Rome or Milan Airport to Florence

A connecting flight, both on the same ticket, would likely be the easiest and negate the necessity of lugging around her suitcases (on and off trains). And would likely be much less expensive than a car service all the way to Florence. Would a single car be able to accommodate all the luggage plus 3 passengers? As to Milan or Rome- have a look at the frequency of the flights on the participating airline. Probably wiser to go with the one with more frequent flights to Florence, in case her incoming flight is delayed for some reason.

Lucky young woman. Mom I hope you’re planning to visit her several times!
My opinion is fly into Rome. The Leonardo Express is in the airport and goes directly into Rome Termini station. There are trains twice an hour into Florence. I would do my best to get tickets in advance. She will have an overnight flight, jet lag, a 30 minute train into Termini station - then having to look for a window to purchase tickets while watching 2 large suitcases . Remind her to never let her luggage leave her sight. She could UBER or hire a car but I think it will be quite expensive. The train is over an hour.
Is it possible for them to go a day early and spend the night in Rome near the train station? There are several business type hotels nearby.
I hope she has a wonderful experience.

Like Cjean, I like the idea of LAX--FCO-FLR on a SINGLE ticket.

I would plan to be there no later than Sunday, just in case there is a hiccup on the way.

I too vote for LAX – FCO – FLR on Alitalia.

Her best choice and probably cheapest will be a connecting flight to Florence with her luggage complete checked through to Florence. She will have to go through immigration control in Rome but that should only taken an extra hour or so. And she will do customs in Florence after she gets her checked luggage. And she could do it either Milan or Rome. Check for best schedule and price. Either way will be fairly easy.

The train is a poor idea. She would have to go through both immigration and customs in Rome, lug her luggage to the train station - it is a bit of a walk within FCO, and change trains in Rome that is couple of long walks, pulling luggage down long platforms. AND -- if something happens and she misses the trains then the pre-purchased ticket is down the drain and she has to buy new one. And there is no checked luggage on the train so she is responsible for getting everything on and off train by herself. AND -- she is doing all of this jet lagged with an increased opportunity for mistakes.

Take the plane it is much easier.

There are direct trains from Rome's airport (FCO) to Florence, takes about two hours. A flight might be faster, and easier for luggage transfer, but the train would put her right in the center of Florence. I didn't find direct flights from Milan (MXP) to Florence (surprisingly), and the train is closer to four hours.

Rome2rio is a good tool for identifying options. Any actual bookings should be done with the airline or rail carrier.

Driving would take longer than either flying or rail, though a very expensive car service could save time by meeting the flight. If my child were going to spend a semester or more in Italy, I'd want them to learn how to use the trains -- though arrival day might not be the easiest time to start.

I agree with the others. Fly LAX-FCO-FLR on a single ticket.

There appears to be a tram from the airport to the area around the train station. However since there are three people traveling with some luggage I would suggest getting a taxi to get them to their final destination in town. I would also suggest that they take precautions against pickpockets. I would hate for them to arrive having lost passports, credit cards phones etc.

There are no flights from Milan MXP to Florence. There hasn’t been one for almost 20 years since Alitalia abandoned Malpensa as their hub.

I don’t know how things will be in August but currently there are no flights from Rome FCO to Florence either. But even in normal times, pre-pandemic, Alitalia only had 3 a day in each direction. Given the fact that I don’t expect things will be back to normal within 3 months I don’t expect those flight to resume that quickly. Alitalia is in dire financial conditions, and as part of the deal between the Italian government and the the EU Competition Commissioner to allow for another government loan, Alitalia will become a new company called ITA. The Alitalia trademark will be sold on an auction. ITA will have to reduce its fleet (and staff) by 50%, therefore I’m not even sure they will ever resume those 3 flights, which were never full anyway.

Covid free flights are currently offered by Delta/Alitalia but only on the following flights:
JFK-MXP
JFK-FCO
ATL-FCO
Any other flight option, at the moment, requires a 10 day quarantine upon arrival. We don’t know about August of course.

There are no Covid free flights offered directly from LAX at this time. The only Covid tested flight currently are from ATL or JFK.

Given the current circumstances, the best option for her is to fly via those two US airports, to Rome FCO (Milan MXP is a bit farther from Florence).

From Rome FCO airport she can take a train from the airport to Florence, with a train change at Roma Termini or Roma Tiburtina, Rome’s main stations. That would be the fastest option (about 2.5 hours from the airport, including train change in Rome), at a cost of about $75 per passenger (full price in standard class). There are also 2 trains (one shortly after 11am and one shortly after 3pm that go directly from the Rome airport to Venice (stop also in Florence) that require no change. Not sure if they are operating at this time. However the vast majority of train departures from the airport to Florence require a change at the aforementioned stations downtown Rome. There are two every hour, so plenty of choices.

A limo service would be very expensive (about $600 for 3 passengers), although very convenient if they have a lot of luggage. Driving time is about 3.5 hours.

Another option (the cheapest, although driving for 3.5 hours while jet lagged is not ideal) would be to rent a car and drive themselves.

I would say FCO specifically for the ease of getting to the train. While there will be a change it will be far better than having to deal with the long train ride from Malpensa to Milano Centrale, then dealing with a lot of luggage there. But this is subjective because the main stations in Rome can be a challenge as well.

If you wait another month or two perhaps the flight requirements will change and you can book so you do not arrive directly to Italy but perhaps CDG to Florence.

Gosh! Thank goodness for this group!

I was wondering why every major airline goes through another city outside of Italy!

Roberto, yes, I only see 3 flights on Alitalia a day which means that airline is our only choice from LAX if we don’t want her to have to worry about getting her luggage before Florence.

It sounds like the consensus here is that FCO is easier for the girls to transfer to the train.

I think we will revisit in a month. Perhaps Italy will
change requirements for vaccinated Americans!?!

FCO is easier for the girls to transfer to the train.

It's easier if they arrive at FCO in time to take one of the direct trains to Firenze SM Novella station.

Otherwise arriving at Milano MXP airport will take more, but a train change at Milano Centrale isn't more difficult than a change in Rome.

Both are terminus stations, trains can enter and exit in only one direction. So passengers get off the airport train, walk for 5/10 minutes to the main concourse (aka the shopping area), get some food to avoid Trenitalia's dreadful cuisine, look for a bi-lingual board (or monitor) called "Departures", search on the same board for the number of their next train and the departure track and finally passengers walk for another 5/10 minutes to that departure track.

They won't need to exit the tracks area and they won't need to use escalators: all tracks are on the same level at Milano Centrale and at Roma Termini.

I just found an article by CNN that says:

"Draghi has said he wants to open travel to those from the US, Canada and Japan, with no quarantine requirement if they have been vaccinated. However no details have been released yet, other than a suggestion that it could be at some point in June."

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-travel-covid-19/index.html

Hopefully, Italy will allow vaccinated Americans in sooner than later and the girls can take Delta, Swiss Air or Lufthansa and connect in Paris, Zurich or Munich to fly straight into Florence!

U.S. university study abroad programs are "green-lighted" for Fall 2021 throughout most of Europe. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

If the aim is reaching FLR airport, it may be easier by connecting in Paris or Frankfurt or Zurich than connecting in Rome. I would not commit to an Alitalia flight right now, as when a new company will be formed out of Alitalia remains - I guess it is a matter of two or three months - likely they will not be allowed under EU competition rules to honour tickets previously issued by Alitalia.

If connecting in a country within Europe, make sure you read that countries COVID restrictions on travel.state.com. FR, DE, CH and IT are four countries that make up the 26 countries that are part of the Schengen zone. If you connect within the Schengen zone outside of IT, you’ll need to follow that countries COVID restrictions that may be different than ITs.

If we are talking about August 2021, there is only one flight a day from any European hub to Florence and zero from Rome. Air travel is severely impacted by the pandemic and flights are unlikely to resume with the frequency they had before by August. Flying to Florence from North America is not a great option this year.

I am finding flights that connect through Paris, Frankfurt and Munich to Florence on Air France and Lufthansa. But she won’t want to quarantine so unless Italy allows vaccinated Americans in with no quarantine, she will fly to Rome and connect there.

Hi all,

University instructions came out. She must take a Covid-tested flight into Italy for arrival at the end of August. I don't see the train routes on Trainline that go straight from FCO to Florence. Can someone please provide me with the link here?

Thank you!

www.trenitalia.com/en.html

Use Italian stations names (Fiumicino Aeroporto and Firenze SM Novella) and wait for June 13 before checking again.
And keep fingers crossed: personally I doubt Trenitalia will start selling tickets for direct high speed trains from FCO before foreign tourists are back in large numbers. There are a few Italians going north and inclined to pay double only to avoid a train change at Tiburtina, but their number isn't enough to cover the costs.

As a side note, resellers like trainline have no obligation to display the full schedules on their sites.

Thank you Dario!