I've been there 3 or 4 times. It's fabulous! You can have a different experience depending on where you go, but I've enjoyed all of the places I've visited.

One of my childhood dreams was to visit the ruins in Pompeii, so that was an important stop on my first trip. That part of Italy also has a lot of wonderful Greek ruins that are worth visiting (e.g., Paestum).

Florence is really wonderful -- so much art to see! It's a beautiful city. We stayed in the hills above the city, which made for a nice retreat at the end of the day and an amazing view of the city (just a 15-20 minute bus ride away).

Venice is fun, but you have to get yourself off of the beaten tourist track to really appreciate it. Wonderful glass and paper products there...

In the Valle d'Aosta region (by the Alps between France and Switzerland) you definitely feel the Swiss influence (the best, most buttery pastries at breakfast ever...lol). It can be a little scary driving up in the mountains, though, given the narrow roads and lack of guardrails...lol.

Turin is the major city in the nearby Piedmont region and has a lot of art and history to explore.

The lake region is beautiful. I've stayed at Lake Garda and at a friend's family's place on Lake Como.

Milan is a bustling, big modern city, so not the place to go to see picturesque Italy. It is fun, though, to see some of the fashion displays...lol.

Great pizza in Naples...lol! Oh! And get gelato wherever you are.

The Vatican of course has must see artworks. And, you can't miss the coliseum in Rome (we just did an overnight to see these, though, as we were heading on to Florence for a longer stay).

I recommend going to some of the smaller towns, too, that aren't usually people's first choice, such as Verona, which is quite lovely and relaxed.

Really, there is so much to see and do there that you can't go wrong no matter what you plan to do. Just pick a region or two that you most want to see and plan what you want to do, leaving yourself plenty of time to explore the area at an easy pace.