thanks alot for all the sharing , will find out more , goin to natas fair tml , might end up getting a tour package cos is actually hassle free too...
will consider carefully cos my wife just want to tour italy alone , which seldom have such package
Italy is really easy to get around by train. Unless you want to vist some rual attraction, pretty well every thing is easily reached by public transport networks. Italians have a 'relaxed' additude to road rules that gets more relaxed the futher south you go which could make driving less than fun. Better just to relax and ride their cheap trains.
Italian railway fares are pretty cheap, many staff speak English. They (used to) wear badges with little flags on them that indicated the languages the staff member could speak and you can buy tickets from multilingual vending machines. (Although while the machines have online access to timetables and reservations, they lack local knowlege like 'that train always runs late, use this one instead, you will get there faster)
Two weeks bearly scratches the surface - you could really only do the 'majors' in that time, Rome, Venice, Milan and Florence.
Note popular attactions like the Uffizi require you book a time slot in advance. You can book online now I think. Other places like th Vatican museums I think have similar time slot booking systems in place. If you just turn up, you could wait hours in line, especially for the Sistine Chaple. Other places like St Peters are just simply busy - it's a Catholic pilgramage site, so has plenty of pilgrims lining up to see the tombs of the popes for religious reasons.
Some of the city transport systems like Rome's Metro (MRT) are a haven for pickpockets as the trains are crouded for much of the day and touristy types are an attractive target. (More likely to be carrying cash, etc..) I've never had a problem but some one nearly 'got' my sister once but the thief was wacked by a 'little old lady' who noticed what he was up to and created a scene.
But pickpockets are problem nearly world wide.
For the city transport systems they often have really good value day or weekly passes. Even if you are not in a city for week, some times the weekly passes are so cheap that it's worth it for just 3 days!. (Rome was like that, but I haven't checked recently).