FCO to Florence

Best plan is to wait til you land
This question comes up very often
No way to predict delays, time to get thru passport control etc

I believe Trenitalia still runs a 1:53pm train from FCO to Florence-eliminates the change at Termini
If your flight is in time you would have time to grab a bite at FCO before that train

The usual advice is to either wait until you get there to buy tickets, it is more expensive, but the safe option. You can buy changeable tickets, but they are only changeable up to departure of your scheduled train, so if your flight is severely late, you may have missed your window.

Another option is just to leave an abundance of time (4-6 hours), you get cheap tickets, but may be twiddling your thumbs at the station, rather than on your way to Florence.

On a normal day, I would think two hours tight. Seems like always a bit of a snag at immigration, FCO is a lot of walking to get out and to the airport train station, 30+ minute train ride to Termini, plus up to a 30 minute wait for the next train, walking at Termini to find your train, so 3 hours would be safer, but will likely get there in 2.

Thanks, I think we are gonna wait till the morning of and just book then to make sure. Do we need to make sure we have a certain gap between our train arriving to Termini and our train departing Termini?

I am following this discussion closely as I will be landing at FCO at 6:50 a.m. on April 8, heading for Ferrara. I have had the same debate as to whether to buy tickets in advance or wait. I feel better having a train ticket in hand, but as others have pointed out, there are unknowns. I'll try and let my head rule and wait until I get there, but be familiar with the options as there are different choices for reaching Ferrara (including going through Florence). I have used the trainline app on other trips and found it easy and convenient.

Here is a website that will answer your questions about Rome Termini: https://www.seat61.com/stations/rome-termini.htm.

I have landed at FCO twice and both times, I was all worked up, but found it amazingly easy. There was good signage and people to help. Once I was going to Naples via Termini and once transferring to a different terminal to fly to Palermo (I walked).

My memory is that Rome Termini is easy to navigate and the man in seat 61 confirms that memory.

I also found the Florence train station straightforward. As an aside, I found the train station in Naples challenging even having read Rick Steves on the subject and would not try a tight connection there.

Trains from FCO arrive at platforms 23-24 for the most part, while fast trains to the north tend to depart from any platform between 8 and 19 for the most part. Potentially you could have a walk of up to 1000-1500 ft (300-400 mt), which, without mobility issues, could be covered in about 5 min, plus the time to check the monitor displays to confirm the departure platform. To minimize the walk try to place yourself on the cars in front, closest to the engine, when you depart from FCO. If you want to feel comfortable, once at FCO get a ticket that gives you at least 20 min for the "layover" at Termini, or if you want to get some sandwiches before boarding even longer. You've been on a plane for a whole night, it's not a big issue if you get to your final final destination 30 min later.