Why the big three still earn their hype
We went into this trip braced for disappointment. Rome, Florence and Venice are the most photographed cities in Europe, and half the internet will tell you they are ruined. They are not. What is ruined is the way most people do them: three days total, midday queues, dinner on the main piazza. Give the route two weeks, travel by regional train where it makes sense, and eat where the office workers eat, and Italy's oldest itinerary is still the best first trip on the continent.
Rome, four nights
Start in Rome and give it four nights. The Colosseum and Forum need a combined ticket (about 18 euro, book the official site two weeks out, take the 8:30 slot). The Vatican Museums are worth the 20 euro even if you think you are tired of art, but go on a weekday and never on the last Sunday of the month, when free entry produces the worst queue we saw in Italy. Our favourite hours cost nothing: crossing the river to Trastevere at seven in the evening, when the swifts come out over the rooftops and every third doorway is a bakery selling suppli for two euro. Hostel dorms run 30 to 45 euro a night now; Ostiense and San Lorenzo are cheaper than the centre and better fed.
The train game
Italy runs two parallel rail systems and knowing the difference is the whole budget. Frecciarossa high-speed trains (Rome to Florence in 95 minutes) cost 20 to 30 euro if you book three or four weeks ahead on Trenitalia, and 55 euro if you turn up on the day. Regionale trains have fixed prices, no reservations, and take twice as long: fine for short hops, painful for Rome to Florence. Italo, the private competitor, sometimes undercuts Trenitalia by a third, so check both. We booked the long legs a month out and left the short ones flexible.
Florence and the Bologna lunch run
Three nights in Florence. Climb the Duomo dome (the Brunelleschi Pass is about 30 euro, book ahead) or, honestly, skip it and climb San Miniato al Monte for free at sunset instead: the view includes the dome, which the dome's own view does not. The Uffizi is worth a full morning. Then do the thing every backpacker in Florence should do: take the 40-minute regionale to Bologna (about 10 euro) purely to eat. Tagliatelle al ragu in a back-street osteria runs 10 to 12 euro and recalibrates your understanding of pasta. You can day-trip it or, better, stay a night; Bologna's porticoed streets and student bars are the cheapest good night out on this route.
Verona, the smart stopover
Most people ride straight from Florence to Venice. Break the journey in Verona instead: it is on the same line, and two nights here cost what one costs in Venice. The Roman arena still hosts summer opera, with gradinata stone-step tickets from around 30 euro, and the Ponte Pietra at dusk is the single prettiest river view of the trip.
Venice, done properly
Two nights minimum, and stay on the island, not in Mestre; the whole point of Venice is dawn and midnight, when the day-trippers are gone and the city goes silent except for water. Dorms on Giudecca run 35 to 50 euro. Buy the 24-hour vaporetto pass (about 25 euro) for one day of island-hopping to Burano, then walk everywhere else. Cicchetti bars around Cannaregio sell small plates at 1.50 to 3 euro each; five of them and a glass of spritz is dinner for under 15 euro.
Costs and timing
We averaged 75 to 90 euro a day each: dorm beds, one sit-down meal, a lot of pizza al taglio, museums every other day, trains booked early. Go in April, May, early June, late September or October. July and August are hot, expensive and heaving; February is cold but Venice in fog is unforgettable and half price.