Italy - 14 day itinerary
WHO
Our family of four went on this trip in June & July 2022, when Averhy was 18 and Eden was 15 years old. The last time Sky and I had visited Italy was in 1999, and it was great to go back! Summer in most of Italy is HOT and very busy, so be ready for heat and crowds.
WHAT
For this trip, we used three Motherlode Backpacks and Sky’s “magic backpack” as our carry-on bags. Eden brought an additional small backpack as a personal item. This allowed us to bypass these long checked-luggage lines at airports, and made train travel easier as well. We did laundry twice during the trip - once in Venice and once in Florence.
Remember to bring a power adapter for charging phones and other electronics.
WHEN
We took this trip from June 24-July 10 2022, after the requirements for COVID testing before/after traveling were lifted. We booked our flights about 6 months earlier. Summer is a busy time for travel to Italy, and if we go back someday, we will try to go in May or early June instead, to enjoy cooler temperatures.
WHERE
For this trip, we stayed in AirBnBs in each city. We chose each one based on their location, so it was easy to get to the AirBnB from the main train station or key sites we wanted to visit.
The yellow stars on the map show the location of the cities we visited: Venice, Selva di Val Gardena, Verona, Riomaggiore, Pisa, Florence, and Rome.
WHY
We originally planned to visit Italy in the summer of 2020, but the pandemic changed our plans. We reworked our plans and decided to spend two weeks visiting several cities that Sky and I had visited in 1999 (Venice, Verona, and Rome) as well as several cities that were new to us (Florence, Pisa, and Riomaggiore). We also love hiking, so spending time in the Dolomites (Selva di Val Gardena) was a priority. Two weeks was a good amount of time to see all the main sites and have time to rest as well. This is a quick overview of the cities we visited, and you can see all the details in the individual city posts.
HOW
Day 0: Travel from US to Venice
Air travel in the summer of 2022 was full of delays, cancellations, and we were not immune. Thankfully we stayed calm and rolled with the changes, and got to Venice just 6 hours later than planned. There aren’t any non-stop flights from Chicago to Venice, so we ended up connecting through Munich Germany. Pro tip: get TSA pre-check and use carry-on bags only!
Day 1: Venice
Our first full day in Venice, we ate lots of gelato and walked 18,000 steps! We started with an elevator ride to the top of the Campanile bell tower on the Piazza San Marco. If possible, reserve a time early in the day to avoid the long ticket line. For the rest of the day, we wandered the city, avoiding the busiest streets as much as we could.
Day 2: Murano & Burano
There are several other islands near Venice that you can visit, either on your own or with a tour. We bought 24-hour ferry tickets and explored Murano and Burano on our own. Murano is famous for glass-blowing, and Burano has colorful buildings and traditional lace-making. We enjoyed them both!
Day 3: Venice
Our last full day in Venice started early, with family photos at sunrise with a local photographer. It was fun wandering the city before most people were up and about. The rest of the day we continued exploring: 25,000 steps today! A traditional gondola ride is a must, which is typically a loop, but since our ride was at the end of the day our gondolier took us from a stop near our AirBnB over to the Piazza San Marco, where we wanted to end our day.
Day 4: Travel day & Dolomites paragliding
Most of our travel between cities was by train, with the exception of our time in the Dolomites. We took a morning train from Venice to Verona, then rented a car to drive 2.5 hours north to Selva de Val Gardena. The highlight of today was paragliding with Gardenafly Tandemflights. It was great!
Day 5: Hiking the Puez-Odle trail in the Dolomites
On our first full day in the Dolomites, we hiked the Puez-Odle trail, which is 9 miles long, but the first section is a gondola ride up 700m so that helps! The views are incredible and unlike anything we’ve hiked before. There are a few strenuous uphill sections, but most of the trail is downhill and moderate to easy.
Day 6: Hiking around Tre Cime in the Dolomites
Tre Cime National Park was a 2-hour drive from our AirBnB, with beautiful views on the way. Other than one short but steep uphill section, this trail was easier and shorter than yesterday’s hike, but just as gorgeous!
Day 7: Verona + Travel day
We returned our rental car in Verona around noon, dropped our backpacks at the luggage check desk in the train station, then spent the afternoon exploring Verona. It was another HOT day, so we stopped often for drinks and gelato. Some highlights included Juliet’s balcony, the arena, fruit markets, and window shopping. Our train left at 5pm for Riomaggiore.
Day 8: Riomaggiore, Corniglia, & Manarola
We purchased the Cinque Terre 2-day train and trail pass, which gave us unlimited rides on the train between the villages, as well as access to the Cinque Terre trail. On our first day, we explored Riomaggiore (where our AirBnB was located), Corniglia (380 steps up from the train station to the town), and Manarola (with a rocky coast where people were sunbathing and swimming.
In the evening, we took the train to La Spezia for a private cooking lesson in the home of a local couple. This was a really neat experience, and we enjoyed meeting local residents and learning to make several delicious dishes! We booked this experience through Cesarine and would definitely recommend it.
Day 9: Vernazza & Monterosso
Our second day in Cinque Terre was a beach day. We started with a quick visit to Vernazza, which was very crowded so we didn’t spend much time exploring. Then we went to the beach in Monterosso. Italian beaches (lidos) are very different from those in the USA. Most lidos have beach chairs and umbrellas for rent, which may include changing rooms and restrooms.
Day 10: Pisa + Travel to Florence
We broke up our train ride from Riomaggiore to Florence with a quick stop in Pisa, just long enough to get the iconic photo at the leaning tower! We kept our backpacks with us instead of using the luggage lockers, because it’s just a 20-minute walk from the station to the tower. After grabbing some lunch to bring on the train, we had another hour train ride before arriving in Florence. Our AirBnB was centrally located between the train station and the main historical areas we wanted to visit. We arrived around 3pm, so we still had lots of time to begin exploring Florence.
We did a load of laundry, then went out to explore. The line was very long at the Accademia Gallery where Michelangelo’s David sculpture is located. We did not buy tickets in advance, but the gallery was open late today, so we decided to have an early dinner and come back to the museum closer to closing time.
This worked out great! Dinner was delicious and when we got back to the museum, there was no line at all! I would definitely recommend this approach to visiting the Accademia Gallery if you can.
Day 11: Florence
The next day we had purchased tickets in advance to visit Brunelleschi’s Dome. These tickets do sell out, so definitely plan ahead if you’d like to visit the Duomo. The pass we purchased gave us access to the dome, bell tower, cathedral, museum, and baptistry over three days. We visited them all in one day, but the flexibility of the pass helped us avoid long lines.
Day 12: Travel day + Rome
We took a morning train to Rome and arrived at our AirBnB by 1:30pm, so we had the entire afternoon to start exploring Rome. First we visited the Pantheon which is free to enter, and the line moves quickly. The Trevi Fountain was packed with people, and the Spanish Steps were actually closed in preparation for a fashion show the next day! Then we walked to Castel Sant’Angelo and Vatican City for sunset.
Day 13: Rome
For our first full day in Rome, we explored on our own in the morning, visiting Campo de’Fiori, the Altar of the Fatherland, and several cathedrals. In the afternoon, we took a small group tour of the Roman Forum and Colosseum through LivItaly. Our guide was excellent and it was worth it to skip the lines and see the underground area of the Colosseum.
Day 14: Rome
For our last day in Rome, we had booked another small-group tour through LivItaly - this time for an early-access visit to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. This was also a great tour, and definitely worth getting up early to avoid the crowds. We were thankful we could enjoy the art in the museum without peering through masses of people.
Next we visited Saint Peter’s Basilica, starting in the cathedral and then purchasing tickets to the top of the dome. In the cathedral (and most cathedrals in Italy, including the Pantheon) knees and shoulders need to be covered.
For the rest of the day, we went window-shopping, visited other cathedrals, ate lots of gelato, and enjoyed a final delicious meal in Italy.
Day 15: Travel home
Our flight home was also plagued with some cancellations and delays, but we finally made it back to the USA! Big lesson learned from this trip: if there are ANY changes made to any of your flights for any reason, double- and triple-check all of your other flight confirmations with the airline! Also, check in 24 hours before your flight - don’t wait to check in at the airport!
Final Tips
Food and drink in Italy was a lot less expensive than we expected, EXCEPT for water and soft drinks.
If you want to avoid crowds, try visiting popular places at the very end of the day or first thing in the morning.
Wear good walking shoes!
Temperatures were between 80*F and 90*F everywhere we traveled except the Dolomites, where it was closer to 70*F.
Eat gelato every day, multiple times a day if possible.
What questions do you have? Let me know in the comments below!
