Should spend extra money on back-up tickets to the main things i want to see?

It's anybody's guess. We are always very tired the first morning in Europe, so we don't schedule anything for that first morning. We will usually schedule something for the afternoon, but I always make sure it is something that is not on our "must do" list. Something that if we missed it, we wouldn't be heartbroken. Our flights have been delayed by weather a couple of times and we have ended up at our destination 1-2 days late.

How risk-averse are you? How much do tickets cost? Depending on the cost of tickets, and if you don't like taking risks, purchase extra tickets. Is one of the items on your list not a "must do" for you? Could you just purchase extra tickets for the one you must see?

And my advice would be: don't plan on doing anything at 8:30 a.m. the first morning you wake up there. Unless you sleep well on planes, you will be tired.

Have a great trip!!

If you can afford it, and it gives you confidence, then double book. I bought back up tickets to the Anne Frank house, because when we signed up for our RS tour it was included, but back then we were still in a situation where we might have to leave the tour due to the RS covid or illness policy, and I thought, if I'm displaced from the tour yet am feeling ok in Amsterdam, I'm not missing Anne Frank. I tried to turn them in at the Anne Frank house, not wanting a refund, just hoping they could be reused by someone, but I was on my own to find someone to use them.

I had a friend buy back up tickets to Uffizi because she wanted to take it in twice.

I realize tickets to all these wonderful places are hard to come by for everyone, so I don't encourage double booking in general, but sometimes it happens. The odds are you'll make it to Florence on time, but nobody has a crystal ball.

I bought tickets for 2 successive days to the Last Supper for the very reason you describe. As it turned out, I was able to go the first day and didn’t need my ticket for the second day. I tried to turn the ticket in for someone else but the ticket office said they couldn’t take tickets back and that I couldn’t give it away because the name on ticket (mine) would not match the name of the user. So I felt somewhat guilty to have taken up 2 slots at an attraction that sells out.

With regard to train strikes, Trenitalia guarantees certain trains each day to run in the event of a strike, so you can protect yourself by choosing one of those guaranteed trains for July 18. The current list is only good until June 8 though, and it’s in Italian: https://www.trenitalia.com/content/dam/tcom/allegati/trenitalia_2014/informazioni/TABELLA_A_Treni_garantiti_DPLH.pdf

That’s what we did on May 5 and it worked out well for us. We bought the tickets through the Trenitalia app.

ETA: train strikes are announced in advance and are listed here (in Italian): https://scioperi.mit.gov.it/mit2/public/scioperi

thank all of you for your responses. With the guaranteed train, is it as long as those 4 numbers match, or do i have to make sure the times match as well? i think i am going to just purchase the museum tickets twice, in case my flight gets delayed as well. I have never flown before, but if my flight is in the middle of summer and supposed to arrive by 8am as well, that leaves me with being safe even in my flight gets delayed overnight. I have never flown before so i hope this makes sense. thank you

ahh, i dont see any guaranteedtrains that go from rome termini to florence smn. i will also be taking one train from florence smn to venezia mestre later on the trip. i dont see either! I will just have to hope for the best on that. I've heard some strikes only last a couple hours, not all of them can make you delay your trip 24 hours. is that true?

Do delays happen?
Sure

We have flown to various countries in Europe over a dozen times in last 15 or so years
None of our flights have ever been delayed

We have also flown usually twice a year for past 45 years to west coast from east coast and returns and have never had delays then either
Maybe a flight arrival late by 1-2 hours if not a direct flight

The delays we have had have been up and down the east coast-weather related

Just as an example
Maybe we are just lucky

I would feel guilty taking up 2 slots of such difficult to get tickets

You will not be able to return tix or get a refund
Or file an insurance claim

I do think your timed slots are too close
Accademia at 8:30 (note venue name)
Then
Uffizi at 9:30 means you will have to be very quick at the David, skip rest of the museum and walk very quickly to the Uffizi

Sorry but you should always assume that they will cancel your flight and you won't get there on the day you expect to arrive. I know three couples that had this problem in 2023. I would definitely get additional tickets for the things you really want to see.

One of many challenges with using the Trenitalia list of guaranteed trains is that each train listed only by origin and final destination. What I do is then plug the train number from the list into the Trenitalia app to see the intermediate stops and determine if the train gets me from where I am to where I want to go.

Keeping in mind that the list posted online is good only through June 8, I found at least these two guaranteed trains from Roma Termini to Firenze SMN:

Frecciarossa train #9420 (origin Napoli) leaves Roma Termini at 12:40p and arrives Firenze SMN at 14:11 pm (ultimate destination Venezia Santa Lucia)

Frecciarossa Train #9584 (origin Reggio di Calabria Centrale) leaves Roma Termini at 13:10p and arrives Firenze SMN at 14:46 pm (ultimate destination Torino Porta Nuova)

Our first trip to Italy we ran into a train strike and had to rent a car. It was fun! It led to extra adventures.

Of the couple dozen flights to Europe I've taken, only one was delayed by a day. Personally I wouldn't buy two sets of tickets but if you're worried then do it!

I'm sure you'll have a great time and remember bumps in the road can add to the trip!

The accademia has David-- but not much else. I wouldn't sweat doing that museum quickly. (Others might disagree.)

I suppose if there is a message I'd like to give you is this: it's all going work out and you'll have a great time! It's Italy-- the whole country is fascinating!

Not sure you can just give tickets away to somebody else
I believe the name on ticket must match the ID shown by visitor at entrance

Ok sounds good! Things are looking smoother for my trip. I guess I am just planning for worst case scenario. I think I will book tickets the next day right at 8:15am for academia because if anything I can just go twice, get good photos. Might do the uffizi gallery also, but for sure the accademia.

I am so excited!!!!!! Moving on to luggage and learning how to drive in Italy! (Only in the Dolomites)

I wish you luck and happiness on your very first trip to Europe and even your first flight.
After many years of travel, I have found that there is a lot of concern about certain arrangements or “how tos” that are part of all travel planning that are so much clearer once you are on the ground.
Not to say I do not do a lot of research first. Sometimes spending an inordinate amount of time on small things. Maybe even days. Then to find out how simple it really is once I am there.
Go with the flow if it does not exactly work out the way you planned. That is travel. You will not get to see everything and maybe that could be for the best. You may stumble upon something else. Other times you may get to see that wonder, and it turns out to be something you could have missed anyway. You never know.
Beware the FOMO. Don’t let it dictate your life. A quaint notion, but hard to put into action.

If the cost of the tickets is not an issue buy a second entry. The most obvious solution is to use it even if you don't miss your first day. I really love art and looking at paintings but I find there's only so much I can absorb in one session. Go back the second time and have another look, you'll enjoy it more the second time because you'll know where things are and what to spend time on....
If it's something really important for you to see it's normal to feel anxious. I travel a lot, just in Italy and Spain but for me the Alhambra was a big issue....I'd wanted to see it for so long and so much I was petrified something would go wrong! It didn't. It was fantastic

You mentioned climbing the Duomo, so I'm assuming you bought a Brunelleschi Pass. As such, the only time you can make the dome climb is the timed entry on your pass. You can visit the other included sites within the 3 days. In fact, you can visit the other sites prior to the dome climb as long as it's the same day of your timed entry.