Italy in a Week, Anchored on Rome
Rome, Florence, Venice is the most common first-timer route through Italy, and it works precisely because Rome sits at one end of it: bigger airport, more international connections, a natural place to start or finish rather than an interchangeable middle stop.
The classic week
Rome 3 nights, Florence 2 nights, Venice 2 nights, all connected by high-speed rail. Rome to Florence runs 1 hour 32 minutes each way, fares from roughly €19.90; Florence to Venice runs 3.5-4 hours depending on the service. trenitalia.com carries current schedules for both legs, and search hotels in central Florence covers where to base the middle two nights.
Rome plus Naples, Pompeii and the coast
Naples runs about 70 minutes by high-speed rail, then onward to Pompeii via the Circumvesuviana line or further south to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast by regional rail, ferry or bus, a natural “ancient Rome to buried Roman city to coastal Italy” arc best planned as a one-way loop of 3-5 nights, not a round trip back to Rome each time. trenitalia.com covers this leg’s timetable separately from the Florence-Venice route above.
Rome plus Tuscany, by road instead of rail
A rental car picked up after leaving central Rome, never driven into the ZTL zones, loops through Siena, San Gimignano, Montepulciano and the Montalcino or Chianti wine country. ZTL camera fines run €83-100 per gate, with an extra €40-50 rental-company admin fee added weeks later. Anyone skipping the drive can book a Tuscany wine day tour from Rome as a single-day version instead.
Rome as the finale, not the start
Rome was traditionally the climactic endpoint of the 18th and 19th-century Grand Tour, reached only after Paris, Switzerland and Florence or Venice, worth remembering when an itinerary treats Rome as just the first stop rather than the one everything else builds toward.
The two things worth booking early
Roma Termini keeps a staffed left-luggage office for anyone exploring the city car-free before or after a rail leg. Book the first and last high-speed rail legs well in advance; fares climb sharply the closer they get to departure, and last-minute bookings rarely find the cheapest tier still available.
Book the Rome-to-Florence-to-Venice rail legs before anything else on this itinerary; hotel rooms in all three cities are easier to rebook than a sold-out Frecciarossa seat. Our day trips guide covers Florence and Naples as single-day versions for a shorter trip that skips the overnight stops.