First time to Italy

Here is a site to help on the CT to Venice leg

https://www.italiarail.com/?gclid=CICIwqj2-NQCFRaTfgodWXYDmw

If there is anyway to reverse the order, do it.

We did your trip but in reverse.
Easy to get the train ticket to CT at the Venice Train station. We bought our tickets when we first arrived in Venice.

I wouldn't cut out Venice. See if you can get the tickets from the previous post's link.
Good luck.

The best sequence is:
Venice - Florence - Cinque Terre - Rome.
You can also do the exact reverse, but you are aware of the pain of catching early flights out of Venice.

Train schedules are here:
www.trenitalia.com
Use Italian names of stations
Roma Termini, Firenze Santa Maria Novella, Venezia Santa Lucia.
For the Cinque Terre you must use the name of the village of your choice.

Trenitalia is the official train company (Italiarail is a travel agency that charges you more).

No need to buy in advance, but you can save by doing so for the high speed portions.

The daunting part seems to be traveling from C.T. to Venice - not sure
how to do this and what trains/buses to take

Hi Greg -
I'm not sure why you're finding this daunting? It's no more difficult than looking up trains/schedules for the other journeys on your trip. I'll strongly favor Roberto's Rome> Monterosso> Florence> Venice route as well, and use the Trenitalia website that he has provided.

Along with Trenitalia, Italo also runs the Firenze> Venezia route so compare tickets prices/schedules on both Trenitalia and Italo websites:

http://www.italotreno.it/en

Thank you EVERYONE for your replies!!!! I really appreciate it. So many different train lines but thanks to you all I now know where to look and to use the Italian names of the cities/towns for the station stops.

I do have my heart set on starting in Rome and working our way up to Venice. I will have the most energy at the beginning of the trip and Rome has the most of what I want to see. If I can't get the 12:15 P.M. flight out of Venice back to the states then I will have to reconsider.

The research and planning is half the fun, isn't it?

Thanks, again.

The only thing to consider is one more night in Venice and one less in 5 Terre.

gparvin, the thing is, the railroad websites do a good job of identifying the most efficient routing for you, just based on starting and ending stations. At least I have always trusted them, in every European country in which I've traveled.

I want to suggest that Venice or Rome when tired are not as great. Good to hit one first, and the other after a relaxing day in 5T.

Just want to add that Venice is a great place to recover from jet lag, and Rome is not. (And I absolutely love Rome, don't get me wrong)
Cynthia

OK,......you all have convinced me to start in Venice then Florence, Montossoro, Rome and fly home from there. Airfare looks to be the same either way and I guess it makes more sense logistically . Seems shorter to go from CT to Rome as opposed to CT to Venice.

Thanks again everyone!

Yes, it is shorter to go from the C.T. to Rome using the coastal route. There are direct trains from La Spezia Centrale to Roma Termini with a travel time of about 3H:45M. It's only a few minutes from Monterosso to La Spezia Centrale, so that's not a concern. You'll need to know the Italian names for the stations you're using if you buy advance tickets. If you need more information on trains for each of the routes you'll be travelling, post another note here.

When is this trip taking place? Be sure to book accommodations in Monterosso well in advance!

OK,......you all have convinced me to start in Venice then Florence,
Montossoro, Rome and fly home from there.

Good move!!! And do heed Ken's warning to book accommodations in Monterosso as far ahead as possible? Rooms in the CT fill quickly in advance of high season!