One Week In Rome + Florence Itinerary For First-Timers
Ciao! My mom, Freddy and I spent 6 full days in Italy (Rome and Florence specifically) and had such an incredible time! We had been planning this trip for about 6 months but it snuck up on us so quickly. We planned some activities and tours ahead of time through Viator, while other days we spent wandering the streets and taking in the scenery. Our trip took place at the end of October and while the weather was mild (65-70 degrees Fahrenheit) we experienced some heavy rain and overcast skies throughout most of our time there, but we didn’t let that stop us from having a great time! I’m going to break down our itinerary and share what we did each day in Rome and Florence, but if you’re more of a visual person you can also check out my vlog on YouTube which takes you along each day of our trip.
I will say that the jet lag hit us pretty hard on the way there, so I felt pretty out of it during our first 3 days in Rome and like I wasn’t on my “A-game” to hit the ground running and do all the things. That being said, we still packed a lot in and I’m so grateful for all the memories we made!
Travel Day
We flew from Phoenix to Salt Lake City and had a 2-hour layover there before our big flight to Amsterdam, which was a little over 9 hours long. We kept ourselves entertained with all the in-flight movies (my mom and I watched Trolls, A Cinderella Story, and Jumangi) and the books we brought with us. We sadly couldn’t get comfy enough to fall asleep, but we knew we would catch up once we eventually got to our hotel. Once we landed in Amsterdam we had about an hour before our final flight to Rome which was about 2 hours long. By the time we got a taxi and made it to our hotel in central Rome we had been awake for a full 24 hours, so we immediately crashed and went to bed!
Day 1
Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Spanish Steps
We started our day with breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel (The Pantheon Iconic Rome Hotel) which was an incredible way to start the morning! It was literally a 3 minute walk to the Pantheon - it lives up to it’s name 😉 Seeing the Pantheon was so amazing and it’s just so cool to be inside a building that dates back to 125 AD! After that we walked about 15 minutes to the Trevi Fountain and all of my Lizzie McGuire dreams came true ✨ I know I know, there’s more to Rome than the movie references, but it was an iconic movie for me growing up so I couldn’t help but feel a bit of nostalgia seeing the fountain in person. My parents visited Rome in 2016 and it was their last trip together before my Dad’s brain cancer diagnosis in 2017, and definitely bittersweet being in Italy without him. My mom and I threw a coin in for him to honor his memory and we knew he was there in spirit with us! After that we headed over to the Spanish Steps and ate lunch at Babington’s tea room. By that point we were getting pretty tired, so we went back to our hotel for a quick nap before we went out for a pizza dinner.
Day 2
Colosseum
Giolitti
We had breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel again (it was hard not to with the gorgeous view!) and then walked about 20 minutes to Palantine Hill for our Colosseum tour. We booked through Viator and I highly recommend! They had tons of different options, many of which were refundable if your plans changed. Our tour took us through the Roman Forum, Palantine Hill, and ended with the Colosseum. It was a little over 3 hours long, so I recommend packing light snacks and plenty of water since it’s a lot of walking! It was so incredible to experience these historic sites in person after only reading about them in books - truly unforgettable. After our tour we were starving and ready to sit down for a late lunch, so we went over to Piazza Navona where there were tons of restaurants to choose from. Afterwards we got gelato at Giolitti and wow it was incredible! Don’t let the long line deter you - it’s worth it!
Day 3
Train from Rome to Florence
Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral and The Duomo
I won’t lie I was a bit nervous to navigate the train in a foreign country, but it was much easier than I thought. Florence is only an hour and a half away from Rome so we passed the time with reading and card games. When we arrived we checked into our hotel, Sina Villa Medici and explored the grounds a bit while we waited for our rooms to be ready. The lawn area outside the main restaurant was so peaceful and charming - if it hadn’t been cold and rainy I would have spent the afternoon out there reading! After we dropped our stuff off in our rooms we grabbed a quick bite at a restaurant in town and walked to the Duomo for our tour. This was one of my favorite activities we did on our trip! The Santa Maria del Fiore church was so stunning to see in person - my jaw was practically on the floor. All of the intricate details on the exterior are just a taste of the beauty that lies within the church’s walls. Once we toured the main chapel area it was time to climb the 426 steps to the top of the duomo! I felt slightly claustrophobic in certain sections, but thankfully there are some landings where you could take a quick breather before continuing on. The climb to the top was so worth it for the views of the city! I could have stayed up there for hours taking it all in. We booked this 3 months in advance of our trip through Viator to make sure we secured the date we wanted; I can’t recommend this tour enough!
Day 4
Central Market
Shopping on Via de’ Tornabuoni
We started our day by checking out the famous Central Market and it was SO cool! My mom learned about it on the Food Network and she was so excited to go. There were tons and tons of vendors on the first floor selling produce, meat, cheese, wine, pasta, and so much more! I wish this was my local grocery store that I could go to every week for fresh food - it was incredible. Then upstairs there are various food stalls where you can order quick service meals and tables to hang out at. We knew we wanted to come back and get some packaged pasta to bring home with us but we didn’t want to carry it around all day, so I recommend stopping there on your way back to the hotel. The downstairs market closes at 4pm so make sure you go before then!
After the market we walked over the Via de’ Tornabuoni to check out some of the designer stores. I never go into these stores at home but I love doing it when we travel to a new city because it just feels more fun to me :) We checked out Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Dior, and Celine and all of the stores were so beautiful. Prada was our last stop and I ended up getting a bag there! It was an unplanned purchase but I fell in love with the Arqué bag and we got a great deal on it thanks to the VAT tax refund! We headed back to Central Market for lunch afterwards to escape the rain that hadn’t let up for most of the day, and then enjoyed happy hour at our hotel bar later that night.
Day 5
Medici Chapel
Accademia Gallery
This was my mom’s birthday and we wanted to make sure she got to pick most of the activities for the day! We went back to Central Market for breakfast and cappuccinos since my mom loved it so much and we wanted to buy some goodies to bring home (pasta, sauce, olive oil…all of the important things lol). After that we walked down the street to the Medici Chapel and were absolutely blown away by how beautiful it was inside! You just have to walk through the crypt first 💀 This painted ceiling might have been my favorite out of all the churches we went to - it depicted the entire gospel in all of the scenes and was truly breathtaking. It also wasn’t super crowded like some of the other popular churches we visited so it was nice to linger a bit longer and not feel rushed.
Later in the afternoon we went to the Accademia Gallery to see the famous David Sculpture which was also at the top of my list for coolest experiences on our trip! I recommend buying tickets in advance as they do sell out fairly quickly. We booked them through our hotel’s concierge when we checked in and this day (our last full day in Florence) was the only availability they had so we got really lucky! Walking down the hallway towards the David was so mesmerizing - I couldn’t believe we were standing in front of such a famous sculpture that I had seen countless photos of in art history books throughout my years of school. I kept thinking about Michelangelo’s process to create this incredible sculpture and what he was thinking about while crafting it. There’s lots of other stunning artwork in this museum, but David is of course the highlight!
Day 6
Train to Rome
Vatican City
We took the train back to Rome and stayed one last night in the city before our flight home the following day. We got in around 4pm so it was a little late to do anything, but we walked over to Vatican City so that we could check out the plaza and the exterior of the church. I’m a little bummed that we didn’t get more time to explore this historic part of Rome, but I’m still really glad we got to check it out! Since we went pretty late in the day there weren’t a lot of people there so it worked out really well for photos. For our last meal we had lasagna and gelato at a nearby restaurant - doesn’t get much better than that!
We loved Italy so much and are looking forward to another trip again in the near future! There’s so many more areas I want to explore like Milan, Venice, Tuscany, Lake Como, and Positano. Do you have any Italy recommendations based on your trips? Leave a comment below - I’d love to hear! xoxo