I have received conflicting information regarding this route. Some have told me there is a direct train from FCO to Florence and others have said I would need to take the Leonardo Express to the main Rome train station and then transfer to Florence. Can someone clarify this for me? Thank you very much!
Both are right, kinda. There are only 2 direct trains from FCO to Florence, one at 10:53 am and the other at 1:53 pm. So your timing has to be just right to get them. At other times, there is a connection with the Leonardo Express to Termini, or a local regionale to Tiburtina, with fast trains to Florence from both these stations virtually every 30 minutes.
So lets say you got your luggage and through passport control at noon. Do you want to wait around 2 hours for the direct train, or just take the next available connection in 30 minutes and get yourself to Florence 1 1/2 hours earlier?
I went to Trenitalia's website and typed the name of the two train stations into it:
depart Fiumicino Aeroporto
arrive Firenze S. M. Novella
options of trips to choose from then show:
Leonardo Express to Roma Termini where you change trains
Regionale to Roma Tiburtina
do the search
the total travel time and cost shows up on the main screen.
if you want to know the itinerary, click on the "i" circle next to the train name
Thank you very much - this was very helpful. Is it correct to assume there are also a few direct trains from Florence to FCO?
Thank you Evan. I've been having a bit of difficulty with Trentalias' website, but think i was just using the wrong terminology for the stations.
I first stated that there are 2 direct trains every day.
And yes, you have to use the Italian city name, "Firenze" for Florence.
Just backing up Sam here: as he said, there are two direct trains daily from Fiumicino Aeroporto to Firenze S.M. Novella (Florence's main train station): one at 10:53 AM, and another at 13:53 PM. You only need to connect to a train in Rome if neither of these times work for you. As he'd wisely advised, I'd do exactly that if the alternative means killing a bunch of time at the airport.
Most of us also caution against pre-booking a train for arrival day in case your flight is delayed or cancelled.
There are 2 direct high speed trains to Firenze SM Novella station, departing at the times written above. In the evening, at 19:53, there is a 3rd direct train from the airport to Firenze Campo di Marte station.
The Campo di Marte station would be used by tourists going to the Cinque Terre villages. It's the only way to arrive in La Spezia before midnight with only one train change.