Three gorgeous Italian cities straddle the country from the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy’s west to the Adriatic Sea in its east. Approximately 400 miles lie between the two, with Florence in the middle, and thus a lazy drive or rail journey through wonderful central and northern Italian countryside adds to these three jewels all the best this fabled nation has to boast.

Rome (population: 3 million)
The Eternal City is a strolling tourist’s dream. My favorite walk is from the Forum and the Colosseum—better appreciated from outside and at night I think, than from inside—along the long, uphill Via di San Giovanni in Laterano, with a stop at the Chiesa dei Santi Quattro Coronati, and up to the Palazzo del Laterano and Rome’s cathedral, which has the same name as the street you’ve just walked up. Opposite is a section of the city’s wall and the Scala Sancta, a 28-step staircase reputedly brought from Jerusalem in the 4th century that pilgrims ascend on their knees.

Another glorious walk is along the narrow, walled, resplendent Via di San Paolo della Croce that points toward the Circo Massimo, the original Roman sports stadium, and passes churches with such wonderful names as San Gregorio Magno, Dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo and Di Sant’Andrea al Celio. Carry on up the Aventine Hill (one of Rome’s seven hills of legend) and gaze through the keyhole of the church of the Knights of Malta on the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta along the Via di Santa Sabina. The keyhole gives a breathtaking view of St. Peter’s in the Vatican framed by the knight’s laurel trees.

Cross the River Tiber (“Tevere” in Italian) at the tiny island of Tiberina and on to the cobbled, twisting streets of Trastevere.

Other Roman wonders include the Pantheon, the Villa Medici (above the Spanish Steps and below the Borghese Gardens), but limited tour times require careful planning, and, farther afield, a local train from the Termini rail station 12 miles to Frascati—home of white wine, grand villas and porchetta sandwiches—through and beside the Appian Way and its Roman aqueducts, one of Italy’s oldest routes and still conducted on antique rolling stock.

Florence (population: 370,000)
Birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence sits on the River Arno, across which spans the famous Ponte Vecchio dating to the 9th century. Florence’s train station (from Rome: 90 minutes) is in the city’s heart, the Piazza della Stazione the only real estate separating you from the historical district.

Get to the Ponte Vecchio early, peruse its shops and walk across to the neighborhood of Oltrarno (“Across the Arno”) and its interesting streets and shops. Walk along the river and back into Florence via either the Santa Trinità or Carraia bridges.

Competition to see the sights in this compact city is fraught. The Uffizi and Accademia museums are world-renowned and popular, and if tickets can be purchased in advance, do so. The imposing but ornate Santa Maria del Fiore, the city’s cathedral, gets equally busy but provides an eagle’s-eye view of the city’s red roofs and the Campanile, also known as Giotto’s Belltower. Those without vertigo or fear climb the 463 steps to the cathedral’s dome to gaze at Giorgio Vasari’s fresco, The Last Judgment. The standing ledge is very narrow.

Afternoons should be spent recovering in such places as the Boboli Gardens, behind the Pitti Palace, and the more bohemian streets of the university district.

Venice (population: 270,000)
Few cities inflame the imagination as does Venice. The perfect arrival is via vaporetto taxi-boat from Marco Polo Airport on the mainland, along the Cannaregio canal to the Ponte delle Guglie bridge near the beauty of the oldest ghetto—“geto” in Vèneto, the Venezian dialect—in Europe. A walk behind leads to a quieter canal alongside the Fondamenta Ormesini and on to the Campo dei Mori, where sits the pretty La Madonna dell’Orto church and lived the artist Tintoretto.

Take a map, as Venice is confusing, its Grand Canal bending first to the left and then to the right on its way to the city’s main attraction, St. Mark’s Square. A map will allow you to avoid uninitiated tourists (avoid La Strada Nuova). Take less-trampled routes, and you’ll both discover fantastic delights, “forgotten” canals and local tavernas (try the Cantina do Mori at 429 Sestiere San Polo, perhaps Venice’s oldest bar, a cramped, dark, atmospheric, wonderful place). My experience is that if you see an alley that looks as though it’s a dead end, it usually isn’t and often pops out at a small piazza or a tiny bridge.

Also avoid the gondolas (unless you really must take one), crossing the Grand Canal instead on a public traghetto, which costs a fraction of the price (€50 cents) and still gives the thrill of being on this crowded water way. Take the traghetto Santa Sofia to the fish market. Passengers usually have to stand.

No one wants Venice to sink any more than it is, but I must say walking through this beautiful city when high tide covers the streets in a foot or so of water makes for memorable tourism.

Two wonderful side trips are to the adjacent, quiet islands of Guidecca and San Giorgio Maggiore and out into the Venetian Lagoon by vaporetto, to visit the isles of Murano (famous for glass), Burano (for lace and colored houses) and Torcello (where it is believed Venice began in the 5th century). On Torcello is the Ponte del Diavolo (“Devil’s Bridge”), one of only two bridges in all of Venice without side rails; the other one is in Venice proper, the Ponte Chiodo (“Nail Bridge”), which leads from the Fondamenta di San Felice to a private house.