Saturday Morning Rome Train to Florence

use www.trenitalia.com to see train schedule.
Enter:
from FIUMICINO AEROPORTO
to: FIRENZE S.M.NOVELLA
enter next Saturday's date
enter time: 00 (or 08 since you won't be able to catch a train before 8 if you arrive at 0745.
The train from the airport station (Fiumicino aeroporto) is the fastest option. 32 minutes. That train will take you to Roma Termini where you will change to the Freccia (high speed) to Florence.
Buy tickets at the Fiumicino airport station.
See
http://www.roninrome.com/transportation/to-from-leonardo-da-vinci-airport-fco
for a step by step visual display of how to arrive and use the train from the airport.

It's almost a wash. The train from FCO to Roma Termini runs every 30 minutes and takes 31 minutes to arrive at Roma Termini - then it is 1.5 hrs to Firenze SMN - there is one at 9:20, 9:50 & 10:05. The 9:50 train arrives Firenze at 11:22, the 9:20 at 10:51.

The 8:27 from FCO via Tiburtina arives Firenze at 10:51, the 8:57 at 11:22

Take your pick

Thanks Roberto and Christi. Your posts were very helpful. I take it you suggest that I purchase my train tickets for the entire trip while I am in the Fiumicino airport? I was thinking I should book online in advance. There are three people in my group. Will I be able to get seats if I wait to book until after I clear customs at the airport?
Thanks, Matt

No reserved seats available on the airport to Termini or Tiburtina trains.

All Italo and Freccia trains are all reserved seats. No standees. You can get reservations up to just a few minutes prior to departure.

If you buy - presumably because they are cheaper, as they are - tickets before you go, you only have two choices to be reasonably safe. Don't forget that your plane may be late, there may be a slow transit through immigration for many reasons (many planes landing at the same time, luggage taking a long time or a very long time, officers having a slow time on Saturday morning after Friday night before, or a myriad of other reasons), you may just miss the Leonardo Express and have to wait another 30 minutes - = - so the two counter measures are to either reserve a late train to allow for any of the above so you don't have to throw away the advance tickets - = - or buy tickets on the day.

Or you can gamble.

At the top you said that "price not an issue" and this may be a time when - especially since your deadline in Florence is so important and pretty tight - you are best off getting the first train you can when you get to the airport counter.

matt,

I'd also suggest the same approach that Nigel mentioned. As soon as you get to the airport rail station, buy tickets from FCO to Florence, either at the staffed ticket office or from a Kiosk. If you can connect with a departure from FCO at 09:12 (probably via FM/FR-1 train), you'll arrive at Roma Tiburtina at 10:00. You'll then depart at 10:15 via Freccia high speed (which travels at up to 300 kmH), arriving in Florence at 11:36 (you can see all the solutions on the Trenitalia website). Note that your destination station in Florence will be Firenze Santa Maria Novella.

The train from FCO to Roma Tiburtina will be a Regionale, so DON'T FORGET to validate your tickets prior to boarding the train, or you'll face hefty fines which will be collected on the spot! The Freccia train from Rome to Florence will have assigned seating for Car No. (Carrozza) and Seat No's (Posti), which will be specified on your ticket.

As I recall, the FM/FR-1 and Leonardo Express trains depart from different platforms at FCO. You may find it helpful to have a look at the excellent Ron In Rome website.

If being in Florence by 1pm is important to you, I suggest you travel with carry on luggage only, if you can. In my experience in Rome, the wait at the luggage carousel is always longer than I hope for. Although I'm not affected by the passport control line since I use the EU citizen line, which is always empty, however the non EU line is sometimes long too. If arrive to Rome from another EU Schengen hub (e.g. Paris or Amsterdam) there will be no passport control, because you will have done that at the other hub. However your early arrival would suggest that you are arriving directly from North America.