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Originally Posted by BMW E90
Great! Thank you for the recommendations! Since you were there for a week, do you have any feedback on my itinerary. Should I be spending more than a few days in each of the cities mentioned above?
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In Rome, the real standout to me was the Vatican. You can spend a half day or even a full day there alone. Most of the sights in Rome are very close together. My wife was six months pregnant while we were there and we never took public transportation, we walked everywhere without issue.
The Vittorio Emanuele II monument, the Roman Forum, and Colosseum are right next to each other and you can use the same ticket to access the latter two - you can bang that out in a morning. Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Trevi fountain, and the Spanish steps can also all be seen in an afternoon in one nice stroll and all are no-cost. It's common for people to say "you couldn't see all of Rome in a lifetime" but that's overly romanticised. You can see all of the major sites in three days pretty easily.
Trastevere is a neat neighborhood with tons of bars and restaurants and is lively during the day and well into the night. We rented an apartment there and were very happy we did. It's away from all of the tourist traps and felt like our own little hometown within the city.
I didn't spend nearly as much time in Florence so I can't speak much on that but definitely hit their leather market. That's a place where people I know have been followed by shady characters and one was stabbed (drinking related, he may have had it coming lol) so definitely be mindful. I say this while spending much of my life in/around NYC where the same thing can easily happen so don't think of it as a slam on that city specifically, but, as with any major tourist destination, there is no shortage of people praying on the unsuspecting. A big goofy $4,000 camera is a dead giveaway so I usually opt for my point and shoot when I'm just walking around exploring.