Riding a train that goes 200 miles an hour!

The trains change names (Frecciarossa or frecciaargento) but they travel at the same speed in that segment. It's not the fastest segment of the Italian system as the Rome-Florence was the first high speed line started 1978. The highest speed there is only 250km/h, which is the speed of an airplane on the runway when it's about to take off. If you don't feel queasy at take off, you will be ok on the train.

I am very prone to motion sickness but have never been queasy on an Italian train either slower regionals or high-speed, including Rome- Florence, Rome - Naples. Same with Thalys Amsterdam - Paris.

Lost,

Travel on the high speed Freccia or Italo trains actually seems a bit smoother than the slower trains. When looking out the windows, the only distraction is the electric towers zipping past the window about every second or so. Unfortunately no way to avoid that as the train is electrically powered. One thing to mention is that when two high speed trains travelling in opposite directions pass each other, it almost sounds like a small explosion - not to worry, that's quite normal.

The speed of the train will depend on which version you're travelling on. The FrecciaRossa is the quickest at about 300 kmH, then FrecciaArgento at about 250 kmH and finally FrecciaBianca at about 200 kmH. The Rome - Florence route appears to use both FrecciaRossa and FrecciaArgento. They only get up to the maximum speed when outside of cities in open stretches.

When buying tickets, you'll need to know the Italian names for each of the stations you'll be using, as many cities have more than one station. With Freccia trains from Rome to Florence, you'll be using Roma Termini and Firenze SM Novella.

You may enjoy having a look at THIS short video on the high speed trains in Italy.

Between Rome and Florence there are actually two railway lines; the old one, long, slow and curvy, and the new one, straight and fast. Lines are interconnected in several places so trains may run on any combination of different stretches. Non stop trains will take all the faster line, and already this makes for a smoother and more comfortable travel.

As Roberto pointed, the speed of the fast line is limited to 150 miles per hour or so. Actually the track geometry would allow faster traveling, but the old, Italian style DC electric power supply does not allow going much faster than that. Newer high speed lines like Milan to Bologna and Rome to Naples have AC power supply and trains routinely travel up to 185 miles per hour.

The country landscape, especially in the southern section, is very serene and a bit wild. Towns are small and distant. You are not missing anything traveling on the fast line.

Some people find the change of air pressure in the tunnels to cause air discomfort.

So i am hearing we should book our train from rome to florence now. There is quite a difference in price if i do so, but the best price says its "Non-Refundable." I am leery of doing this because i am relying on there being no issues with my flight or us finding our way to the train station on time. Any thoughts?

What time do you expect to arrive in Roma? If you find a really cheap fare for a mid-to late-afternoon train you may be okay, but I am one of those people who don't tempt fate with planes being on time.

We are suppose to arrive at 12:30pm. I saw that there are trains leaving Termini at 2pm and the every 30 minutes after that. How much, realistically, should we give ourselves to get off the plane and on a train to Termini? I am assuming we will have to go through customs, right? Is that a time suck?

If you are flying nonstop from the US to Rome, or are changing planes in a non-Schengen location (such as London, Dublin, or Istanbul) you will go through immigration (passport control) and customs in Rome. If you are changing planes in the Schengen zone (Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Zurich, Munich, Frankfurt, etc), you will go through immigration at the connection airport (your entry into the Schengen zone), and will go through customs in Rome.

Customs in Europe is just a matter of walking through the "Green Channel-Nothing To Declare" lane. Unless you are "randomly selected for additional screening" (rare but possible), it takes no time.

The two potential holdups are immigration and baggage claim. You simply cannot predict how long these will take. Particularly with passport control, you could whisk through, or it can take 2 hours if there are several planes arriving and only a few agents on duty.

For that reason, the usual recommendation is not to buy nonrefundable train tickets for the day of your arrival, unless they are so cheap that you can "eat" the cost if they go unused.

There is a direct frecciaargento train from the airport to Florence that departs at 15:08 (3:08pm) from Fiumicino. No change required at Termini so you save yourself a train change.
That would be safer and more convenient (although nobody can guess if a plane can make it on time).