Screwed up my planning - Need Advice - Bus from La Spezia to Florence

It came out this morning, and turns out the train doesn’t run from La
Spezia to Florence on Sundays.

Trains certainly DO run between La Spezia and Florence on Sundays. Your problem is likely that new schedules come out around June 8th-9th so not all schedules are showing beyond that date.

That said, schedules and prices usually change little if at all so just to get a look at times and prices, use Sunday, June 2 as your date. I'm looking at the June 2nd schedules on Trenitalia right now; all sorts of trains! A lot of them are also regionale trains; there's really no need to purchase tickets for those in advance as they don't have assigned seats and there's no price advantage, as there is for "fast" Freccia trains

Speaking of Freccia trains, I am seeing one from La Spezia Centrale at 08:16 AM that will have you at Firenze S.M. Novella in 1 hour and 45 minutes: one train change at Pisa Centrale. Beats the heck out of 3 hours on a bus!

Trains run on Sundays just as frequently as any other day.
If you want to take the bus go ahead, but the train is certainly faster.
There is even a Frecciabianca that can get you to Florence in 90 min.
You just have to wait for the summer schedule to come out.

Thanks! I was looking at Rome2Rio after the only option showed to Rome and back to Florence, and it said the train only ran 1 time a week to Florence. When the schedule came out this morning for my Rome to La Spezia and my Florence to Venice sections, I assumed the schedule was out for this leg as well.

This is a big relief!

The train is so much better than at least 3 hours on a bus!

Try the Trenitalia website. Use Italian spellings for city names. "Firenze S. M. Novella" is probably the Florence station you want.

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

Thanks! Yes, I am aware of the station names and using the Trenitalia site. I just freaked a bit this morning when the schedule for my first leg dropped, and I assumed the schedules for the rest of the trip had dropped as well.

I thought that my later leg from Florence to Venice was available, but later realized that it was showing on italiarail as an advance purchase only. That was only once I double checked for pricing on Trenitalia.

I certainly appreciate all the help everyone has provided!

crgraham32, as said above, use the Trenitalia website and not Rome2Rio for figuring your trains. Italo works as well for journeys between larger cities.

Text on Rome2Rio such as "towards ROMA TERMINI" or "FA towards FIUMICINO AEROPORT" on the train options that came up on a La Spezia> Florence journey can be confusing.

For Florence use: FIRENZE (TUTTE LE STAZIONI), which means all stations.
If you choose S.M.Novella the Frecciabianca trains (the fastest, which also requires no train change in Pisa) won’t come up because they stop at FIRENZE CAMPO DI MARTE, Florence second largest station.
Firenze C.M. Is near the city center on the northeast side of the center.

Thanks Roberto! How far is CAMPO DI MARTE from S.M. Novella? Our apartment is near S.M. Novella.

Roberto, the reason I didn't reco Firenze Campo di Martre is that the only trains I'm seeing from L.Spezia to that one with no changes is that oft-recommended one at 20:03 (abt 90 minutes) for folks day-tripping to the CT from Florence, or a regionale at 18:21 (2h 39'). All of the morning trains to Campo appear have at least 2 changes, unless I'm missing something (entirely possible!).

No problem if they want to leave later in the day but, well, that was the method to my madness? Doesn't hurt that SM Novella is usually closer to where most folks stay in the city either.