I was only in Rome for a few days but I want to go to Italy again so badly. I've done quite a bit of travel book reading and the Cinque de Terre sounds really nice. You should read Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door. It's a book about travel skills and how to plan your own trip and travel solo (even as a woman). It gave me the confidence to begin planning my first trip by myself with no tour group, Paris and northern France in 2010 or bust