Can I get a train last-minute from Florence to Rome? Or do I need to book in advance?

The trains do sell out, but there are many many high speed trains that do the trip. Sometimes 15 minutes apart.

You could go to the train station a day in advance to buy tickets.

We have relied upon www.seat61.com for years for all of our train dilemmas. Plus all the experts here on RS and on tripadvisor.com, Rome or Florence (Roma or Firenza) forums. Be sure to use the Italian station names if you want to book tickets in advance on the Italian website, Trenatalia.com. I think they go on sale 120 days prior to your travel dates and can be much cheaper but then you are locked into a specific time and date. Avoid RailEurope to avoid a limited schedule and higher prices. We booked an early train in advance since we knew we wanted most of the day in Rome and had spent enough time in Florence.

Trains rarely sell out - if you can't find places at busy times in 2nd class (or equivalent), you can usually find place in 1st class (or equivalent) or a later train, usually within an hour. The busiest times are at weekends at the beginning and the end of a long holiday period - the last weekend of July, the last weekend of August, the beginning and end of Xmas period, and so on.

You will likely pay a substantially higher price for buying shortly before you plan to travel. You will have the option of taking a cheaper regional train, but it will have no reserved seats, may be very crowded, and will take about 3-1/2 hours rather than 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours. I've taken a lot of those regional trains because I'm too stubborn to pay 2 or 3 times the price for a last-minute Freccia ticket.

It appears that the Florence to Rome Freccia fares top out at 47€. If you're OK with that, don't give it another thought.

Italotreno runs high speed trains on that route, too.

www.italotreno.it/en FLEX is the walk-up fare.

Both companies sold out in all classes? No way.

We just went to Italian rail stations when we were ready to leave the particular city. The ticket sellers were always offering the least expensive option for our particular group. We did not have to wait but a few minutes for any train. I thought my tickets were rather inexpensive for travel on trains. I'll spend a few extra euros for convenience any time...although I also have no problem on a regional train if that is the next one; in fact, met some fun people that way.

I have occcasionally run into lines at Italian rail stations that convinced me it was best not to show up at the station 15 or 30 minutes ahead of time, planning to buy the ticket from a staffed counter. I actually missed a train while a ticket agent carried on a long, and obviously personal, conversation with a friend.

And in Nice, France (in May--one wonders what happens during peak season) there were often lines of 6 to 8 people at every ticket-vending machine. It was odd, because the city didn't otherwise seem all that crowded.

You can buy the tickets at the station just minutes before departure in 100% of circumstances. There are two to four trains per hour from Florence to Rome.

In some peak periods, the only seats that are sold out are those in 2nd/standard class, but you can always find seats in the 1st/business class.

If you are not willing to pay for the higher class, you just buy the 2nd class ticket for a later train when standard class is available. I have never bought tickets in advance from Florence to Rome (always winged it and bought it on the spot) and when 2nd class was sold out (maybe a few rare times in my life), those seats were generally available in the very next departure within half hour.

When 2nd class tickets sell out it is usually during the early morning departures (before 11am) and sometimes during evening commute. But I have never experienced sold out 2nd class in the middle of the day.

As an example I just checked the tickets for departures in the next hour from Firenze to Rome (its just past 7pm in Italy). There are 5 trains departing in the next hour, none of them is sold out in any class.

Trains rarely sell out. Too many trains too much capacity. The Base fare is the same whether you buy it at the station or three months earlier on-line. The price does not change. What does change is the availability of discount tickets -- Two classes of discount tickets - super economy and economy. The number of these tickets is limited and varies by time and train. These tickets come with restrictions regarding changes and refund -- generally none. These tickets do sell out early and mostly to on-line sales.

You can easily get tickets at the last minute.