Rome-Florence-Venice What to book in Advance?

We did the same as you last year, Vatican & Gallery Borghese were booked ahead. We did self guided tours of The Forum & Coliseum and also the Castello de Angelo and the other places we visited. We used Rick's Pocket Rome to do the Heart of Rome walk. We didn't do Florence so I can't say about their sites. Venice we didn't book anything ahead. We did a tour of St Marks Basilica but we just popped into a line for the tour that had formed so I'm not even sure who the tour was with but it was wonderful. All other sites we just bought our tickets & went in (Doge's Palace, Corrier Museum (sp?), and others). Have a great trip!

The Firenze Card may be worth it, depending on how many sights you are visiting:
http://www.firenzecard.it/?lang=en

The Uffizi and the Accademia (David) may be a good idea to book ahead to avoid the long lines:
http://www.uffizi.it/index.php?en/1/home
http://www.galleriaaccademiafirenze.beniculturali.it/index.php?en/1/home

Also if you have decided already the dates and time of travel between those cities (Venice>Florence>Rome), you could purchase discounted train tickets (Super Economy and Economy) ahead of time. There are big discounts available and as you approach the date of travel, the discounted tickets are no longer available. However Be aware that once you buy a discounted train ticket, it is good only for the specific train you book. If you change your mind later and want to depart at a different time, you can't change them or get a refund, and you will need to buy a brand new ticket at full ("base") price.
www.trenitalia.com

I should have mentioned I did already buy our train tickets last month after I booked our AirBnBs and found out the check out times. Yes, that saved a ton of money so that's a good tip for anyone reading this string and gathering info - book early for trains!!

I've thought about the Firenze Card and just added up the things we know we want to do and came up with 51 Euros, I guess factoring in the things we realize we want to do when we are there and public transportation we may as well.

Should we buy the Rome and Firenze Card online or when we get there?

LGATX, do be aware that the regular Firenze card does not cover transport anymore. You have to purchase an additional Firenze + card for that.

http://www.firenzecard.it/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_category_id=13&virtuemart_product_id=128&lang=en

The historic center of Florence is really not very large. We were there for 5 nights and didn't use public transport even once.

Buy all of your cards when you get to Italy.

Unless you have a very special situation, don't pay extra for a transit pass in Florence. The only local bus I took was the one to Fiesole (highly recommended).

I would book all museums - especially the big ones in advance. You can google for more information. Saves so much time in line!

For Venice I highly recommend taking Alessandro's walking/bar tours, it was the highlight of my last Italian trip!

Def. buy the Colosseum/Palatine/Forum in advance and print them- the line is much shorter and no exchange of ticket.
You Didn't Ask, but do as Rick says and get to the Borghese 30 min early as there are two lines to stand in, tickets and bag check- no purses, packs, etc; the line was quite long for bag check.
I prefer having tickets in hand, so I book as much as possible before departure.

Oh yes--- DO buy the Uffizi and the Accademia in advance, even for October which is a popular and lovely month for Italian travel.

As LGATX is planning on buying the Roma Pass, they do not have to worry about buying general-admission Colosseum tickets in advance. Even without the pass, tickets can be purchased at the Palatine or Forum where lines are usually much shorter. Tours are a different matter: Underground/third ring tours MUST be purchased in advance almost as soon as they become available, and are not covered by the pass.

They also do not have to make reservations for the Uffizi and Accademia if they purchase the Firenze Card: they should only do that if they do not purchase that card.

We were in Venice-Florence- Rome mid July. I booked a timed ticket to St. Marks Basillica and Doge's Palace (Secret Itinerary). We booked nothing for Florence but did buy the Firenze Pass -- we found it worth it but it is a personal preference. No waiting in line. For Rome we booked tours through Walks of Italy -- Coliseum, Pristine Sistine and Rome like a local. We enjoyed all of them. In fact we booked Rome like a local while we were in Rome.