Buying tickets for high speed train from Rome airport (Fiumicino) to Florence

Given the uncertainty surrounding arrival by air I would not buy tickets in advance. Just buy then once you know which is the next train you can take.

Also beware there is significant labor unrest in Italy, trains are canceled with little notice and Italiarail and Trentalia are not good at providing updates via email.
We went late October, booked tix 2 days advance there and the night before for return with no problem getting the tickets booked. The actual train we booked running? That was a mess, as was the last minute general strikes called that shut down Rome's Metro and buses.

We purchase ours at the Rome Airport. We once had a 3 hour delay leaving ORD to FCO, nothing like that type of delay to cause some problems with your itinerary.

To get from the airport to the train station you need to take the Leonardo Express which runs roughly every 15 minutes to Roma Termini train station. From there you can purchase a high speed rail ticket between Rome and Florence from either trenitalia or .italo. Once you're through immigration and customs you'll have a better idea of which train is next schedule-wise.

Both companies have apps that let you purchase tickets from your phone using Italian cell service or WiFi. You'll pay full price for the ticket but if you buy a discount ticket and miss your train you'll probably be out that money and then have to buy a full price ticket anyway.

In general high speed rail tickets are purchasable about 2 months before their scheduled date. You can pre-purchase tickets at a discount - sometimes deep discounts - but they come with restrictions.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

But to your question, it looks like 60 days, as you can buy tickets now for Jan 5, but not Jan 7, at least a lot of trains are showing not available. Also, the Leonardo Express trains from the airport to Termini station are not showing on the schedule after Dec 14. That is the date of the semi-annual schedule reboot. Regional trains to Tiburtina station are showing on the schedule after Dec 14.

I would wait wait at least a month for clarity in the schedule.

There is only one direct train from FCO to Firenze (with no change at Roma Termini); it departs FCO at 13:53. It is not available for sale yet.

You can purchase tickets from FCO to Firenze ( with a change at Termini) for some mid-January departures right now, mainly in the afternoon. But as noted above, that is not advised, due to uncertainties in the timing of your flight arrival and whatever immigration formalities are required. Yes, you could save some money, but the cheaper advance tickets are not flexible. You would have to build in several hours of extra time in case of late arrival of your flight. And then if your flight arrives on time you would end up sitting in the airport for those hours.

When we landed last month ALL trains (include Leonardo Express) were stopped for several hours due to problem on line between Tibertina and Termini. Several times I've landed over an hour late in the morning on an overnight flight from the US. I would buy your ticket once you landed.

As noted, there almost NO direct trains from the airport itself to Florence. Most people take the frequent, unreserved dedicated Airport Express train to Rome-Termini, where you have DOZENS of choices to Florence. Please explain if you are worried about changing trains during a journey, which is pretty common.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation

For some reason there is some misinformation up stream. Tim is accurate. Lets clean up some of it.

There is non-reservation train, Leonardo Express, between the airport and Termini, the main station in Rome but there are a couple of other stations but not important to you. The LE takes 35 minutes from airport to Termini and runs every 30 minutes. After immigration (passport control) and customs, follows the arrows to the train station -- it is well marked. Buy both your tickets to Rome and Florence. The ticket guy will advise you for the best ticket time wise. Depending on restroom needs, or if you want a picnic lunch for the train, I would allow an hour between arrival at Termini and the departure to Florence. Maybe an hour and half so you can step outside for a brisk, short walk. Find your departing platform and meet your train. The platform generally is announced in a 15 to 30 minute window prior to departure. So don't panic if you don't immediately see your train on the departure board. And sometimes they will change the platform number with short notice so stay insight of a departure board until your train arrives. The Italian train system works pretty well and generally on time. Also -- make sure you know your train number. That is the only thing that counts when looking at the departure board.

PS -- There is always lots of talk about strikes but seldom happen. And if they do, there is always some trains running but having lots of patience and a second espresso is helpful if not critical. So don't worry too much about them.

Regarding strikes, the time that labor unions call strikes in Italy is generally Autumn.
Most public transportation jobs in Italy are unionized bargaining positions that are negotiated nationally generally around Sept-Nov. In fact during times when there is a particularly high incidence of strikes, journalists in Italy use the term "Autunno Caldo" (hot Autumn).
That is definitely a time when you are most at risk of being caught into some labor contract dispute.
Any other time, strikes are rare.

I also recommend you buy them when you get to the airport station. You won't be able to take advantage of discounts when you buy it on the spot, but the risk of missing the train if you are delayed and losing your investment is not worth the savings. You could potentially mitigate that risk, by pre-purchasing a ticket for a train with a large cushion, for a departure many hours after your scheduled plane arrival, but in that case, if your plane arrives on time, then you will have to waste a lot of time waiting for the train you purchased.

You could also watch Youtube videos about riding Trenitalia and Italo to increase your comfort level. And there's always that Man in Seat 61.

Thank you very much for the great answers to my question.
We will certainly buy our tickets to Florence at the airport (Fiumicino).

Thanks again

Sam