Italy trains

Put the name of your hotel into www.rome2rio.com, and it will tell you the name of the specific train station you need. Yes, the Firenze SM Novella is likely the one you want. Venezia S. Lucia (the one you want) is the one on the islands, Venezia Mestre is on the mainland.

In the Trenitalia website & app, Florence is Firenze, Rome is Roma, and Venice is Venezia.

You handle your own suitcases on any trains.

Search TrenItalia.com
Firenze not Florence
Venezia not Venice

Also look at Italo, the other train company.

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

Station names:
Roma Termini
Firenze SM Novella
Venezia S Lucia

Or the private train service
ItaloTreno
https://www.italotreno.com/en

Both have easy to use apps

Thanks. It’s 4 mins from SM Novella. I appreciate the info on the sites to use.

There are many trains a day between Rome and Florence. If you know your schedule - you're not flying in the same day - you can purchase a ticket ahead of time at a discount. If you wait until the day of you'll pay full price but you can take any train you like so it's a trade off. Fast trains generally only run from the main train stations - Termini in Rome and SMN in Florence.

There are two train companies in Italy - the state run Trenitalia and the private run .Italo that only runs fast trains between big cities.
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html (Use Italian names for cities - Firenze for Florence and Roma for Rome - for best results)
https://www.italotreno.com/en

Local regionale trains have one price that never changes and can't sell out so there's no reason to buy them until you need them.
Fast trains have reserved seating, multiple classes and you can buy tickets ahead of time at a (sometimes significant) discount trading flexibility for price. You can generally buy tickets about 2 months ahead of time but you can check schedules for a general idea of timing before the actual tickets are on sale.

Both companies have apps that let you buy and store tickets as well check trains in motion. I recommend getting at least the Trenitalia one if not both.

A great resource for train travel in general is here: https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-italy.htm

Trains only seem intimidating at first but they are the way most Italians get around the country and you're just joining in for a bit.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Having three suitcases is a bad idea, as you will have to lug your luggage yourself at each station, and when you get on trains you have to climb three steps. When you travel by airplane your checked luggage has to move just a little, but paths in stations are way longer. Having a smaller and lighter luggage pays off.

Of course, the OP does not say how many are traveling, other than saying "we" (at least 2). If it is 3 people, then 3 suitcases are fine.