Italy Trains

Depends on your expectations? Do you like train travel? Are you used to economy or first class? Personally, in Italy, I prefer to buy the premium or business class tickets with reserved seating. The routes you mentioned are heavily-traveled, so having a seat can make the trip less stressful, and I find that booking this far in advance will allow you to get good prices on the tickets.

Buy tickets in advance as it is cheaper and you can pull up the seating plan and for a couple of euros, reserve your seats. Trenitalia website easy to use

We took a high speed train from Naples to Rome, and saved money by purchasing the tickets in advance.

If your itinerary is set and you know which days/times you will be training then you can certainly buy in advance and usually get some good discounts. Note that discounted tickets typically are not refundable or changeable- read the fine print.

Book your tickets on the official site- or on their easy to use app (handy to have while in Italy as well)

Trenitalia
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

Use the Italian station names:
Venezia S Lucia
Firenze SM Novella
Roma Termini
Napoli Centrale

These are all fast train routes and those trains all require a reserved seat so no worries about not getting a seat. You can choose your seats yourself for a few euros during the booking process or let the system choose for you.

Something I love to do is that I schedule the trains between the check out and check in times + a meal, so we don't have to worry about luggage :)

We bought in advance, Venice to Florence got a pretty decent savings for purchase in advance.

Thanks for all the help.

I might have made a rookie error.

We arrive Rome at 9:20 am. I booked a flight from Rome to Venice at 1:20 pm and arrive at 2:30 pm.

Should I just eat the cost of the flight and take a train to Venice? It sounds like it would be easier to train to Venice and walk to our Airbnb instead of busing from the airport after arrival.

Thoughts?

Vin

There is nothing difficult about taking bus from the airport
It’s inexpensive and right out front
You can walk or take a vaporetto fom P Roma
Depends on where your lodging is

Let us know if you need help with that transfer-there are lots of posts here that explain your options

If you are staying in Venice for any length of time you will probably want to buy a length of stay vaporetto pass-saves a lot of money as individual rides are expensive

Make sure you validate that pass every time you board

I am going to use www.veneziaunica.com to book a bus in advance.

Vin

Really?

Just go to the desk in Arrivals and buy your vaporetto pass there, you can add the bus ticket to it

(I didn’t read the details but I believe if you buy it online you get a voucher that you’ll still have to redeem on arrival)

We will be in Venice from 2 pm on September 10 and leave at noonish on the 13th. Should we buy the "length of stay vaporetto pass"?

The https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html site was outstanding and easy. Thank you ChristineH. We were able to get direct trains with no stops.

Get the 72 hour pass
It’s a true 72 hour
First use 2 pm 9/10-last use 2 pm 9/13
Validate!

Fast trains will make a few stops, direct means no changes
You can see the stops under “Details”

A wonderful site for information on ANY train travel is www.seat.61.com. He will give you the local website for different countries as well as other sites to you. Personally, I always use the local country website and most are pretty easy to use. Some tickets you can save into your apple wallet to make them even more convenient. Another advantage is he gives you information on the train station and pictures of most trains.