We started the trip in Rome where we spent three nights. Then traveling by train from Rome to La Spezia we based ourselves in the small cliff side town of Tellaro which is at the southern end of the Italian Riviera on the Ligurian Sea. At that point we had a car and did day trips to various hillside towns in northern Tuscany including Florence. We traveled to Cinque Terre by boat from Lerici and hiked from one town to the next on the Cinque Terre trail then return to Lerici by boat. After eight days in the northwestern part of Italy we headed to Venice by train where we spent two nights. From Venice we traveled to Milan by train for one night then headed back to Chicago the following day.