This might be a little late but I am going on my honeymoon in a week to Italy for the last 2 weeks of September. We will be doing Rome (5 days), Florence (5 days), Venice (3 days). I already booked the flights, airbnb, and train tickets.

Here is what we were planning. We are both in our 20s and want to do most of the touristy stuff.

Day 1 (sunday afternoon) - Roman Forum + Palatine Hill

Day 2 (monday) - colosseum, arch of constantine, capitoline hill, pantheon, try to do some of these: Piazza del Campidoglio, Piazza Navona, Campo de Fiori, Altare della Patria (we can leave some of these for another day)

Day 3 (Tuesday) - Vatican city, St. Peter's in the morning, Vatican museum in the afternoon

Day 4 (wednesday) - kind of open, will do some of the stuff from day 2 that were missed, plus places like trastavere or jewish ghetto, orange garden, porta san paolo, walk around

Day 4 (thursday) - borghese gallery plus gardens, explore further north maybe, do some of the other things like spanish steps, trevi fountain, etc. walk around

Day 5 (friday) - head to Florence. Go to Accademia in the late afternoon, walk around

Day 6 (saturday) - Duomo (climb it), cathedral, baptistery, Campanile (climb), Rodolfo Siviere museum

Day 7 (sunday) - Galileo museum, trip to Pisa

Day 8 (monday) - day trip to Cinque Terre

Day 9 (Tuesday) walk around in Florence, try to do some of these: ponte vecchio, pizzale michelangelo, forte belvedere, san miniato al monte, giordino delle rosse, san lorenzo market (some of these we might do on days 5-7 if we have time. Might not do everything.

Day 10 - 12 (Wednesday to friday) - Venice, mostly walk around, do a day trip to Burano, Murano, Torcello, just walk around, gondola ride, take it easy, etc. We are staying in Venice proper.

I was wondering what attractions I should buy ahead of time. The only thing we bought are Borghese gallery tickets in advance but now are having second thoughts but can't do anything about it.

The reason I didn't buy yet was because I wanted some flexibility and also I figured you could go at times that are not so busy. For example, I read that Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine are all covered by the same ticket for 48 hours. So I could go to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill in the afternoon, and the to the Colosseum the following morning and not have to line up much (we are staying about 10 mins walk away).

Similarly, I read you can go to St. Peter's and climb the Basilica in the morning, and the Vatican museum line is shorter in the afternoon. Should I still reserve it?

In Florence, we are staying in a central area. I read that you can go to the Accademia around 5 and there isn't much of a line.

We are not sure if we will visit the Uffizi. I know it's a must, but we are not too into it. Hence why we are regretting the Borghese gallery tickets.

The only thing that I think I need to book is the climb for the Duomo in Florence. It seems like now there are reserved timings.

We are also planning a day trip to Cinque Terre, and a half-day trip to Pisa. We will just use regional trains so I figured I don't need to buy train tickets ahead. I know it's better to stay a couple of days but I don't think we can do it because we already booked our airbnb for Florence, and we really want to go, so we figured we'll bite the bullet and do the day trip.

I am trying to keep it within a modest budget but don't mind spending if I have to on a good experience. Initially I thought $5000 CAD but now I am thinking closer to $6000-7000 CAD.

Any advice will be appreciated. Or maybe I am just thinking too much.