¿No hablas inglés? No hay problema, también puedes encontrar este artículo en español.

This is an itinerary for Italy for 2 to 3 weeks. You can visit all these places in 15 days but you can add more day trips using the main stops as a base.If you want to you can also add the countries of The Vatican and San Marino.

This trip can be done both by car and by public transport as trains or buses. In fact, I did it mostly by train so if you want to travel the country by train this entire itinerary is doable. Italy is very touristic so bus and train stations are generally very well communicated so that is something you do not have to worry about.

The itinerary can be done both North to South or South to North. Nevertheless, I will explain it the way I did it: South to North.

As bases, we will use Rome, Firenze, Bologna, Venezia, and Milano and from there we will visit other places. Therefore, this itinerary can last as long as we want to.

I will write the bases in PINK and the day-trips in GREEN:

In the South to North Itinerary we will use Rome as a base first. Here we will stay for 4 to 5 days. We can, of course, visit The Vatican while staying in Rome, as it is inside the city. From there we can take a train to Pompeii to visit the ruins and if we have more days we can also add Napoli to the Itinerary. I did this by train so it is definitely possible to do it as a one day trip. Italy has got several train companies and the schedule and travel time varies greatly so pay attention when you buy the tickets and choose the company with the best travel time-money ratio.

Our second stop will be Firenze. I would recommend 3 days minimum to visit the city. It is stunning. From there you can be in Cinque Terre and Pisa in a matter of a few hours.

I would recommend either take the Flixbus or the train to Pisa as a half-day tour instead of a full-day tour as it is not very big.

The next stop is Bologna. We can stay here for two or three days. Bologna is a great base to visit another country, San Marino. I would recommend to take the train from Bologna to Rimini and to go to San Marino from there. How do you go from Rimini to San Marino? As soon as you arrive in Rimini you must cross the street and you will find a tobacco shop. Bus tickets to San Marino are sold there. One day is more than enough for San Marino. I would actually recommend you to spend around 4 hours in San Marino and on your way back see a little bit of Rimini as the beach is marvelous.

From Bologna we will go to Venezia. 4 days would be a good amount of days. You can visit the other islands Burano, Murano, Torcello, and Mozzarbo in one day so it is highly recommended to buy a multiday ferry pass.

On our way from Venezia to Milano, we can stop in Verona and finally stay in Milano for 2 days. From Milano, we can also go to Torino if we have more days.

In Summary (South to North):

Rome: Napoli/ Pompeii/ The Vatican

Firenze: Pisa and Lucca/ Cinque Terre

Bologna: Rimini and San Marino

Venezia: Burano, Murano, Torcello and Mozzarbo/ Verona

Milano: Torino.

I have also created a map so you can have a more visual idea of the said itinerary: