Hi All!
I'm planning my first solo international trip to Italy in May 2026. I'm flying into PSA on 5/19/26 and flying back home from FCO on 5/31/26, for a total of 11 full days. I booked my accommodations already, but they are all refundable, so I can move dates around cities. I was planning on being in:
Pisa: 2 nights. Staying in the historic center 5/19/26 - 5/20/26
Florence: 4 nights. Staying near Firenze Santa Maria Novella 5/21/26 - 5/24/26
Venice: 2 nights. Staying near Venezia Santa Lucia 5/25/26 - 5/26/26
Rome: 4 nights. Staying near Piazza Venezia 5/27/26 - 5/30/26
I'm a foodie, love museums, love just wandering around. I created a prelim itinerary, mostly from just reading reddit posts. I solo travel domestically in the US alot, and I usually create an itinerary to loosely follow. I copied and pasted below from my excel sheet. Those check in/check out times are the hotel times, not necessarily when I plan on checking in/out. I just wanted some advice on my prelim itinerary. Am i seeing all the must sees? Are there any days that are too light or too heavy on activities? Any advice is appreciated!
| City | Pisa | Pisa | Florence | Florence | Florence | Florence | Venice | Venice | Rome | Rome | Rome | Rome | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 5/18/2026 | 5/19/2026 | 5/20/2026 | 5/21/2026 | 5/22/2026 | 5/23/2026 | 5/24/2026 | 5/25/2026 | 5/26/2026 | 5/27/2026 | 5/28/2026 | 5/29/2026 | 5/30/2026 | 5/31/2026 |
| Day | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Morning | Climb leaning tower | Train to Florence | Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore | Morning run along Arno | Train to Siena | Morning run | St. Mark’s Basilica | Morning run | Colosseum | Vatican Museums | Morning run | Taxi to FCO | ||
| Pisa Cathedral | Drop bag at hostel | Climb Brunelleschi’s Dome | Piazza Michelangelo | Piazza del Campo | Check out Hostel at 10 | Clock Tower | Check out hotel at 11 | Roman Forum | St. Peter’s Basilica | Galleria Borghese | Flight at 7:30 | |||
| Baptistery | San Miniato al Monte | Train to Venice | Doge’s Palace | Train to Rome | ||||||||||
| Camposanto Monumentale | ||||||||||||||
| Afternoon | Flight at 4:35 | Lunch at L'Ostellino | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch around Oltrarno | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | ||
| Walk Borgo st and area | Check in Hostel | Uffizi Gallery | Oltrarno | Siena Cathedral | Check in Hotel at 1 | Gondola ride | Check in Hotel at 12 | Palatine hill | Sistine Chapel | Shopping | ||||
| Walk Arno river | Accademia | Santo Spirito Square | Wander the neighborhoods | Wander Rialto, Rialto Bridge | Wander San Marco | Pantheon | Wander Centro Storico | Wander Trastevere | Free wandering | |||||
| Wander Historic Center | Boboli Gardens | Vaporetto ride on Grand Canal | Piazza Navona | |||||||||||
| Evening | Fly into PSA | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Train to Florence | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | ||
| Taxi to Hotel | Socialize at Hostel | Socialize at Hostel | Picture at Ponte Vecchio Sunset | Dinner | Wander Dorsoduro | Trevi Fountain | Spanish Steps | |||||||
| Piazza di Spagna | ||||||||||||||