: If you spent last night in Siena, grab the earliest bus or train you can to Florence (the ride's about 75–95 min.); if you spent the night in Florence, feel free to sleep in a bit.

Either way, start the day in Florence by heading directly to the Duomo (cathedral) to climb Brunelleschi's ingenious and noble dome for a panorama across the city, then duck into the adjacent baptistery to marvel at the mosaics inside and the massive bronze doors outside—the ones facing the Duomo are so beautiful they became known as the Gates of Paradise.

AFTERNOON: Be sure you extricate yourself from the cathedral group by 1pm so that you can wander a few blocks south for a lunch on-the-go at I Fratellini, a traditional fiaschetteria, a hole-in-the-wall joint with no seats, just a counter selling wine by the glass and scrumptious sandwiches to patrons who stand in a crowd on the flagstones of the sidewalk and pedestrianized street.

Then continue a few more blocks to the stage set of Piazza della Signoria, filled with statues and lined by buildings the Medici would still recognize.

Opening off the south side of the square is world's premier gallery of the Renaissance, the Uffizi (TIP: another museums for which you'll want to purchase tickets before leaving home). Spend the rest of the afternoon communing with Giotto, Botticelli, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, and Titian until they boot you out the doors at 7:30pm. Have a Tuscan feast at Il Latini before bed.

» Stay: Florence

Michelangelo's David in the AccademiaTake a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing, here are some walking tours from our partners at Viator.com that cover many of the sights featured on this day:

• Skip the Line: Accademia Gallery Tickets
• Skip the Line: Accademia Gallery Tour
• Skip the Line: Accademia and Uffizi Tour
• Skip The Line: Best of Florence Walking Tour, incl Accademia Gallery and Duomo
• Skip the Line: Florence Renaissance Walking Tour with Accademia Gallery
• Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour
• Private Tour: Florence Sightseeing Tour
MORNING: Florence rule #1: Be in line at the Accademia when it opens to see Michelangelo's David before the crowds arrive. (Avoid the hour-long wait altogether by reserving your tickets.)

Don't linger since before lunch you need to swing by Santa Maria Novella church for a look at the first Renaissance painting to use perfect perspective and a Ghirlandaio fresco cycle on which a young apprentice named Michelangelo helped out.

AFTERNOON: After a quick lunch, and while the city is shut down for the mid-day riposo, make your way over to the Giotto frescoes in Santa Croce church (it stays open all day), Florence's version of Westminster Abbey and the final resting place of Michelangelo, Galileo, Rossini, and Machiavelli with an excellent leather school in the back.

On your way back over to the heart of town, stop by Vivoli for the best gelato (ice cream) the world has ever known. Licking your cone, head back toward the center of town to cross the jewelry shop–lined medieval bridge Ponte Vecchio over to the artisans' quarter known as the Oltrarno.

Here you'll find the Medici's grand Pitti Palace, whose painting galleries will keep you occupied until closing time at 7pm. The Oltrarno is full of good, homey restaurants where you can kick back, toast your 48 hours in Florence, and avow a return.

» Stay: Florence

The leaning tower of Pisa.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing and want to stay based in Florence, you can take a day tour of Pisa from Florence (and then another day tour to the Cinque Terre the following day) with our partners at Viator.com. (Home-basing in Florence has the added benefit of making the transfer to Venice on Day 13 much easier.) Here are a few tours that cover Pisa:

• Private Tour: Pisa and the Leaning Tower from Florence (4 hrs)
• Pisa and the Leaning Tower Half-Day Trip from Florence (5.5 hrs)
• Private Tour: Lucca and Pisa from Florence (10 hrs)
• Tuscany in One Day Sightseeing Tour (12 hrs)
MORNING: The faster trains to Pisa take between 60 and 90 minutes to shoot down the Arno Valley to this famous old University city famous for its off-kilter bell tower.

Yes, everybody comes to Pisa for the obligatory ogle of the Leaning Tower (if you want to climb it, book that ahead of time, since tour groups snap up most of the tickets), but the other sights on this grassy Field of Miracles are just as impressive, including the cathedral (the Leaning Tower is actually simply the Duomo's bell tower), the baptistery with its intricately carved pulpit and perfect acoustics, and the lovely Camposanto cemetery with its frescoes damaged by WWII firebombs (and the fascinating Museo delle Sinopie museum dedicated to those frescoes across the square).

AFTERNOON: Grab lunch on the run (Bar Il Canguro, just down the street leading south from the tower, makes excellent panini) then head back to the train station to grab a northbound train to La Spezia—past what look year-round like snow-capped mountains (the "snow" is actually open marble quarries; these are the Apuan Alps, producing the world's purest white marble for sculptors from Michelangelo to Henry Moore), La Spezia lies at the very southern tip of Liguria, the Italian Riviera, and is an utterly uninteresting port city. It is, however, where you have to change trains for the local rail line to Le Cinque Terre ("The Five Lands").

Your goal tonight is the southernmost of these five fishing villages, Riomaggiore, where you'll rent an apartment for two nights—it'll be easier, cheaper, and more atmospheric than a hotel. Drop your bags, then just relax. There's a pebble beach off to the left of the little fishing port at the bottom of the hill. Have fresh pesto pasta in the region where it was invented, and turn in early at your apartment overlooking the Thyrrhenian Sea.

» Stay: Cinque Terre

Vernazza in the Cinque Terre.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing and want to stay based in Florence, you can take a day tour to the Cinque Terre with our partners at Viator.com; one is for hikers, the other for those who just wish to see a few of the villages:

• Cinque Terre Hiking Day Trip from Florence (13 hr.)
• Cinque Terre Small Group Day Trip from Florence (9.5 hr.)
ALL DAY: Set out in the morning to hike the coastal trail that links all five of the colorful fishing villages that make up the Cinque Terre, inaccessible by car (though linked by a regional rail line that spends most of its time tunneling from town to town through the sea cliffs) and as yet only moderately touched by tourism (except June through August, when its packed with Rick Steves' fans—Damn you, Rick!).

The trails from town to town get progressively steeper and more challenging as you move north—from and easy 45-minute Via del Amore stroll between Riomaggiore and Manarola, to the largely level path above a beach Manarola and Corniglia (the only clifftop village of the five), to a scenic mix of moderate-to-tough trails and one long staircase between Corniglia and Vernazza (the postcard village of the bunch, picturesquely curved around a cove), and finally the tough, two-hour steep ascent and descent between Vernazza and Monterosso, the northernmost of the Cinque Terre. Or, you know, vice versa. You can hike it either way.

My vote: Take the train all the way to Monterosso and start the morning with the two workout stretches. Besides, coming in this direction, the first view of Vernazza as you come around the cliff is unforgettable (and if you do forget, it's plastered on postcards everywhere). Also, this way lets the going get easier as the day winds down, allowing you to finish with a sunset stroll back into Riomaggiore.

» Stay: Cinque Terre

The Grand Canal in Venice.Take a tour
Though no tours of the Accademia are offered, you can get book a gondola ride with our partners at Viator.com:

• Venice Gondola Ride and Serenade
• Venice Gondola Ride and Serenade with Dinner
• Venice Walking Tour and Gondola Ride
MORNING: There's really no way around this: to get from the Cinque Terre to Venice requires some tiresome train changes and long journeys. The best option leaves Riomaggiore at 7:27am and arrives in Venice at 1:17pm (with changes at La Spezia and Bologna. (Another option for die-hards who don't want to waste a second of sightseeing is taking off the night before on the overnight train that leaves Riomaggiore at 8:52 and arrives in Venice at the yawningly early hour of 5:26am the next day, though note that the train changes—11:08pm at Parma, 12:54am at Bologna—aren't terribly convenient for sleeping.)

AFTERNOON: At least those six hours on the train will give you plenty of time to rest up, grab lunch from the cart or restaurant car, and prepare, once you arrive in Venice, to dive into the city of canals (not literally). Luckily, the vaporetto (ferry—kinda the public bus system of Venice) from the train station to all sights in the historic center cruises right down the famous Grand Canal.

Check into your hotel as quickly as possible then spend the balance of the afternoon perusing the Renaissance masterpieces in Venice's Accademia Gallery (yes, it has same name as a museum in Florence; this is because both are part of their city's "Academy" of Fine Arts).

If you have time (and for a chance of pace), also try to fit in an hour or so admiring the modern art—yes! Italy has modern art, too!—at the lovely Peggy Guggenheim museum nearby.

Take a gondola ride before dinner (yeah, it's a bit cheesy—and expensive—but you wouldn't want to have come all this way and not done it, either), and wander the quiet, romantic streets a while after your meal.

» Stay: Venice

The mosaics of San Marco.Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing in Venice, here are some walking tours from our partners at Viator.com that cover many of the sights featured on this day:

San Marco:
• Skip the Line: Venice Walking Tour with St Mark's Basilica
• Skip the Line: St Mark's Square Highlights Tour
• Skip the Line: Venice in One Day

Palazzo Ducale:
• Skip the Line: Venice Walking Tour with Doges Palace

Outlying islands:
• Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Sightseeing Tour
• Private Tour: Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Tour
MORNING: In the morning, head straight to one of Europe's prettiest squares, the canalside Piazza San Marco. Wander the glittering mosaicked wonderland of its Byzantine San Marco cathedral and ride the elevator up the bell tower for a sweeping view across the city and its canals.

Take the "Secret Itineraries" tour of the Doge's Palace at 10:45am for a behind-the-scenes look at Venetian history and intrigue from its Renaissance days as the world's trading and shipping powerhouse.

(It’s wisest to book this tour ahead of time, but not necessarily from home before you leave. Dropping by the afternoon before or even first thing in the morning before touring San Marco, should be sufficient. Still, just in case you want to be sure you get a ticket by booking in advance, I've spelled out the process here.)

AFTERNOON: Spend the afternoon however you’d like: shopping for Venice's famous glass trinkets, popping into more museums (my votes: the Peggy Guggenheim of 20th century art and the Ca' d'Oro, the grandest of the Renaissance palazzi along the Grand Canal) and churches, or simply have fun getting lost in the twisting, confounding, unspeakably beautiful back streets of Venice.

tip
If any of your days in Venice happens to be a Sunday, do not miss the 6:345pm mass in the Cathedral of St. Mark's—the only time they throw on all the light switches to illuminate all of those amazing gold mosaics.Another option (and a personal favorite): take off on a ferry for the outlying islands of Murano, where the glass industry started and a bit like a Venice in miniature, and Burano, a fishing village of riotously colored houses along miniature canals. It’s about an hour's ride out and back, and you should spend about an hour on each island.

If you time things just right, you should be motoring back to downtown Venice (and a celebratory canal-side final dinner) right as the setting sun sends sparkling streamers across the waters of the lagoon with the bell towers of Venice as a backdrop. Perfect.

» Stay: Venice

Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide, here are some tours from our partners at Viator.com that cover many of the sights featured on this day:

If you stay in Venice:
• Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Sightseeing Tour
• Private Tour: Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Tour

If you continue to Milan:
• Skip the Line: Small-Group Milan Walking Tour with Da Vinci's Last Supper Tickets
• Milan Half-Day Sightseeing Tour with Da Vinci's Last Supper
• Private Tour: Milan Walking Tour
• Milan Brera Museum Walking Tour
• Milan by Night Tour

The Venetian island of Murano.ALL DAY: You really have a choice today. You've been going pretty pell-mell for two weeks straight, so feel free to spend another day in Venice just relaxing—perhaps taking that tour of Venice's outlying islands I mentioned above and doing it today, taking a bit more time on each and also heading to a third island, Torcello, wonderfully undeveloped, with simple, swampy canals and a gorgeously mosaicked church.

Or you can keep going full throttle and, before you head home, try to squeeze in Milan, capital of the north. My thinking here is this: even if your flight back home leaves from Venice, unless it's the new Delta flight direct to JFK, it's probably going to stop first in Milan—or maybe Rome—before crossing the Atlantic anyway, so you might as well save them the trouble and make your way to Milan on your own a day early so you can at least squeeze in some sightseeing. So: grab a—you guessed it—early train and get to Milan by late morning (the ride takes about 2:30; I'd try for the 7:50am or 8:32am train; the latest train you can catch that gives you enough time in Milan to make it worthwhile leaves Venice at 8:50am and gets in at 11:25am, after which there's a two-hour gap until the next train).

The two biggies in Milan are Leonardo da Vinci's faded by still mighty Last Supper (yet another thing you really should book ahead), and the massive Gothic Duomo, its exterior studded with hundreds of statues bristling with pinnacles and spires (climb to the roof for a chance to step through and around the buttresses and spires, admire the statues up close, and get a great city panorama).

If you've the time (and you're not all museumed out by now), check out Milan's greatest painting gallery in the Brera. I also love the smaller but choice collection in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Da Vinci, Caravaggio, Titian, Botticelli, and Raphael's cartoon sketch for the famed School of Athens in the Vatican).

You might get last-minute tickets for a performance at Milan's famed opera house La Scala tonight (lines form along the lateral arcade to the left of the main entrance; ask at the tourist office for details).

If not, head out for a last supper of your own in the southern Navigli district of canals, once a big part of Milanese commerce but today turned into a hopping nightlife district, the old canals lined by dozens of restaurants, trendy bars, and nightclubs.

» Stay: Venice or Milan

MORNING: Most flights back to the U.S. leave either in the morning or early afternoon. Either way, the day's largely a wash. You'll spend the morning getting to the airport and the day in the air.

(Remember: Even if you have a 3pm flight, you have to check in by 1pm, which means you have to head to the airport by noon, which means you have to leave your hotel by 10:30... The day's pretty much shot by the time you wake up.)

I hope you had a great trip. Try to catch up on your trip journal on the plane—oh, and be sure to grab some good plane snacks before you head to the airport (foccaccia's my favorite)—Italian food beats airline food any day of the week.