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.
