First time to Italy for about 10 days. Would you start your trip in Venice and make your way down to Rome? or vice versa? Keep in mind i'll be spending a few days in London before hand. Interests are varied! would like to visit small towns as well as big cities. Trying to decide if I should buy a London-Rome or London-Venice Ryan air ticket.
Are Ryanair tickets changable?
Here's what I would do (having been to Italy many times). I would start in Venice and work my way down. There's this thing Travel writer Rick Steves says that I totally agree with, "After a few days in Italy you either love it and want to go further south or can't wait to get out of it". I totally agree (as does my American/Italian girl friend). There's this sort of chaos and tension below the surface that can get on your nerves. I've seen it over and over with different friends and people that travel there. Also, keep in mind that the further south you travel the more pronounced this situation becomes. Rome is much worse then Venice - I've felt it myself.
On the other hand you might want to stay forever - I can see that in Tuscany or Cinque Terre (or even Venice but in January. It gets VERY crowded from May to late October). It all depends what you like. BTW, Be VERY careful about pick pockets. These guys are the best in the world by far. Don't think you'll know or feel it, not in a MILLION years.
If you're leaving from London I would take the EUROSTAR to Paris, spend a few days (how can you skip Paris?) and then take the EN (Euro Night) train to Venice. I hear Ryan Air is cheap but a pain.The trains take you center to center. The airports can be VERY far away from town. Hope it helped. Zoom
hmm well my time is limited so I want to spend as much of my time in Italy (having seen Paris on a previous trip) Venice to Florence to Rome...Yeah thats what i've been thinking. How is RyanAir a pain? Other than it being a discount carrier? I noticed it flies into Venice Trevisio...is that airport convenient to get to/from?
Civic Blues:
How long are you going to be on this trip?
Zoom:
You stated that, You have been to Italy plenty of times. Business or pleasure. I'm sure pleasure and if it is, do you visit the same locations again or are you revisiting Italy in general due to missing out or completing a journey from past visits?
cheap flights from london to rome:easyjet, ryanair, air berlin
cheap flights from london to venice: easy jet, ryanair (treviso) and bmibaby.
cheap flights from london to pisa: ryanair and Meridiana ((meridiana just if there are offers).
cheap flights from venice to rome : airone, alpieagles, ryanair from treviso.
from venice to rome by train :4,30-5.00hours
from treviso to venice 30 min by public transports, don't know how treviso airport is connected to center of treviso city.(nice city to visit, by the way)
It's all true about ryanair:it's still low cost, but taxes are grewing up, often they change timetable (it happen to me: a flight was moved from 14.00 to 7.00 am...), they are often delayed, you've to pay 25 eur to change reservation,+ the difference on price ..
I think going from south to north or from north to south it's the same, just check where take off the cheapest flights 
If you wish to visit just the big cities between venice and rome you can use the train, If you would like to see also little towns (in Tuscany for example) you have to rent a car.
I've managed to squeak out 2 weeks of Vacation time.
Planning 3 days in london, 10 in Italy.
I just bought a ryanair ticket for 25 pounds. Good deal, no?
amancer, I'd love to see some smaller towns in Tuscany...unfortunately i'll be relying on public transport. Any towns that are must see that are a short ride from Florence?
towns:
fiesole (there's a train, but check where it arrives, because the station is called fiesole-caldine, which means that tha same station serves 2 town, and I've know idea in which of the 2 towns the train stops.
Certaldo, the train station is close to the historical center (1 hour far from florence, more or less), direction florence -siena.
some town of chianti area, but I don't know about connections, probably only by bus.
Cities:
siena, 1 hour by bus (2 by train)
pisa 1 hour by train
arezzo 1 hour by train
Quoting amanecer
towns:
fiesole (there's a train, but check where it arrives, because the station is called fiesole-caldine, which means that tha same station serves 2 town, and I've know idea in which of the 2 towns the train stops.
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I mean I've NO idea sorry!
whats the age limit to rent a car in Italy? I know in North America you have to be 25 to avoid exhorbrant "insurance" fees.
no idea about that...I always rent a car only when I'm abroad.. and, in any case, I'm 30!