Florence to Naples by train, first time in Italy

Kerri, Train travel in Italy is very easy, so getting from Florence to Naples (or Sorrento) is not difficult. There are direct trains (no changes) from Firenze SMN to Napoli Centrale, with a travel time of 3-hours (depending on which train you choose). Current 2nd Class fare is listed at €72 PP. If you'll be meeting your tour group in Sorrento, you'll need to use the Circumvesuviana commuter train. When you arrive in Naples, walk downstairs to reach the Circumvesuviana station. A few questions though. What type of "Tuscany day tour" did you have in mind? Does your tour commence in Naples or Sorrento? It would be a good idea to have a look at the "Rail Skills" chapter in Europe Through The Back Door, so that you're "up to speed" on how rail travel works in Italy (changes, track no's, reservations, validating tickets, etc.). Not following the "proper procedures" in Italy can become "expensive". I'd also suggest packing along a copy of the Italy guidebook, as I've found that it's extremely valuable for reference during trips. You may find it helpful to also browse This excellent website for lots of good information on travelling in Italy. Happy travels!

Thank you so very much! The day tour I was thinking of in Tuscany is this: http://www.walkaboutpass.com/nqcontent.cfm?a_name=bestoftuscanytour_homepage.
A friend of mine did this and said it was great. See if it looks decent to you. Our tour starts in Sorrento. The regular tour states we fly into Naples, then transfer to Sorrento to meet the group. But.......we can fly into Florence 2 days early at no additional airfare cost. So we were thinking of doing that, staying in Florence a night, do the day tour the next day, staying the night again, then hopping on the train the morning of 9/30/11 to meet with our group in Naples that day. I heard through the grapevine there are non stop trains that leave every hour from Florence to Naples. I have to check further to see if we meet the group in Naples or Sorrento. But it sounds like the train from Naples to Sorrento would be fairly easy as well. Thanks so much for all of your help!

Listen to ken... he's spot on. A few other things to consider: As long as you aren't traveling on a national holiday, there are dozens of touch-screen kiosks inside the train stations. pop in your credit card and voila- tickets appear (you can choose english as a language too). You don't need to buy ahead of time normally. Like any big city, there are rush hours to rome, florence, and naples trains. Same times as in the states. Just be aware. I would give yourself 4-5 hours to travel from Florence to Naples. Another 30 minutes trying to figure out where the ((hint! hint! UNDERGROUND BELOW THE NORMAL TRACKS ARE)) Circumvesuvian Line is ((Follow the signs in the terminal, too)). And another few hours to get to sorrento. Completely do-able and reasonable, just be aware of possible time requirements. Use this site to find out when trains leave/arrive in Italy. It will give you a good idea of timetables...
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD

The tour you linked above looks just fine. I'll offer another for you to look at. In Florence, Gray Line bus tours operates as CAF Tours. http://www.caftours.com/ They have a one-day bus tour of just San Gimignano and Siena. They stop in San G. for about an hour and then you get 4 hours in Siena with a guided tour. My wife and I have taken this tour and it was quite nice. 52Euro per person. I do like the itinerary on your tour above and I like that the leaning tower of Pisa is included. But, you will be traveling quite a bit on the bus and not seeing as much of the stop. There's a lot of distance there. Still, it looks good.

Thank you very much Larry!

"pop in your credit card and voila- tickets appear" - are you sure that's true if the credit card isn't a chip and pin? I know the ones in France don't work with US swipe-only cards.

No but most of the ones in Italy do. The old ticket machines work with the old style cards. They are being slowly replaced by the chip and pin card machines but it will be awhile.