Italy Eurail pass

Do not use Rome2Rio for fares or schedules. Go straight to Trenitalia for that information. If you want also to compare fare for trains operated by Italo (which runs between a few of the larger cities), use trainline.eu so you can see both companies' routes.

Trenitalia expects you to use the Italian names of the train stations: Firenze S. M. Novella, Varenna-Esino, Venezia S. Lucia and Roma ( Tutte le Stazioni ) ("Rome -- all stations").

Most of us think rail passes for Italy are highly unlikely to make financial sense because the fares in that country are pretty moderate. I don't know how soon your trip is, but you can save quite a bit of money by buying any express-train tickets early on. However, the promotional fares are usually non-exchangeable and non-refundable. You may not want to travel that way.

The express trains do require seat reservations; the cost of those is built into the ticket price if you buy individual tickets, but it will be an additional cost if you buy a rail pass. I haven't heard that getting the reservations is typically an issue in Italy; perhaps others have some information on that. I know it can be a problem in France.

I've never bought a first-class ticket in Europe. Second-class is plenty comfortable enough for me.

The typical train pass doesn't cover most buses and ferries, but there are exceptions. What pass are you looking at?

Here is a breakdown of your train transit. These are all super economy fares, when they're gone they're gone. You can purchase 120 days before travel to save money. I think I have your dates right.

May 8. Roma Termini-Napoli Centrali
14:24-15:35. 1hr 11 min. € 16,90
Napoli-Sorrento €4,60. Circumvesuvian.

May 11. Napoli C-Firenze SMN.
8:30-11:22. 2hr 55min. €29,90.

May 15. Firenze SMN-Venezia S.L.
9:30-11:35. 2 hr 05min. €29,90.

May 18. Venezia S.L.-Varenna E.
11:12-15:33. 4 hr 11min. € 27,90.

May 21. Varenna E-Roma Termini.
Varenna-Milano 8:37-9.45 €6,70.
Milano Centrale-Roma Termini.
10:00-12.55 2hr 55 min. €34,90.

Total for these trips is € 146,20
Exchange rate today @ 1.22635=
$179.20. Youth pass 5 days=$238.

As noted above it does not include ferrys. You would also not want to waste a pass day on the inexpensive
Leonardo Express.

Buy ASAP for these prices.
Hope this helps.

Edit: changing the time on the above trains will change the prices.

Adding to Gerri's summary, that is per person, and you can get a 2 person twin youth pass for a slight discount which is $434 total. But each day has a Freccia train involved and there is a 10 EUR ($12) seat reservation fee per person. 5 days is a $120 added to that $434, so it would be $554. Those reservation fees are already included in the prices Gerri quoted for advance purchase tickets.

Committing ahead of times saves a lot of money at the expense of flexibility. But if you have hotel reservations and know where you have to be on a given day, that flexibility is illusory. You have to get from A to B on day X, so why not buy nonrefundable train tickets for that day at a convenient time and save some cash.

A rail pass is rarely a good value in Italy, as tickets are relatively inexpensive. That's especially true with tickets for the express trains if pre-purchased well in advance. Gerri provided an excellent analysis and as Sam mentioned, rail passes do not include the compulsory seat reservation fees on the express trains. Even with a rail pass, if you're caught without a valid reservation on the train you're riding on, you'll be subject to hefty fines collected on the spot! In addition some of the private rail lines do not accept rail passes.

Thank you all that is very helpful. So if I buy these in advance then I can not change the time at all? Is it right that the super economy, economy, business etc has nothing to do with Seat your in on train but just the price of ticket and if it can refunded or exchanged. With work I won’t have my vacation 100% set until March so the earliest I would buy anything non refundable would be then. Is that too late for May? Also one friend told me that they just booked their train ticket the night before each night at their hotel once they decided on a good time to leave. And then they just had their e ticket on their phone. Is this reasonable to do? Do the prices of the trains increase greatly buying the day before?

Yes, you have it right on the SuperEconomy, Economy, Base. These are price tranches (buckets). Trenitalia decides (or rather their computers decide) how many tickets to allot into each bucket, and the discount level. Each class of tickets, 2nd, Premium, Business (1st), Executive have a certain number of seats available in each of the 3 buckets. When all the SuperEconomy tickets for that class are sold out, then only Economy and Base tickets are available, when Economy is sold out, only Base (full fare) are available. On the Trenitalia website, you will often see Business(1st) class available at the same or even a cheaper price than 2nd class seats, because there are still SuperEconomy tickets available in Business, and only Economy in 2nd class. The Trenitalia site will always show you the lowest priced tickets initially. You have to click on the select button to see all the available tickets for all classes in all the buckets for that train. Sometimes it will show fares that you can't buy, because you need to have a Cartafreccia, and that card generally needs an Italian address to get and is linked to your credit card.

Trenitalia has 2 for 1 specials on Saturdays for Freccia Trains. That is half off of the Base fare, often beating out the SuperEconomy price. These have to be bought in advance as well.

So how late can you get deals? They may be available up to the day before, but there is no telling. It depends on how many people booked ahead and whether any discount tickets are left. You may notice that cheaper fares are available late morning and early afternoon, due to demand of business people who have to get to a meeting or sales pitch and want to get an early start to get home by end of day. The company is picking up their ticket costs and they have Cartafreccia discounts to boot.

Yes, you can get a Trenitalia app and buy e-tickets with your smartphone.
http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en/Purchase/Mobile-Ticketing

Thanks Steve! So really there is no need to buy first class unless that price is just better. Is ther such thing as buying tickets now that are refundable completely to be returned before so long or are changeable to another time on same day?

These refundable tickets are Base fare tickets, aka full fare. Economy tickets have some refund features. You can read the fine print on the Trenitalia site. You get one time change and the new ticket will be Base fare, so you have to pay the price difference.
http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en/Offers

In case these have not yet been answered:

See also Using Your Rail Pass and Italy Rail Travel.

If I use one travel day does that mean all the train ferry or busses that I take that day will be counted on that one travel day?

Multiple trains will be covered until midnight but buses are not covered (unless operated by the railway, such as from Venice to Villach, Austria) and ferries are only discounted (unless you're traveling from Italy to Greece with a pass that covers both). No ferries are covered around the Amalfi coast and the local train between Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento is also not covered.

Is it true if we have eurail first class that our train ride from FCO to termini is free and doesn't use a day?

Not true. All covered train services do start use of a counted travel day, no matter how long or short, if you choose to use the pass. Or you can choose to buy a ticket for a short trip and save the counted rail pass days for longer routes. That airport train is considered all 1st class (not that you'd notice).

Does the eurail pass for Italy work on mobile phone where I can have e-tickets on phone?

No. A Eurail pass is a paper ticket which you must keep safe, filling in the dates in ink as you go.

Would I be able to make reservations on my phone?

Yes.