train from rome to florence

No need to purchase train tickets ahead of time. You can purchase them at the FCO station, that way if your flight arrives late and you are hung up in imigration, you won't worry about missing your train to Florence.

We usually just buy our Leonardo tickets and the tickets for Florence at the ticket window at FCO. One caveat--- sometimes the ticket agent will convince you that you can make a tight connection from the Leonardo which comes in on binario 24 to catch the ES to Florence which usually (in my experience) leaves from one of the first 4 tracks. That's quite a run especially if you have luggage and aren't in a position to get off the Leaonard quickly. Two years ago we had to run like the dickens and made it by just a couple of minutes. As we pulled out we saw about half a dozen people running toward the departing train who we recognized from the Leonardo. This year the next train to Florence was sold out in 2nd class so we bought tickets for the following train and had a delightful lunch at Ciao self serve in Termini and still got to Florence in plenty of time.

Ken, no need to worry about reservations. There are 53 trains a day departing Rome for Florence. It is not uncommon for flights to be delayed so just wait until you get there and clear immigration. Then, walk out to the train station across from Terminal C and buy your tickets for both the Leonardo Express and the Eurostar to Florence from Rome. As metioned above, don't make the connection too tight. Since the trains leave every 20 minutes or so, you can afford an extra 20 minutes. Yes you do need seat reservations on the Eurostars but these seat reservations come automatically with the P2P ticket that you will purchase at the train station. Again, its really easy and you won't miss any trains. From Rome to Florence, you are never late for a train; you're just early for the next one.