Train advice for italy

You can use either or both trenitalia.com and italotreno.com

Trenitalia is the national rail and they have a big network and regional trains. Ítalo competes with them on some lines.

I would take trains and busses instead of renting a car unless you have smaller or more rural places you want to see

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html is the website I have always used. The site includes Freccarossa trains as well. The trip Venice Maestra to Verona Porta Nuova is from 1 to 2 hours depending on which train, and trains run quite often. What I have done is land at Marco Polo airport and catch a taxi to Venice Maestre station (the one on the mainland) and catch the train to Verona. One can take the bus to the station more cheaply but it takes a while and when I'm jet lagged the taxi seems simpler. You can buy the tickets in advance but the other reason I took the taxi was that my arrival was delayed and I had an advanced purchase reservation. A car seems great for Tuscany except for the parking and access to your hotel. Maybe talk to the hotel about their view. Or, you may want to do trains to Luca and Bologna and a car for a day or two for Volterra and other targets of interest.

It is usually recommended that you NOT buy advance train tickets when arriving on a long distance flight. If you buy the discounted tickets and miss the train due to delays, then you would need to buy another, full price ticket on the next available train. Just download the Trenitalia or Italo apps (the 2 train companies that run the high speed trains. Or use their websites; not a 3rd party's. Once you are through Immigration and have your luggage, and are on the bus headed to Venice Mestre station, book the next available direct Freccia train to Verona. Or wait and buy your ticket at the station. Feel free to buy your ticket to Florence in advance if you are sure of your date and time of travel.

Given that both Lucca and Bologna have frequent train service from Florence, and given the difficulty of finding easy (and cheap) parking in just about any town or city, then I wouldn't rent a car for the duration of your stay in Florence. Perhaps group your day trips and only rent for the day you want to visit a town like Volterra that doesnt have train service. Don't forget that you will need to get an IDP before leaving home.

If you are going directly from Venice airport to Verona, I would wait and buy the ticket to Verona when you arrive at the station. You cannot predict you will arrive on time at Venice Airport, so do not buy advance tickets. High speed Trenitalia trains cost 28 EUR (2nd class) and take 1 hour to Verona. They are often every 30 minutes, but there are some gaps mid morning. There is also a regionale veloce train every hour at 23 minutes past the hour. They cost 10.55 EUR and take 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to Verona.

You can go ahead and buy advance discount tickets for high speed train to Florence now. Also there are frequent regional trains to Lucca. Use high speed train to Bologna as it is only about 40 minute ride and very frequent trains. Rent a car for Volterra.

BTW, there is some rail construction work going on in Florence at various times in Florence in July. Depending on your exact travel days, you have to get off at Firenze Rifredi rather than S.M.N. station. Same may also apply for train to/from Bologna.

Thank you everyone for your reply!!! Really appreciate it

I assume the best train station from Venice Airport (to go to Verona) would be Menestre and not Santa Maria on the island

Mestre i s closest to the airport. Santa Lucia (not Maria) is on the island

There is a direct Flixbus bus from Marco Polo airport to Verona: https://www.veneziaairport.it/en_gb/transport

If you base yourself in Florence for a week you can do without a car, if you rent a car for day trips then you need to stay outside the city center. The day trips you mention can be done by train or a combination of trains and buses. Volterra, for example, is faster by car, however by the time you go to the rental pick up place, rent the car, do the paperwork, etc. you will be already in Volterra. I once picked up the car downtown Florence at the end of June, and the line was so long that it took me over two hours to actually get my car. If you pick up outside the center (like Airport or the Eurpcar in via Forlanini, there will be no lines, but you need extra time to get there from downtown. If I were you, to go to Volterra, I would take the train to Pontedera (Florence-Pisa train line) then at the Pontedera station I would take a bus. There is frequent bus service from Pontedera to Volterra, and it’s pretty fast since both are on the Era Valley (Val d’Era) and the road is on a flat plain with no sharp curves, except for the last few miles to climb up to Volterra which is perched on top of a hill. There is also the option of taking the bus from Florence to Volterra via Colle Val d’Elsa (with bus change in Colle VE) but you won’t save much time, and if you suffer from car sickness it won’t be a fun trip.