Train Question-Florence to Spello, then Spello to Rome

A couple of different thoughts:
First, do your train research on either captaintrain.com or Italiarail.com. They are much easier to use, and can be set to English.. You can set Trenitalia to English as well by looking for the little British flag in the top right corner, but as you've probably discovered, not every page is translated, or translated well.

Second, when looking for regional trains, don't search out very far in your dates. The regional schedules are not available 120 days in advance like the fast trains, and the regional schedules don't change much, so just look inside the current week.

Finally, and most importantly, Umbria does not have a very dense rail network. You can get to a few places, such as Spello, Assisi, Orvieto or Terni by train, but many of the smaller towns don't have rail service. Do your online research to see if the towns you want to see come up on a train search on the above sites, or check Rome2Rio for all transportation options between towns you want to visit. I'm a rail fan, but I'm renting a car this summer for my two weeks in Umbria to be able to see more and stay where I want to.

Best to have a car to explore this area of Umbria. There are trains and busses, but the schedules are

not really set up for tourism. Do the towns of Spello and Assisi then rent the car.

Check Autoeurope and Kemwel for rentals, same parent company, but usually different prices.

Easiest way to get to Rome FCO is to drive and drop the car there.

We spent 5 nights in Spello a few years ago and did the whole tour by train and bus. The nice thing about train and bus is not having to worry about parking. Spello's station is down the hill, about a 20-minute walk from the main piazza. You can take a bus down, I think (never did it) and there is one cab.

The best way to Assisi from Spello is by bus. The bus arrives at the top of Assisi, whereas the train station is down the hill and slightly outside of town (there's a bus to the station). We also went to Spoleto and Perugia by train easily enough. The one thing we needed a car for was a wine tour, but we went on a guided one with Gusto Wines, which was a perfect way to see some countryside.

I would check parking availability and issues before renting a car. Just be sure you know where you have to go to park in each intended location.

Spello is only a few kilometers from Assisi, you can easily take the train or bus.

Go to bahn.de or trenitalia.com, enter the date for a day within this week, preferably the same day of the week you plan to travel, and schedules will come up.

From Spello to Roma you will have to change trains in Foligno, fare should be about 10€.

There is a direct train from Firenze SMN to Spello, about 15€. Others have a change of trains, price is about the same.

Heck, it is a wonderful walk along Mt Subasio from Spello to Assisi.

It depends on just where in Umbria you want to go. Perugia, Assisi, Spello, Trevi, and Spoleto are all serviced by frequent trains. People never mention Perugia, it is a lovely small city. That will keep you busy for 5 days. Other smaller towns are serviced by bus. If you want to get to Gubbio you need to take a bus from Perugia, but it is not convenient for a day trip.

Montefalco and Bevagna are also by bus, or a nice hike.

If you check you'll see that now Trenitalia shows the complete schedules till June 11 and you can purchase all kind of tickets (including regionale trains) 120 in advance of the departure date. There is no more need to enter a date for a day within this week to see Regionale schedules and fares.

we want to spend a day or two in Spello

We used Spello as a base a few years ago. Nice town with some good restaurants, but it is pretty small. I'm not sure what you could find to occupy you for two days.

We've traveled in Umbria and Tuscany by train on some trips, car on others. I'd use a car on future trips. Trains may run an hour or more apart, sometimes there are gaps of 2+ hours. Your schedule becomes the train schedule. Understand the time involved, too. You need to get down the hill to the train, wait for the train, ride the train, then get up the next hilltown. A car lets you leave when you want and makes it possible to get to hilltowns that aren't served by the train at the base. You do need to be careful of restricted ZTL areas where cars without local registration are not allowed.

However given that you just have 2 days left to plan outside of Spello then there are enough places to visit just going by train. We found that 2 towns a day via train was pretty easy. Do your research on train times in advance; if (for example) you go to Assisi do you want to spend the day there or maybe just the morning and then visit a 2nd town in the afternoon? You don't need to commit now, but explore the options. In case you're loving Assisi and spend the day then have the train times back to Spello looked up, as well as the times you can take a train to your other town.

Local bus lines are geared around the needs of locals; getting kids to school, people to work, etc. so they might not run at the hours or as frequently as you'd like. In a town the size of Spello there is not going to be a staffed booth, you'll need to figure out the system by reading the charts which will be in Italian. Don't count on the driver speaking English. Assuming they don't speak Italian, my hat is off to previous posters that took buses! If you like adventure riding the local buses might be fun, though.

Maybe things have changed in Spello, but when we were there the ticket machine in the unstaffed station was just an old-style pushbutton machine on the wall that only had Italian prompts. Many larger towns have easy-to-use ticket machines that look like an ATM and have English prompts available; maybe the one in Spello has been upgraded since we were there.