Rome for 7.5 days

[uselessnanhai]

So we'll be arriving around midday Saturday in Rome around March. We've got that half day + a full week until we leave. We're leaving Sunday 6:00 AM from Rome.

my question is... how long should we stay in rome? all 7.5 days? we'd like to see another city if we could, perhaps venice or florence? i've also got a random fetish for pompeii and tivoli would be nice.

any ideas on basic itineraries? like day 0.5 - rome, day 1 - rome, etc?

thanks in advance for any help

[ftuley]

I think if it was me I would rather spend a couple of days in each city and make the most of it.
Florence is one of the most popular travel cities in Italy. Florence is a beautiful Renaissance city in the heart of Tuscany.
Florence has some of Italy's best museums, beautiful cathedrals and churches, and interesting streets and squares with elegant buildings and shops.

Verona is an interesting stop on the Milano to Venice train line. Many people treat it as a day trip, but the attractions are numerous and the town quite attractive.
It's worth a couple days if you're on a leisurely trip.

Venice is everyone's favorite fantasy destination. From Venice's famed canals to architectural wonders that surround San Marco square, Venice deserves its fame.

Rome, Italy's Eternal City, is a vibrant, raucous, and sprawling metropolis peppered with ancient Roman archaeological sites and underground wonders.
Travel to Rome and you'll want to return again and again. Where else can you plunge yourself into the Renaissance by taking a short walk that includes the Trevi Fountain,
the Piazza Navona, and the Pantheon, then tell your partner you love him before sticking your hand into the bocca della verita,
the "mouth of the truth" that is, in reality, just an old roman sewer cover now mortared into a wall of a medieval church.
(Good luck, by the way, if you try. If you've lied it will reputedly chomp your hand off.)

Pompeii is simply incredible. Here is a city frozen in time and embalmed in ash since Vesuvius erupted in AD79.
The city remained forgotten until around 1600, when the study of ancient texts suggested its existence.
Excavations began in 1784 and have since revealed most of the site. Bodies were unearthed along with their houses, a temple, works of art and everyday objects.
The site is huge, and even spending a full day here leaves many stones unturned.
Below are just a few of the places to visit.

AMPHITHEATRE - could accomodate 20,000 people
HOUSE OF VETTI - a large house decorated inside with lavish frescos. Outside, statues and fountains.
HOUSE OF MEANDER- in the gardens, a party of looters were discovered, when the site was excavated. They had been asphyxiated, and still had swag in hand!
FORUM- the centre of Roman civic life (This is the first area you encounter when you go in by the western entrance). Its surviving buildings include the Basilica (a business centre and law courts).
ANTIQUARIUM- is where you will find the body casts taken from the volcanic ash, figures whose contorted shapes graphically illustrate the horror of that fateful morning.
TERME STABIANE- the towns earliest bath houses. Alongside runs VIO DEL LUPINARE, one of the towns main red-light districts.
A small brothel at one end has several bed stalls and frescos depicting the services they offered.

Main sights of Tivoli

Villa Adriana- UNESCO World Heritage site (1999).
Villa Gregoriana
Rocca Pia
Temple of Tiburtine Sibyl
Temple of Hercules
Cathedral of St. Lawrence (Duomo, rebuilt in 1635–40)
One of Italy's most admired gardens, the Villa d'Este is a sixteenth-century pleasure palace with a sequence of fantastic fountains and water features in its shady grounds.
Villa d'Este was built in 1550 for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, the son of Lucrezia Borgia and Alfonso d'Este. It occupies a stretch of hillside below the town of Tivoli, with spectacular views over the plain towards Rome.
Built around an earlier monastery, the building is lavishly decorated with frescoes, reliefs and internal fountains.
The most striking part of the Villa d'Este, however, is its garden; a terraced extravaganza of shady trees and showstopping fountains.
Subsequent cardinal-owners added to the gardens, which after a period of decay have been restored in recent decades.
Tivoli is easy to reach from Rome, and the Villa d'Este is a mere two-minutes' walk from the bus stop (follow the chain of souvenir stalls).
The gardens can be visited as a half-day trip, although many visitors will prefer to take their time, and enjoy a meal in the town or on the garden terrace overlooking the hot plains.
I hope this helps!
This beautiful destination, enjoy Italy.

Links of interest:
Italy images
Florence Hotels
Venice Italy Hotels