In the book, Rick Steves' Italy, he recommends that packing lightly is the way to go. He says that if the trip involves a lot of traveling between locations, keeping the luggage down to a single carry on bag per person can be a good alternative. Can you imagine going to Italy for two weeks and only taking a carry on bag?
Well, that's what we did. He is right about staying nimble. It was difficult to do, and we did laundry a couple of times, but it worked. Having a single suitcase let us move quickly between planes, trains, and automobiles.
What about all the wonderful gifts purchased for family and friends while we were there? Easy. We shipped it home.