Our Italy Itinerary for October 2011!

Our first meeting yesterday afternoon produced a suggested itinerary for a two week trip to Italy. Everyone interested is invited to join us or build your own trip based on the following schedule. For reference, euro trading at $1.36 today...

Travel dates are mid-week to accommodate Linda’s teaching schedule.

October 5, 2011 – Depart Ft. Lauderdale or Miami to Rome on a late afternoon flight which puts us into Rome early (around 9AM) on 10/6. The time difference is +6 hours.
10/6:    Early morning train from Rome to Naples (1 hour 10 min = 44 Euro)
            Spend the day in Naples, the birthplace of pizza and Linda’s ancestors
10/7:    45 minute train ride to Pompeii – Tour the ruins.
10/8:    Return to Rome by train
            Spend the day touring Rome
10/9:    Sunday Mass in Rome – spend the day at St. Peters
10/10:  Spend the day at the Vatican - including museums and Sistine chapel
10/11:  Ancient Rome – Colosseum – Pantheon
10/12:  Take the train to Florence (1 hour 35 min = 44 Euro)
            Spend time touring the Duomo and nearby piazzas
10/13:  Uffizi and Accademia (where "David" resides) art galleries
10/14:  Rent a car in Florence and drive to a villa in Tuscany
            Plan to spend the next 3 – 4 days touring medieval hill towns (suggestions below)
10/15:  Pisa (Leaning Tower) and Lucca (olive oil)
10/16:  Chianti Country (Wine of course)
10/17:  Siena
10/18:  Drive back to Rome for our last night
10/19:  Early flight home puts us in (same day) around 5PM.

Based on this itinerary, we will have a rental car for 5 days. If you want to share the cost of a rental car we would like to know in time to reserve a good deal. This is a rough draft of the trip that allows us to visit the places we most want to see at a pace that won’t exhaust our family group.

In addition to researching rental villas in Tuscany, we will be looking for good deals and B&B type accommodations in Naples, Rome and Florence. We are looking for group rates if possible and will keep everyone posted if we find a good deal.