Rome, Florence,Venice in Dec , train or car ?

If you take advantage of the deep discounts available for very early purchase, then the train will be cheaper and for those cities a car is nearly useless. You can stop at Pisa. Just structure your ticket for that purpose. If paying base fare it could be cheaper via car but as I said earlier, A car is not a good choice for those cities.

Hi Frank, Thank you so much, do you know of a website that I can pre-purchase the tickets ? Should we buy a train pass or book individual tickets ? Thank so much !
Wendy

Rail passes make no sense in Italy. Buy in advance for fast trains, the freccias, at www.trenitalia.com. You may not be able to buy until early December as that is when they do the semi-annual schedule and price changes, but monitor closely so you can get the big discounts. Personally I'd skip Pisa. It will waste at least half a day for little reward, and is served only by regionale trains that will be crowded. A car will be stressful, too. You will be much more relaxed of you take the train as you will have absolutely no need of a car in Rome, Florence or Venice.

I agree that Pisa isn't as great an attraction as one might think, and as Laurel said, you'll be stuck with slow regional trains from Rome. In addition, you'll have to pay (around €4-5 for each piece) for checking baggage at the station. If it is a high priority, go as a 1/2 day trip from Florence.

You have gotten good replies. Although it may sound cheaper for 4 to rent a car, you have to add gas, tolls, and parking (all potentially much more expensive than in the US). You also have to worry about ZTL's (areas in the centers of cities in which you cannot drive without incurring large fines - months later). And you won't drive in any of these cities, so a car will just sit parked outside the ZTL in Rome, Florence, and Pisa, and you cannot drive in Venice at all. Pisa is an easy half day trip from Florence; it's much easier to see it this way than to stop off on the way from Rome to Florence. Trains will either be Trenitalia (booked on their website, following Ron In Rome's tips: http://tinyurl.com/c4t693b) or Italo (the new competitor, booked on their website http://www.italotreno.it/EN/Pages/default.aspx). If you can accept non-exchangeable and non-refundable tickets, you can save a lot of money. But even full priced, last minute tickets are cheaper than a railpass for your route. In Rome, Trenitalia uses Termini Station (central) while Italo uses Tiburtina Station (not in the center, so a bit further in the Metro or a cab). Otherwise, go with the one that offers the price and schedule you want.