Itineray tweak for better trains ?

From Venice you can travel to Cinque Terre via Milan & Genoa (with one change), or via Florence & La Spezia (usually with 2 changes). Travelling via Milan does take a little longer.

From Cinque Terre you can travel to Rome directly via the coast from La Spezia, or via Florence through Umbria.

So you really have 4 routings to choose from.

Option 1 is the most efficient. The Venice to Vernazza stretch on Option 2 is a long day with 3 or 4 trains which is why I would recommend #1.

With Option 1 you can do a train from Monterosso down the coast to Rome

Lotus,

Option 1 is most definitely the most efficient, and follows a logical route. A few thought on each of the train journeys.....

• Venice to Florence will be via high speed Freccia train. You could also use Italo Treno on that route (same travel times, similar pricing).
• Florence to Vernazza will probably use a combination of Freccia / Intercity / Regionale trains, depending on which departure you choose. If you buy Regionale tickets locally, you MUST validate those prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or risk hefty fines which will be collected on the spot!
• Vernazza to Rome is easiest using one of the direct trains from La Spezia Centrale to Roma Termini, and there are several of those each day with a travel time of about 3H:45M (and many others with more changes and longer travel times). Use a Regionale from Vernazza to La Spezia Centrale.

Thank you everyone for your suggestion!

Option 1) is the better one.