Curated European Journeys
7 Days in Italy: Rome, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast
The classic Italian week — three cities, no rushing, every meal worth remembering.
A hand-built starting point. AI customizes it from real bookable experiences.
✨ Customize this trip →One week is enough for Italy if you don't try to do Italy. This itinerary picks three places that complement each other — imperial Rome, Renaissance Florence, the impossibly blue Amalfi Coast — and gives each the time it actually needs. No 6am train sprints, no wasted afternoons.
Who this is forCouples and pairs of friends on their first or second Italy trip. Mid-range to upper-mid budgets. Travelers who care about food, art, and atmosphere more than ticking off a 12-city sprint.
Why this trip works
- 01Three cities is the maximum you can do in a week without spending every other day on a train. Two nights minimum per stop means real evenings, not just sleep-and-go.
- 02Rome → Florence → Sorrento is one easy train line (Frecciarossa) with one short transfer. No flights, no rental car until the coast.
- 03The intensity tapers — Rome is dense, Florence is walkable, Amalfi is decompression. You finish on a beach, not at a museum.
- 04You get the holy trinity: imperial ruins, Renaissance art, and the most photographed coastline in Europe.
- 05Three nights on the Amalfi Coast is enough to actually use it. People who try to "see Positano in a day" understand nothing about why it's special.
May, early June, and September are the sweet spot — warm enough for the coast, cool enough to walk Rome and Florence without melting. Avoid August (locals leave, prices spike, heat is brutal). November–March is quiet and atmospheric, but the Amalfi Coast largely closes down.
Plan on $2,200–$3,200 per person for a comfortable mid-range week (mid-tier hotels, two restaurant meals a day, trains between cities, two paid experiences per city). Add $800–$1,200 for round-trip flights from the US. Luxury pushes $4,500+ per person; budget travel using guesthouses and trattorias can land near $1,400.
Rome, Florence & the Amalfi Coast — 7 Days
A pace-controlled week through Italy's greatest hits: two nights in Rome to do it right, two nights in Florence to walk it in detail, three nights on the Amalfi Coast to actually enjoy it.
Land, walk, eat
Arrive at FCO, train to Termini, drop bags in Monti. Resist the nap. Walk the Roman Forum at dusk when the crowds thin, then dinner in your neighborhood — somewhere with chalkboard menu and zero English.
Basilica di San Clemente
Three layers of buildings stacked over 2,000 years — Roman temple at the bottom, medieval church on top. Empty most afternoons.
Insider tip: For your first meal in Rome, walk to Armando al Pantheon if you can get in. Otherwise Trattoria Pennestri in Ostiense. Skip anything with a host on the street.
Stay: Monti — central but quieter than Centro Storico
Vatican + Trastevere
Vatican Museums first thing (book the 8am skip-the-line — the only way to see the Sistine Chapel without a human wall). Afternoon nap or aperitivo, then cross the river to Trastevere for dinner.
Worth every euro to skip the 2-hour line and see the Sistine before tour groups fill it.
Best way to learn what to order for the rest of the trip — pizza al taglio, supplì, carbonara, gelato.
Insider tip: Wednesday is Papal Audience day at the Vatican. The square is chaos until 1pm. Go on any other day.
Stay: Monti — second night, no need to move
Train north, walk it all
Morning Frecciarossa from Termini — 1h30m to Florence Santa Maria Novella. Check in around the Oltrarno (left bank, less touristy). Spend the afternoon walking: Ponte Vecchio, Boboli Gardens, Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset.
Brancacci Chapel
Masaccio's frescoes are the moment Renaissance painting figured out perspective. Free, never crowded, 10 minutes from the Pitti Palace.
Insider tip: Skip the lunch places on Via dei Calzaiuoli. All'Antico Vinaio has the truffle panino people line up for — go between 11 and 11:30 to beat the queue.
Stay: Oltrarno (Santo Spirito area) — artisan workshops, less polish, better food
Uffizi + Tuscan dinner
Uffizi first thing (book the 8:15 slot). Lunch at a sandwich counter, afternoon shopping in San Lorenzo or the leather workshops in Santa Croce. Dinner at a real Tuscan trattoria — order the bistecca only if you're two people.
Insider tip: For bistecca alla fiorentina, Trattoria Sostanza or Il Latini. Don't order it well-done unless you want them to refuse.
Stay: Oltrarno — second night, no need to move
South to the sea
Morning Frecciarossa to Naples (3h), transfer to the Circumvesuviana or a private shuttle to Sorrento, then taxi or driver to your hotel (Positano, Praiano, or Amalfi town). Afternoon is for swimming, aperitivo, and watching the light change on the cliffs.
Fornillo Beach
Five minutes walk from the main Positano beach, half the people, same water. Local bar serves €4 limoncello spritz.
Insider tip: If your hotel is in Positano proper, ask if they'll send a porter to meet you at the road — the stairs from the bus stop to most hotels are brutal with luggage.
Stay: Praiano — cheaper than Positano, just as beautiful, easier parking
Boat day
Charter a small boat for half or full day — Capri, Li Galli, the grottos. This is the day that justifies the whole trip. Lunch on the boat or pull into Nerano for spaghetti alle vongole at one of the beach restaurants.
The Amalfi Coast is meant to be seen from the water. Half-day is enough; full day if you can splurge.
Famous for spaghetti alla Nerano (zucchini and provolone). Book ahead, expensive, worth it.
Insider tip: Tip the boat captain €20–€30 at the end. Standard, not optional.
Stay: Praiano — same base
Slow morning, fly home
Breakfast on the terrace. Last swim. Private transfer back to Naples airport (NAP) by mid-afternoon for a US-bound flight. Or extend by a day if you can — the Amalfi Coast rewards a third day more than a Roman fourth night ever would.
Insider tip: NAP airport is small and efficient. Allow 90 min for international, not the usual 3 hours.
Stay: Praiano — checkout day
Seven days is enough for Italy if you respect Italy. This trip ends on a balcony in Positano with a glass of Falanghina, not in a security line at FCO. That's the only kind of Italy week worth doing.
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Our AI Trip Architect takes this template, adapts it to your dates and pace, and gives you a full day-by-day plan in under 60 seconds.
✨ Build my 7 days in italy itinerary →What to avoid
- ✕Don't do Venice in this trip. Adding a fourth city turns a week into a transit week. Save Venice for its own long weekend.
- ✕Don't base yourself in Naples to "see the coast" — the train doesn't reach Positano, and the bus from Sorrento eats half the day.
- ✕Skip the Vatican on a Wednesday morning (the Pope's general audience). It's mayhem.
- ✕Restaurants near the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps are tourist traps. Walk five blocks in any direction.
- ✕Don't rent a car in Rome or Florence. ZTL fines are the most expensive mistake of every American trip.
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