Night train from Munich to Rome

See if this page on the Seat61 site is helpful.
https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/nightjet.htm

BTDT, never again. Rough tracks and hardly any sleep. But that was a few years ago. Maybe things have improved. As always, YMMV.

Agree with CJean. By far the worst night traveling I've ever had. Never again.

Cold, hungry, hard bed, no wifi, screeching brakes, frequent announcements and stops...

There are no through night trains from Munich to Rome, but there is a night train to Venice, where you switch to a high speed train to Rome in the morning just after you arrive in Venice. It leaves from Munich Ostbahnhof (not the main station, Hauptbahnhof) just before midnight. The train stops for 45 minutes in Salzburg to switch to an Austrian crew, and then again in Villach for the switch to an Italian crew. A few other stops during the night, arriving at Venezia S. Lucia at about 8;20 am.

I did this years ago when Deutsche Bahn had their own night train service. No, it was not the best night's sleep, but worth it for the experience. Current night trains are operated by OeBB, the Austrian railway, under the brand name Nightjet.

https://www.nightjet.com/en/#/home

The stop in Salzburg is not only a crew change but to remove sections for Rijeka and Budapest and to add sections from those cities.

There IS a through train usually from Munich HbF to Rome Tiburtina at 2010 arriving at 1105, but it is usually faster to change off that onto a Frecc at Florence (0642 to 0705) - arriving at Rome Termini at 0835.

Due to engineering work that train is modified from 16 November onwards when Venice does seem to be the better route,

The secret to sleep on a night train is ear plugs. On a NJ you actually get some. With that I usually do get some sleep. But it depends also on how good a sleeper you are.

That said, I used to travel by night train on business trips sometimes, but nowadays I usually take a day train, as I can now work on the train, so it is not wasted time. For a tourist that wants to sightsee it may be different.

One tip: If you arrive in the morning in a city go to your hotel. You may be lucky that you can already go to your room. Happens to me about 2/3 of the time.