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Here’s one popular option for a one-week itinerary in Italy – the “holy trinity” of Venice, Florence, and Rome plus one overnight in Siena (rather than a Siena day-trip from Florence). It’s a work week’s worth of vacation time – five business days – but this itinerary is actually more like eight or nine days long. (If you’ve been lucky to get into Venice on Saturday morning rather than Sunday morning, you’ve got a bit more time to explore – which means you could include both the lagoon islands and Verona, or just enjoy more laid-back strolling through Venice itself.) What to Do in Siena Your two days in Rome should include a half-day spent in Vatican City and a nearly-full day spent exploring the Ancient Rome sights (Forum, Colosseum, Pantheon, etc.).

Asking an art expert to pick a favorite piece of art is probably a bit like asking a parent to pick a favorite child. I could have easily chosen perhaps my favorite church anywhere, Venice’s stunning St. Mark’s Basilica, or the similarly glowing mosaics in Ravenna’s San Vitale. For me, though, what makes the Pantheon my favorite building in all of Rome and one of my favorite on earth is the phrase that always runs through my head when I walk through the door: People have walked on this very floor, on these very stones, for two thousand years. Now that you’ve read about how emotional I get walking on a two thousand year old floor in Rome (seriously, if you see me in the Pantheon, bring me a tissue), it’s time to read about the Italian works of art that the rest of the Italy Blogging Roundtable calls their favorite.

The murder of 21-year-old British exchange student Meredith Kercher shocked the university town of Perugia, not to mention all of Italy, last year. Rudy Guede, a 21-year-old joint citizen of Italy and Ivory Coast, maintains his innocence despite acknowledging that he was in the apartment Kercher shared with co-defendant Amanda Knox on the night Kercher was murdered. Knox, a 21-year-old exchange student from Seattle, and her 24-year-old ex-Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were indicted on “charges of murder and sexual violence,” and the pair was ordered to stand trial beginning December 4, 2008. The attorneys for Knox and Sollecito have both requested that their clients be allowed to leave jail and remain under house arrest prior to and during their upcoming trial, but the judge didn’t make a decision on that question.