If You Have a Week in Italy
If your schedule allows you a full week in Italy, then you will have the option of getting to some of the more “distant” spots within the country. That doesn't necessarily mean little villages out in the middle of nowhere, but it does mean moving beyond the major cities and into other locations that require longer travel times.
Two good examples of such places are the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. They're about as far away as you can get from Venice, but with a full week's time to travel, they are easily within reach — even if you include a stop in Naples on your way there.
Days 1–3
Consider spending your first three days in Italy doing the “long weekend” itinerary — only in reverse. Begin your stay in Venice, then travel west to Florence and west again to Pisa, then south to Rome along Italy's western coast.
Day 4
On your fourth day, you will awake in Rome and be well positioned to catch an early-morning southbound train to Naples, which is a two-hour ride away. Your fourth day in Italy can thus be spent exploring the ruins of Pompeii, or, if the weather is bad, the artifacts inside the city's Museo Archeologico Nazionale. (Either way, you'll get to fill your head with lots of Mount Vesuvius memories.) Of course, you need to stop at a pizzeria for an authentic pizza dinner that night. Order the classic version with tomatoes so that you'll feel like a local. Overnight in Naples.
Fact
The tomatoes in Naples might taste different than the ones you get at home. The local type are called San Marzano tomatoes, and they have no seeds. These are usually the kinds of tomatoes used to make the classic Italian “peeled tomatoes” that are canned, shipped worldwide, and used in countless people's homemade marinara sauce recipes.
Day 5
Begin day five at the ferry dock. You can catch a ride to either Sardinia or Sicily from there, though do expect to spend the entire day on the water. You can enjoy the fresh sea air after your previous four days of running around from city to city on the mainland. You should get to either Sardinia or Sicily in time for a hearty dinner of freshly caught Mediterranean seafood.
Days 6–7
Relax on the beaches, do some snorkeling, and soak up some last bits of Italian culture before you head back home. If your final destination is in Sicily, be sure to order a dish with Marsala sauce — and grab a few bottles of the locally bottled stuff to use in your own recipes after you leave Italy from the island's airport.
