10 Day Italy Itinerary: Rome, Positano, Venice and Florence
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10 day italy itinerary
10 days is an ideal time to visit Italy, whether you’re planning your first trip to Italy, or just looking to plan a longing trip overall.
Italy has no shortage of amazing cities and destinations to visit, so navigating what to include in your 10-day Italy itinerary might feel a bit overwhelming.
Is 10 days in Italy enough?
The good news is that 10 days in Italy is enough time to maximize your travels, as it allows you to hit more than 2 major Italian cities as well as feel like your making your way across the culture, history, art and architecture of Italy.
When we visited Italy the first time, we planned a 10-day itinerary across the country that included Rome, Positano, Venice and Florence.
The remainder of this post will outline our Italy 10-day itinerary, which is broken down into a day by day Italy itinerary, including how many nights to stay in each Italian city, what you will be able to see in each Italian city, and logistics like taking the train from city to city.
10-day italy itinerary: days 1-2 (rome)
Italy Itinerary Day One: Flying & Rome
To kick off your Italy itinerary, you will need to build in time for your flight in and out of the country. We personally flew into Rome and allotted time that first day to check off some major sights in Rome.
If you’re visiting Rome from a long-haul flight, it might feel a bit messy to land and immediately hit the ground running in Italy. However, if you only have 10 days in Italy and want to maximize your time seeing the sights, this is the best way to do so.
It’s likely that you won’t be able to immediately check in to your hotel, so be prepared to take a shot of espresso and make the most of it.
Our first day in Italy we had a pre-booked tour of the Colosseum because it felt like an iconic way to start our 10-days in Italy. It was a little hectic dropping our bags and making it to our tour on time, but I still appreciate doing it first in our travels and maximizing our time in Rome.
Ideas for what to see on your first day in Rome can be found in our Rome Travel Guide.
Italy Itinerary Day Two: Rome
Spend the second full day of your 10 days in Italy by continuing your explorations of Rome. Rome is such a historical city and has so much to offer.
We started our first full day in Rome by visiting the Pantheon (which was just outside of our hotel) and then taking a self-guided walking tour of the city, visiting the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona and the Spanish Steps.
You could also use this day to plan a guided tour of the Vatican City and wandering through the historic Roman neighborhood of Trastevere.
(Rome images photographed in 2018 on a Canon Rebel with kit lenses)
10-day italy itinerary: days 3-4
Italy Itinerary Day Three: Train & Positano
From Rome, you can take an hour-and-a-half train directly to Salerno - the access point to the Amalfi Coast. Once in Salerno, you pick up the high speed ferry from Salerno to Positano and you’re in the Amalfi Coast.
I’d recommend taking an early train to Salerno so you can maximize your time in the breathtaking Amalfi village of Positano. We were not lucky enough to explore more of the Amalfi villages, but Positano absolutely blew us away with its cliffside village covered in bougainvillea and welcoming community.
Italy Itinerary Day Four: Full Day in Positano
Day four of your Italy trip will be a relaxing break of soaking up all things Positano, whether that looks like sunbathing on the beach, or taking a private boat tour to Capri.
In Positano, we especially loved having a hotel with a balcony, so we spent our evenings watching the stars and the gently rocking boats off the shore. A core memory from all our travels.
(Positano images photographed in 2018 on a Canon Rebel with kit lenses)
10-day italy itinerary: days 5-7
Italy Itinerary Day Five: Black Car Driver to Naples - Train to Florence
Our 10-day Italy itinerary was packed full of destinations, so on day five we said goodbye to enchanting Positano, and made our way via car transfer from Positano to Naples.
From Naples you can take a direct train to Florence which takes a little under three hours. Use your train journey to take a nap and rest up, as your Italy adventures will continue once you hit the ground in Florence.
We allotted the largest number of days and nights of our 10-day Italy itinerary to Florence, because we wanted to spend one day in the Tuscan countryside.
Once off the train in Florence and settled into your Florence hotel, spend the day wandering through all Florence has to offer. We spent the late afternoon enjoying the beauty of the Boboli Gardens and having dinner in the neighborhood of Santo Spirito.
Italy Itinerary Day Six: Full Day in Florence
Day six of your 10-day Italy itinerary will be spent in Florence, doing your best to soak up as much of the city as possible. Florence must sees are climbing to the top of the Duomo, visiting the Uffizi Galleries and the Gallery Accademia to see the Statue of David, walking across the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and watching the sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo. And of course, eating and drinking and consuming gelato along the way.
You can find all of the details about what to do and see in Florence in our Florence Travel Guide.
Italy Itinerary Day Seven: Full Day in Florence
If you choose to stay a third day in Florence and wish to visit the Tuscan countryside, there are many guided tours from the center of Florence into the Tuscan countryside.
We opted for a from Florence Vespa Tour and Tasting that picked us up and dropped us off. The entire excursion took about half a day and we were back in Florence around 3pm, leaving us enough time to continue exploring the rest of the day and having dinner.
(Florence images photographed in 2026 on a Sony a7 III with a Sony 24-70mm f.2.8 lens)
10-day italy itinerary: days 8-9
Italy Itinerary Day Eight: Train to Venice
Day 8 of your 10-day Italy itinerary will require saying arrivederci to the Renaissance city of Florence and taking the two hour train to Venice.
Again, use your train time to rest up, as your time in Venice will be short and there is much to see.
We opted for only two nights in Venice, as we almost cut it out of our trip entirely. Thankfully we didn’t as it continues to be one of our favorite Italian destinations. There’s no other place like it!
Once in Venice, hop on a boat taxi (easily picked up at the train station), drop you bags at your hotel and start exploring Venice by foot.
Take a gondola tour, have pre-booked tickets to the Doge’s Palace or St. Mark’s Basilica and wander across all of Venice’s quaint bridges and hidden canals.
Italy Itinerary Day Nine: Full Day in Venice
On day nine of your 10-day Italy itinerary, head out to one of Venice’s islands, Burano or Murano, via water taxi or private tour boat tour.
We opted to spend the afternoon in Burano, discovering the lace museum and falling in love with the small colorful houses on the island.
End your time in Venice with a Vivaldi concert in a small format setting and eating squid ink pasta.
(Venice images photographed in 2026 on a Sony a7 III with a Sony 24-70mm f.2.8 lens)
10-day italy itinerary: days 10
Italy Itinerary Day 10: Train to Rome
Day 10 of your 10-day Italy itinerary will either be continuing to enjoy a city or making your way back to your original destination.
We personally booked round trip tickets in an out of Rome, so on day 10 of our 10-day Italy itinerary we took the train from Venice to Rome (a bit long - four hours) and then spent our last evening enjoying Rome and eating Tiramisu.
If you book your flight out of your final city in Italy, then you can spend your 10th day enjoying more of Venice.
10-day italy itinerary Overview
If you’re a visual person and want to see what the previous 10-day Italy itinerary looks like at a snapshot view, here’s a break down of the nights we stayed in each city and also a visual “calendar view” of the days.
I normally make these in google docs to plan out the itinerary with the dates.
Rome, Italy: Two nights - days one and two (a list of our favorite Airbnbs in Rome)
Positano, Italy: Two nights - days three and four
Florence, Italy: Three nights - days five, six and seven (hotels in Florence, Airbnb rentals in Florence)
Venice, Italy: Two Nights - days eight and nine (and possibly day Ten)
Rome, Italy: One night - day ten (to fly out next day)
Alternate 10-day italy itinerary
All of the above was the exact 10-day Italy itinerary we booked, however there are a million ways you could explore Italy in 10 days!
Again, if it’s your first time visiting Italy, the cities mentioned prior are pretty solid choices, but below is a different 10-day Italy itinerary that would be a bit slower paced.
Italy 10-Day Itinerary: Visiting Three Italian Cities
If you want to enjoy Italy at a more leisurely pace, you could eliminate one of the cities and stick to visiting three cities during your time in Italy. This might look like 3 nights in Rome, 3 nights in Florence and 3 nights in Venice.
Of if you want an Italy itinerary that feels a bit more relaxing with time by the sea or the pool, you could book 3 nights in Rome, 3 nights in Tuscany and 3 nights in Cinque Terre.
Italy 10-Day Itinerary: Matera and Puglia
If you want to visit Matera or the Puglia region of Southern Italy, I recommend planning an entirely separate trip to do so. Of course you could add it to other Italian destinations, but Puglia really deserves its own time and explorations, and we have all the details on planning a Puglia trip (with Matera included) in our Puglia Travel Guide.
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