Rome questions

1- depends on how much public transport you plan to use per day
2-- "Vatican tickets"-- If you mean the Museum, yes--
3- to save on cost, yes--- but the bargain fares are non refundable/changeable....... be sure before you buy

1) the only way to know if the pas is worth it is to do the math. Add up the costs of what you want to see and how many times you think you'll use public transportation and compare it to the cost of the pass. If it doesn't save you any money simply purchase entry tickets from the official sites to bypass the ticket lines.

2) I assume you mean for the Vatican museums. Yes, there will still be very long lines in November. If you wish to go in the afternoon you'll find there is less of a line but you'll also only have a few hours inside the museums.

3) If your plans are set you can buy now and save a lot of money. If your plans are not set then I would buy just before travel. If you buy reduced tickets they are non-changeable and non-refundable.

Donna

Joe and Donna pretty much covered it but adding a little more detail....

ATAC travel passes: these come in 24, 48, 72 hour or 1-week amounts. You can use them for buses/metro/trams/some urban trains around central Rome but not for trains/buses to/from the airports, and they must be validated the first time you use them. As they said, whether they'll be worth the price depends on how often you intend to take public transit. We tend to walk almost everywhere when we stay in Rome, and purchased single-ride B.I.T. tickets ( € 1.50) for the few times we've used the metro/urban trains.

Editing to add: I'm talking about travel-only passes above; not the attraction+ travel tourist passes like the Roma Pass.

Vatican tickets/reservations: the only pieces of Vatican City open to tourists are the museums/Sistine, St. Peter's basilica and piazza, the gardens and a couple other pieces. St Peter's, the crypt directly underneath the church (NOT the scavi) and the piazza are free: all other pieces require tickets/reservations. The museums/Sistine are heavily visited so pre-reservations/ticketing is a must to avoid standing in long ticket queues. Because they're also so vast, booking a guided tour can be beneficial seeing some of the highlights efficiently.

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html

Train tickets to Florence: book them in advance if you want to try to snag any economy or super-economy tickets available but as already stressed, you need to commit to the exact train and the exact time you purchase for. If you want more flexibility, then just purchase tickets on the day of your journey (you'll probably pay base fare). There's no need to buy 1st class or other upper price-tier tickets: 2nd class is plenty comfortable enough.

We were in Rome for 7 days 6 nights and bought the 1-week travel pass for 24 Euro apiece. Definitely paid for itself as we rode the buses and Metro everywhere. Validated it the first time on the bus, then kept it on my person (along with the receipt for the purchase of the passes) the rest of the time.

The buses are uber-crowded much of the time, and it was a pleasure not to have to worry about working my way to the front of the bus to validate the ticket every time.

Jay, tickets can also be validated by passing them, mosh-pit style, to the person standing closest to the machine. You might not think this would work, but it does. I agree with you about the pass value, though.

Zoe--

I had heard about 'passing the ticket' and actually saw it in practice a couple times on the 60 (or was it 62, doesn't matter, both were packed!) when we were there in March. Actually had some great conversations with folks on the buses when 6 inches away from them, either in broken Italian (mine) or broken English (theirs). Very communal thinking, like '...hey, we're all in this sardine can together, so let's make the best of it...'. And thank goodness it was still cool out. Can't imagine this time of year it would be much fun!

Taxis are pretty affordable in rome so you might want to consider that. We are staying in the piazza navona area and most rides have been around 5-7€. Night time and sundays are a little higher.

We got our train tickets online ahead of time and it was really easy. You can just print at home and jump on the train. It's also cheaper to buy in advance.