Rome Fiumicino to Florence SM Novella

Hi Susan! Are you taking a regional train to Roma Tirbutina and then on to Florence, or will you be taking the Leonardo Express to Termini and then on to Florence? You would be looking at 2 different trains either way.
My personal plan would be to go ahead and book the train from Rome to Florence (either from Tirbutina or Termini). That gives you a set time of departure. Perhaps making it a few hours after your flight arrival would give you some time to play with. There really is no need to book the regional train from the airport to Tirbutina or the Leonardo Express to Termini ahead of time, unless you want the ease of having the ticket without needing to worry about standing in line upon arrival. Both of these trains run consistently ever ____ minutes so if you miss one, you can hop on another.
That would be my course of action, but I'm sure someone with more experience doing it this way knows better. I normally stay the night in Rome before heading to Florence.

Susan,
It is generally not recommended to book train tickets in advance, for day of arrival, due to unforeseen delays (flight, passport check- point, baggage claims etc..)

If you decide to purchase your tickets in advance to save money, beware that these discounted tickets are nonrefundable & unchangeable.

According to http://www.trenitalia.com, you can buy a 'Super Economy' ticket for as little as €19pp now for June (Rome >> Florence). However, you must understand that if you encounter any delays & you miss the train, you will have to buy an new ticket at full price ('Base' price)

There is no advantage in buying the 'Leonardo Express' train tickets, since the price is fixed.
The 'Leonardo Express' train is a Regionale train & runs every 30 minutes from FCO to Roma Termini.

You can easily buy your train tickets at the airport ticket counter.

I believe you can purchase a Leonardo Express ticket in advance. If you enter Fiumicino Aeroporto as your starting location and Roma Termini as your destination, the Leonardo Express is an option to purchase (for 14 euro).

If your train to Florence departs from Tirbutina, there is another regional train that will take you there. It runs every maybe 15 minutes or so, and is a longer trip, but it is cheaper at 8 euro.

Again, I agree that purchasing the tickets from FCO to either Tirbutina or Termini can wait until arrival, but if you do prefer to save money on an advance purchase ticket from Rome to Florence, go ahead and book now (and cross your fingers).

Susan,

As Priscilla mentioned, many here don't recommend buying advance tickets to connect with an incoming flight. On the trip from Rome to Florence, you'll be using fast Freccia trains for part of the route. Those have compulsory seat reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time, so the tickets can only be used on the one train specified on the ticket. If you miss the train you've booked for any reason (flight is late, long queue in Passport control or whatever), your ticket is worthless and you'll have to buy another at full price (Base fare).

In addition to that, you'll be using either the Leonardo Express or the FM/FR1 from the airport to either Roma Termini or Roma Tiburtina. If you're not able to connect with the type of train you purchased the ticket for, then that ticket is also worthless (AFAIK tickets for the two trains aren't interchangeable).

The easiest and "safest" solution is simply to buy your tickets at the airport rail station when you arrive. It only takes a few minutes, and that way you'll be connecting with the next train heading for Florence with valid tickets, regardless of any delays in your flight.

Note that your destination station will be Firenze Santa Maria Novella.

We have done this several times, we always buy the tickets at the FCO train station for Termini and then on the fast train to Florence. We then don't have to worry about late planes and they sell us the ticket that suits best for the timing. By getting it at FCO you miss the miserable lines at Termini. I would not buy tickets in advance unless you give yourself a huge time gap and that sort of defeats the purpose -- who wants to hang around Termini or the airport for hours? 8 or my last 10 flights to Europe have come in late although my last flight to Rome came in half an hour early.

If you are late you lose the total value of the ticket - we'd rather buy on arrival than be in a swivet with a late plane.

Susan,
There are two direct frecciargento trains from FCO to Firenze SMN. They leave at 11:08 and 15:08. Full fare 2nd class is €54.00. You can buy advance non-ref tickets for as low as €24.00. As others have pointed out, if you buy the low price tickets and miss the train, you have to buy new ones. If your flight lands at 09:00, it may be a reasonable risk to you to buy the discounted tickets for 11:08 and hope for the best. You can certainly buy the full fare tickets and change them if it looks like you will miss the train. The tricky part is they are changeable up until the time of departure (although they are changeable online), so if you are sitting on a plane at 11:00, you'll have little hope of changing tickets booked for 11:08, but you can get a refund less a 20% service charge.

Wow @Janet I never knew these trains existed! I just looked and you can advance purchase for only 19 euro! Thanks Janet - never knew there was a way to do this without stopping in Rome first!

Laurel beat me to it. Still a bit of a gamble to buy in advance. If you purchase the super-economy fare and miss the train you have reserved, you have to buy a new ticket (probably at full fare on the day of travel).

I don't think two hours between landing and train departure is a sufficient leeway at FCO. The planes aren't always on time. Also, although I don't go through the long lines at passport control, since I can take the much shorter EU citizen queue, however I often had to wait an excruciatingly long time for my bag at baggage claim. I always go directly to Florence upon landing, but never prepurchase tickets in advance. I don't want to run the risk of losing my money if the plane is late, and I don't want to give myself a long leeway. When I'm done I want to get on the first train available, I don't want to hang out at the airport or Termini for more time than I need to, especially after a long transatlantic flight. The full base price is 45€+15€ for the LE (in case you can't get on the two direct Frecciargento trains. And by the way, the two Frecciargento are not non stop, they also stop at Termini first, however you can stay on board instead of changing trains.

@Roberto,
By comparison we have always cleared passport control and been out of the terminal in less than two hours, but we never check baggage. And we do not have EU passports.

I do agree you don't want to hang around FCO for two hours waiting for a train, but those (as I said) direct trains (not non-stop) are awfully convenient and eliminate one schlepp anyway.

Many thanks to everyone! Your answers are really helpful. I think it does make sense to just buy tickets to Florence at the airport when we arrive. Would you book train trips from/to other cities ahead or just buy as needed? We'll be going Florence to Venice, then Venice to Rome. Thanks again!
Susan

Susan, if you know the dates you will travel, you can save a lot by buying tickets in advance. But, for the most savings (super-economy), you must take the specific train (which includes a carriage and seat reservation), otherwise buy a new ticket, probably at full (base) fare.

Roberto,

"however I often had to wait an excruciatingly long time for my bag at baggage claim."

I've also experienced that at FCO. On one occasion not too many years ago on a flight from Frankfurt, all the checked baggage from my flight went "missing". Even the Lufthansa staff didn't know where it was. Lo and behold, after a suitably annoying delay it eventually appeared in a completely different terminal, which required standing in the queue and going through security again just to get to the baggage claim area! There's NO WAY two hours would have been sufficient on that occasion. I've found that anything is possible in Italy, so it's wise to prepare for unexpected delays.

Susan,

"Would you book train trips from/to other cities ahead or just buy as needed?"

On the two routes you mentioned, you'll be travelling via high speed trains so booking ahead can save you some money. However, as mentioned in earlier replies, you MUST be willing to commit to a specific train, date and departure time, since the tickets will come with compulsory seat reservations. The ticket can ONLY be used on the one train listed on it. If you get on the wrong train by mistake, you'll be subject to hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot!

One other point to mention is that if you buy any tickets locally for Regionale trains (for day trips?), Metro, Buses or the Vaporetti in Venice, these do not require reservations. However you MUST validate (time & date stamp) your tickets prior to boarding on the day of travel, or again hefty fines. With the Vaporetti the validation is electronic. Just touch your ticket to the reader and if you get a green light, you're good to go. With the Regionale trains, Metro in Rome, etc. the validation is a small yellow or green & gray box with a slot in the front. If you scroll down on THIS PAGE you'll see a photo of the yellow machines. When you insert the ticket, you'll hear the "kerchunk" noise as your ticket is stamped. Be sure to check that the date & time was in fact printed on the ticket - sometimes the ribbon/ink in the machines is depleted.

One other point to mention is that on the Florence to Venice and Venice to Rome trips, you can also use the competing Italo Treno high speed trains. However be sure to note the arrival station in Rome as a few of their trains may arrive at Tiburtina or Ostiense. Your station in Florence will be Firenze S.M. Novella and in Venice will be Venezia Santa Lucia.

If you decide to buy advance tickets for these two routes, I'd recommend www.captaintrain.com as they sell tickets for both rail networks and have a very user friendly website.

For buying tickets at Rome / FCO, you may find it helpful to have a look at the excellent Ron In Rome website. It's got lots of information and pictures. For your trip on either the Leonardo Express or the FM/FR1, you'll also need to validate those tickets prior to boarding. If you forget, you'll get a rude awakening as seen on THIS sign.

We did the FMC airport to SM Novella direct this morning. Flight got in at 8:45 a.m. and we were through customs and had train tickets in hand by 9:15 a.m. The direct train makes three stops - Roma Termina, Roma Tiburtina and SM Novella. Tickets were 54€. We had plenty of time to grab coffees and brioches at the airport station.

The Frecciargento train left track three promptly at 11:08 a.m. And we were deboarding in Florence at exactly 1:23 p.m. The high-speed train topped 243 kph.

All in all, not a bad way to go.

Wow--thank you for your thorough responses about train tix! Probably will book Florence>Venice and Venice>Rome ahead but just do the airport to Florence when we get there.

" Probably will book Florence>Venice and Venice>Rome ahead but just do the airport to Florence when we get there. "

That's certainly what I would do. The money saved on the two advance tickets more than makes up for the full fare you have to spend on the ticket for your arrival day.