Train suggestion Rome to Florence

You don't mention what site you looked at for train service but Trenatalia and Italo are two train companies in Italy. I've used both companies for train travel in Italy and they are fine.
Here's the Trenatalia site: https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

Ed

I would use Trenitalia. It's very easy to use. If you have difficulty with that, try loco2 or trainline. You could also look the RS guide for suggestions. Bus service is pretty good. The bus is typically cheaper, and in some cases, faster. I'm doing that same leg, but stopping in Sienna for a couple days. For me the bus is a better option for both rides, but without a Siena stop, it could make more sense to use the train.

Where did you look? Rail Europe? They do not show all the options.

I checked both Trenitalia and Italo ( https://www.italotreno.it/en ) and see that tickets that day are more expensive than the days on either side. The lowest fare on Trenitalia is the €50!Base fare; the chart says the Super Economy and Economy fares are "esaurita" ( sold out).

Similarly, on Italo the lowest fare is €44,90. Discount fares are not available.

I have no idea why this is, but maybe that Sunday between Christmas and New Years is such a busy travel day that the discount fares are already gone.

Yes, probably family members heading home after Christmas. Or heading to one of the cities for New Years!

Ditto to what the others have said: it's a holiday weekend, tickets are likely in demand and so budget fares sold out early. There are plenty of trains showing for the 29th on both the Italo and Trenitalia websites, however.

You could look at Flixbus but by road appears to take over twice as long as by train. Buses nearest central Rome depart from Tiburtina rail station, and I believe the Flixbus bus station you'd want in Florence is Piazzale Montelungo (others, please correct me if I'm wrong here!)

https://www.flixbus.com

When using the Trenitalia site put in the Italian originals for your departure and arrival stations. »Roma Termini« and »Firenze S M Novella« are the main stations in both cities, which you'll probably prefer using.
I find it an easy website to use: payment by credit card and an e-mailed ticket for printing at home.

Bless you all for your comments! A few asked which site I was using. It's Omio. If the tickets really are 50 euro each...since there are five of us, we might be better off hiring a driver! I'll check the sites you recommended though first. Thanks again! Peggy

if there are 5 of you, are any of them "little-uns"? If so this may be a use for the bimbi gratis fare - adults are full fare which may be all that is left at this late date and kids very cheap indeed.

If modifying your travel date is an option, you could depart on Monday the 30th for about half the price of traveling on the 29th.

As was mentioned, you might also look at special fares for groups on the trenitalia website, ie Bimbi Gratis, Insieme, etc. as well as super economy.

....you could depart on Monday the 30th for about half the price of
traveling on the 29th.

Alternately, if you could leave Rome later in the evening on the 28th (check out, store your bags and sightsee until heading off to the train) you could pretty much halve the price of train tickets. This option, of course, is dependent on ability to cancel your Rome accommodation for the 28th without penalty, and book something in Florence for that evening.

They say the discounted tickets are sold out because they know that:

• Trenitalia hasn't open the sales after December 8 for the cheap, slow trains (why offering discounts when there are no other options?).

• Tourists from USA and Australia think that train can actually sell out

• The same tourists buy tickets months in advance.

In other words, they are using a trick that works only with you. No Italian would pay the 50 € Base price in advance, it's stupid: You can get the same ticket at the same price at the station 15 minutes before the train departure.
Do you really think that all discounted fares are sold out 3 months in advance for all trains running on that day? Even the discounted fares for kids and seniors? Those can't sell out, they aren't capacity controlled!
C'mon.., there are discounted tickets left on the Rome-Florence trains departing tomorrow!

FYI--I just purchased tickets on Trenitalia for travel in less than 2 weeks. They weren't posted for sale until today or possibly yesterday, since I didn't check yesterday. While I was a little (ok, a lot) frustrated with being unable to purchase or confirm that the route I wanted would be available, I have to say that the transaction itself could not have been easier. In fact, other than Loco2, it was one of my easiest advance purchase transactions for train travel in Europe. I used a VISA card. I prepurchased because one of the legs is an Intercity train and it saved me some money.

While I was a little (ok, a lot) frustrated with being unable to purchase or confirm that the route I wanted would be available

You were told there was nothing to be worried about, sorry but you were frustrated because you wanted to. Your situation has nothing in common with the OP's: you were trying to get tickets months in advance on a line affected by rail works. The OP is trying to purchase tickets months in advance, but after the annual timetable change of December 8, so they see only full fare tickets.

European Trains are like the sun: Rest assured that they will show up, even if you can't find online the sunset time 3 months in advance.

Dario, you were absolutely, positively correct and I think people should consider you a great source for Italian train info. I will say, two weeks in advance would worry many travelers. It is a route with not many alternative options, especially on Sundays. I didn't look to purchase the tickets until less than two months in advance. I have not traveled in Italy, for other countries, it is reasonable to look for the saver fares about three months in advance.

But the strange thing is there are Super Economy tickets available for 24,90 to 26,90 euros on all the trains on either side of December 29, up to Dec. 31 when they only show base fares. So you can get them for Dec. 25, 26, 27, 28, and 30; Just not Dec. 29. So it is not the December 8 schedule change that is the problem.

So it is not the December 8 schedule change that is the problem.

Exactly. It's just odd that there ARE cheaper tickets available today on either side of the 29th, prior to any potential changes or additional discount tickets releases on Dec. 8th. And nobody said anything about trains completely selling out but that, well, what's currently available for the 29th is much more expensive than what's available on the 28th and 30th. Could that change on Dec. 8th or anytime before the OP's trip? Sure, I think we all hope that's the case!

there are discounted tickets left on the Rome-Florence trains
departing tomorrow!

Just looking at the Trenitalia website for Sunday, Oct. 6th, the only tickets I'm seeing under 50 euro per adult are for trains that take over 3-4 hours from Roma Termini to Florence, and most of those involve a station change. There's nothing under 45 euro on Italo.

Kathy when I wrote "tomorrow" it was before midnight in Italy, none of the two companies sells discounted ticketS on the same day. Now it's Sunday and there is only one train with discounted tickets available among the Freccias departing tomorrow, but There are discounted tickets available on all trains departing on Tuesday from Rome to Florence.

The OP can worry for no reason and pay the BASE fare or wait and save money. It's up to him\her.

As I explained there are zero possibilities that all discounted fares are sold out including the ones that are not capacity controlled and can't sell out (senior and junior).

Italo has started selling discounted tickets before and after December 29 (I received a Xmas promo code yesterday) and Trenitalia had to follow them. But there is no price war going on for December 29: Both companies are still displaying only full fare tickets. More, there are no cheap-but-slow trains because of the December 8. It means no competition at all on December 29, so neither Italo nor Trenitalia needed to put discounted tickets on sale. Not yet, and they didn't. The moment Italo moves, Trenitalia will reply. For now they are making money with tourists.

A slim majority of European travellers still purchase train tickets within 10 days of the Departure day.

Thanks everyone for your responses to my question! You're the best! So, to sum up, I shouldn't panic. I can wait till even just a few weeks before Dec. 29 to purchase the train tickets...that in fact they don't sell out. The mystery is why is Dec. 29 so expensive right now but the days around it aren't. I understand it's the Sunday in between Christmas and New Year's but wouldn't the Saturday or Friday also be busy days? A mystery! Peggy apparently I'm the "OP" that means original person?

Original Post or Original Poster

What is strange is that you actually try to book a 50 euro ticket for the 29th and try to choose your place, trains seem to be empty. If you try other itineraries as well, only full fares are available for Dec. 29th. Lower fares are not sold out, they are not on offer for now.

Just think about trying to fly on Wednesday before Thanksgiving versus flying the same route the next day... or flying the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Nobody wants to cut their holidays short.