2 weeks in Italy - where would you go?

[DeliveredByKiki]

We think we're going to make a 2 week holiday in Italy work this summer (dates would be early to late July), myself, DH and 2dc (5&8)

DC are obsessed with going to Pompeii (or verulaneum), and also seeing Venice (thanks to a cd they listen to ad infinitum about Vivaldi that's set in Venice). We're thinking Rome as we have friends who lived there for years with similar aged children so they can give us plenty of tips. Is that enough? Should we also try to do Florence/Pisa/somewhere else?

I'll be spending a week on the Amalfi coast with my parents and the DC before DH joins us

dont try and do Venice and Rome in the same holiday with small kids unless you are American and this is your grand tour and only chance to ever come. Venice and Lake Garda maybe, ir if you want todo a few central places, you are better doing Rome, Florence, Pisa which are all roughly together. You could easily do a week in Rome and one in Florence with a couple if day trips to Pisa and other places thrown in.

Really? Bugger - but the high speed train looks like it's only a 5hour journey between Rome and Venice

We're not American but we do live in America so it IS unlikely we'll be making a return trip to Italy in the Forseeable future

Trains in Italy are good and cheap - you can book everything online in advance at a better rate than buying on the day.

Venice late summer will be really unpleasantly rammed. It's a wonderful city but you'll have a much pleasanter experience going out of season.

Do you have 2 weeks on top of your week on the Amalfi coast or just one? If it's just one I'd recommend s train to Rome and then on to Florence after a couple of days. If you've got 2 weeks, I'd figure in Rome, Bologna, Florence & Sienna.

If you are using the trains, when you book in advance you get allocated a seat in a carriage. Often you'll have to walk through a train to get to your carriage & the luggage racks are too small for suitcases. You may want to wipe the dust of your old backpack!

That's v helpful thankyou. We have an extra two weeks and are happy to see a fair amount

We sadly don't have the option to travel out of season and the DC have their hearts set on Venice, even if it's just a quick trip

I've been to Florence many moons ago and loved it, will look into sienna and bologna

As pp said, trains in Italy are fab. We did two weeks starting in Venice, then lake Garda where there's lots of activities like bikes, kayaks etc., Florence, chianti (for the wine!) and Bologna. To be honest, they were all wonderful. There was a lovely music museum in Bologna and a big tower to climb up.
We saw lots of adverts for tourist concerts of Vivialdi which might appeal to your dcs. They did the big hits like 4 seasons, we didn't go so couldn't comment on price.

Oh great tip about the Vivaldi concerts, thankyou! So that's another vote for Bologna, I know nothing about it so will go and do some research

I saw mentioned on another thread monasterystays.com it looks pretty interesting, has anyone used them?