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Arriving April 23 (just before Liberation Day) - stay in Rome or Florence?

Posted by on

We will be arriving/leaving from FCO. 8 Nights total and want to visit Rome & Florence as first timers.

Our flight is supposed to land In Rome at 11am. At first, we were thinking of going straight to Florence for three nights and than come back to Rome fort five. But We have to connect in Atlanta, and I am nervous about the chance to miss the flight or a bad delay into FCO. So we may stay in Rome first for a few nights and do Florence at the back end (May be 2 nights).

I found out that April 24 is liberation day. Would It be interesting to be in Rome on that day, or should we avoid?

We should have book the flight back from Florence instead of Rome. But it cost too much to change now...

Thanks for your insights and suggestions.

Posted by
5617 posts

Personally, I would still plan on going on to Florence on the first day. Even if you arrive into Rome late, there are frequent trains between Rome and Florence. I dislike breaking a city stay into 2 and having to deal with an extra hotel unless it's unavoidable. Just personal preference, but I prefer to avoid huge celebrations and the mega crowds and disruptions that accompany them.

Posted by
11651 posts

Not Rome, but Venice was extra crowded on April 24, Italian day trippers with the day off of work.

Posted by
16182 posts

I agree with CJean and I would still plan to go to Florence for the same reasons.
As long as you make the last train departing the airport at 7:57pm you will get to Florence the same night. There are at least 3 trains every hour departing from Rome to Florence.

I’m not aware that Italy was liberated from anything on April 24. If you refer to the liberation from the Nazi-Fascist occupation, that was on April 25.

Posted by
872 posts

The next direct train [from Fiumicino Aeroporto to Firenze SM Novella] is not until 15:08, so you'll be changing downtown, referring to the train number for the platform. Get the Trenitalia app, buy tickets after retrieving your bags.

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you everyone. I think I will go straight to Florence then. I am hoping that FCO is easy enough to navigate and get train tickets upon arrival.
And yes, it’s April 25th, not 24th.
I have a lot to learn... and looking forward to it. Will probably be back with more questions.

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