The more I research trains the more confused I am making myself. Can someone please advise me on this? We have a flight out of Rome at 10:30 AM and need to book a train from Florence for that morning. Can I just book this online? Is this where I would purchase tickets: https://shop.italiarail.com?
I definitely want to book in advance to make sure we make our flight out of Rome.
Thank you for any advice!
Susan
I suggest if you don’t want to miss your flight you travel to Rome the night before. If your flight is at 10:30 you need to be at the airport by 8:30, or 7:30 if it is a flight back to North America. I would not rely on train that morning to get me there in time; too many ways that can go wrong. When we were in Italy September we heard announcements regarding upcoming strikes and delays ever time we stood on a platform waiting for our train.
You can book the train from Florence to Rome online with the actual provider, Trenitalia or Italo. Both have websites in English.
I'm doing a lot of research on train travel in Italy for our upcoming trip. I'm not an expert and don't have first hand experience, but I've found this website very helpful for explaining the options.
https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-italy.htm#Which_station_in_which_city
On the page about Rome termini station, there's a discussion of Italia rail, from what I can see it's the US ticketing agency for Italian rail service (they do have a lounge/office at termini, but that likely doesn't matter to you.)
FWIW - I agree with previous reply - seems very risky to plan to take an early morning train from Florence for an outbound morning flight.
The earliest you can be at the Rome Fiumicino airport station departing from Florence is 8:37am, which could potentially get you in line for check in by 8:45 am.
In my book that is too tight for an international flight departing at 10:30am and also sort of risky since, as pointed out above, delays are possible, and sometimes those delays may be substantial. That is why I always spend the night before the flight in the city I’m departing from.
You can book a train in the website below, but I strongly recommend you go to Rome the night before and spend your last night at a hotel in Rome or even near the airport itself.
For your planning purposes, note that the train between Florence and FCO take 2.5 hours, with a transfer at either Roma Termini or Roma Tiburtina. Trenitalia has one direct train from Florence to FCO a day, departing Florence at 7:05 and arriving at FCO at 9:22, too late for your flight.
If you wish to maximize your time in Florence and skip Rome, you could spend the day in Florence and take a late afternoon or evening train to Fiumicino and spend the night in the town or at an airport hotel. That would make it easy (and safe) to meet your flight in the morning.
As others have recommended above, I would not travel from Florence to Rome the very same morning of my international flight from Rome.
I would make sure I was sleeping in Rome the night before my international flight.
Italiarail is a third party site
Use the official train sites
Trenitalia
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html
Or
Italotreno
https://www.italotreno.it/en
Both have easy to use apps
Stations are:
Firenze SM Novella
Roma Termini
You need to be IN Rome the night before your departure
Don’t risk it unless you are willing to pay walk up price on a flight
Thank you all for this great advice and information! I am so glad I asked. We will make sure to be in Rome the night before our flight.
The Princeps Boutique Hotel is a 5-10 minute easy walk from the Termini station; 24/7 front desk, rooms modern and comfortable.
See booking.com
