Italy travelfilter: Venice vs. Naples/Amalfi Coast

If you were a history major, then you might want to do Venice with a day trip to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenna. The mosaic work in the early Christian churches literally made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Amazing, beautiful and not many tourists.

You do not have a lot of time in Rome, I would just skip all the travel and spend some more time there or more time in Florence. You will be traveling most of a day anyway, so you only actually have a day and a half.

There are a lot of other cities you can visit much closer to your locations - Ostia Antica, Tivoli, San Gimignano, Siena, Volterra, Monteriggioni.

If you plan to travel by train, I'd say stay closer to Rome so you have more hours to spend on your destination. Tuscany would be a great choice. There are many very beautiful places. One option would be Siena which is a gem and only a good three hours train ride from Rome. Another beauty is Arezzo which is only a bit further. You could probably even do one day each. They are both perfect for exploring by foot. Have fun! Italy is geourgous at that time of year if you can escape the touristy crouds a bit.

The Amalfi coast is very nice, and I wouldn't pass up on the chance to see Pompeii again (or better still, Herculaneum). Naples has little to recommend it though - ongoing problems with waste management have made it quite unpleasant in parts. But a day trip covering both the coast and Pompeii is going to be very rushed.

While I usually agree with you that one shouldn't pass up a chance to go somewhere new, Naples is... not really worthwhile for such a short trip. I've tried to do the "day trip to Naples" thing, and probably wouldn't repeat it. Plus it isn't really a safe "wanderable" city in the same way that Rome and Florence are; the historic center is lovely, but relatively small. I vote for Venice, or heading to Florence a day early.

I'm not that worried about dodging the most touristy crowds The only people you will see in cities in Italy in August are tourists. It is a holiday month and most urban Italians go to the country/seaside. Bear in mind 15 August is the most important holiday in the Italian calendar and a lot of restaurants, etc will be closed for at least a few days around that, if not for the two-week period around that. There also is no way I would travel to the Amalfi Coast in August unless I was in a comfy guided tour where someone else had to deal with logistics. It will be extremely crowded. Here is an earlier post about http://ask.metafilter.com/234249/Venice-vacation-part-deux-Is-going-in-August-a-terrible-idea which you may find useful. If I were you I would stay in Rome for a night or two, and given that you've mentioned food, rely on http://www.parlafood.com/where-to-eat-in-rome-in-august/ to help me pick out some awesome eats to enjoy. Since you're interested in Roman stuff you could do a day trip to https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/ostia-antica-near-rome from Rome (plan to be there either early morning or as late as its open as it is going to be very hot to be outdoors during the day). Akke and Fallballa are right - it is a good time to visit inland towns and if I were you I'd head towards Umbria/Tuscany for a night or two on your way to Florence. Orvieto and Siena come to mind in particular as great places to visit.

I *just* (yesterday morning) got back from Bologna - Ravenna - Venice for a few days. August is, yes, very touristy. I would say sure: go back to Venice for a day but consider Padua, Rimini, or Trieste along with Ravenna (a beautiful, quiet town) with (as mentioned above) lovely Byzantine churches (Chiesa di San Vitale). Trains are cheap if you're willing to see every whistle stop between Venice and Rimini, or you can pony up (from ~30 Euro) for the FrecciArgento and get from Bologna to Venice in an hour and change.