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This is what I would do (a personal choice based on my own preferences, but having read your posts I think it could fit you).
Since she will be in Rome, I wouldn't go too far from there. I would stay in Italy.
March is still winter, but if you go south it can be very nice weather and it helps to have a good time (imagine a nice walk back to the hotel after some after dinner drink in a nice terrace in front of the sea...). So I would head south (Venice, Sienna Florence, etc. are wonderfull, but in March they may be still be too cold for that.
Besides, southern people are much warmer and welcoming than northen italinas (which are more developed mind-your-own-business type of people),
I like staying in a city if it was a big cultural capital (Viena, Praghe, Budapest ...) but there is nothing comparable in southern Italy.
Naples could be a very nice headquarter: in itself it is a nice city and you can visit Pompei (a must see in the world), the Vesubius vulcano, the peninsula amalfitana, Paestum, etc. and the shore is so beautifull your girlfriend may happily embarc on a daycruise to sail to the island of Ischia or Capri, which are a few NM from the shore. However, a month ago Naples was "taken" by a brutal garbige-collecters strike which effects you don't want to imagine (schools were closed down so children didn't have to go out to the streets; even trafic problems because of tons of rotten gargige in the streets; etc.). So you would have to make sure the strike is over. Alternatively, you could stay in any of the beautifull towns on the peninsula Amalfitana (Amalfi -pick in a previous post-, Positano, Sorrento, etc.). And you are only a 150 miles from Rome.
Another alternative would be going down to Sicily and stay in some medium-small city (like, for instance, Cefalu, in the north, or Siracusa, in the southeast) or even a smaller town. Visit the major turist atractions, but also allow time to wander around without a specific goal. People are warm and open there and good things just happen there if you allow them to.
Don't make reservations (unless for the firts nigth if you will arrive late): at this time of the year you won't have any problem and it will keep you free.
A must: look on the internet for some car rental (make sure you have a good insurance, have a coffe and concentrate on your driving: it is not dangerous for a serious accident, but it is not unusual for a turist not used to that trafic to have a little bump). If you stay in the Naples area you can even get it in Fiumicino (Rome's airport).
As I said, this is MY thing, made based in MY preferences and MY knowledge. I hope it is of some use. And whatever your final choice is, I hope you enjoy it and have fun.
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