Train travel from Rome to Florence- Florence to CT- CT to Rome

Thank you so much! I too have been looking at Trentalia's timetable and see that their are a bunch of trains.
The plan is to as soon as we arrive at the airport go to Trentalia's help desk, book our tickets from the airport to Termini and to Florence. We are leaving Florence on Thursday 9th to CT, and Leaving CT on Saturday 11th to Rome. We would like to leave early so we can see as much Rome as possible. Do you save money if you book in advance from the US versus buying the day of usually? Thank you so much!

@ Frank, Thank you for the advice. You are very right with those concerns, those have been my thoughts exactly. I am actually planning this trip for a family (sadly I don't get to come) but my thoughts were to wait to buy tickets in case their plane was delayed so they wouldn't miss their train. I really appreciate all the advice, and continue to think they should just wait and buy their tickets in Italy.

Be patient; what I do prior to a trip is check the Trentalia schedules for the trains on the day I want to travel, and have never not got what I finally wanted. For example, trains from Rome to Florence run about every hour in each direction, and (am not sure here) I think you can go from Pisa(where you would have to change from the trains in the CT) by ICE to Rome either direct or through Florence. You can ticket yourself on the machines if you use cash, not US cc's because there is no chip rather than stand in the ticket line at the stations. this is what we did just this month in the NL, UK, and Italy.

Lindsay, I am checking the train schedule for 6/6/2011, from Roma TE (Rome Main Station, Termini) to Florence SMN (Florence Main Station). First, the Europe Star ES will take 1:35, the InterCity IC will take 2:35 and the Reginale Veloc R will take 3:52 to 4:04. The ES and IC require booking and you get a seat number. If you miss the train, you have a rebook within 1:30. I never have that experience. If you rebook you have to do it over the counter. I think. I do not know weather you can do it with the machine Kiosks or not. When I was in Naples, I have to line up the counter to buy ticket to France. ( out of country, no available from the Kiosks) it took me over an hour due to not enough staff and a lot of people. So rebook within 1:30 to me maybe be a problem. As I don't have this problem. Rebook fee, I don't know. The Reginale R train do not require booking and if you buy the ticket, it is good for the next sixty days. No seat assignment. Make sure you validate the ticket with the yellow box before you get on train. Once validate, it is good for six hours. You can get on any R train. Back to the schedule for 6/6. 17:15(ES) 17:33(ES), 17:45 ( ES) 18:15 (ES) 18:20 (IC) 18:43(R) Look like there are a lot of trains, should be Ok. For me I will buy the ticket by the time I get to the train station. One more thing. The platform (Bin) for the train form Rome to Florence most likely will be NO. 1 - A or No.1-B It is the first platform in the left side and is 400 meters way out there. It might take you 10 minutes walk to the train. So make sure you have the time. The cost for the 2nd class is 45E for ES, 30E for IC. How is your schedule from CT back to Rome?
Have a good trip!

You have a couple of concerns. First, from the time you get off your plane till you are at the hotel in Florence will be between four and five hours. Second, you could buy in advance via trenitalia.com with a decent discount BUT if you miss the train the ticket is dead. Since there is always a possibility of a flight delay I think you best choice is to buy at the ticket office at the airport. Trains rarely, if even, sell out.

Lindsey, I'd also suggest waiting until arrival in Italy to purchase your tickets. If you purchase tickets for the outgoing journey when you arrive in each town, you should have no problems. When you arrive at FCO, you can purchase tickets either at the staffed ticket offices or using the Kiosks. There are only a few Kiosks, so if they're "busy" I generally just get a ticket for the Leonardo Express and wait until arrival at Termini and use the Kiosks there to get other tickets. The trip from the C.T. to Rome is very easy! There are numerous direct trains from La Spezia to Rome every day. The travel times range from 3H:08M to 4H:30M, with fares from €36.50 - €55. Again, buying your outgoing tickets when you arrive in the C.T. shouldn't be a problem, and since that will be a day or two prior to travel, you may be able to get discounted fares. As I recall, the stations at La Spezia and Monterosso are larger and have "full service" ticket offices. Happy travels!

Lindsay, I agree that in most circumstances, there's nothing better or more comforting than a ticket in hand. But, in this case, one of the worst times to have a firm Italian train ticket with a firm train number and departure time is shortly after your plane arrives from the U.S. There is so much that is out of your span of control. Planes are frequently late. Now the good news. There are 55 high-speed Eurostars that run from Rome to Florence each day. By the time you get to Rome Termini, most have departed during the day. However, there are still 2-3 per hour still to run into the evening. Each train has 10 cars and each holds about 40 passengers. Thus, 400 passengers per train. It is highly unlikely that you will miss a train. When you arrive at Rome's FCO (I'm assuming that you are arriving by plane), go to the front of Terminal 3 and buy your tickets to Florence at that ticket window. The agent is quite used to this. You will first be on the Leonardo Express that departs every 30 minutes for Rome Termini. The trip takes 35 minutes. At Rome Termini, the Leonardo Express comes in on Track 25 which is at the far end of the track. You may have to rush a bit to get to the tracks running your high-speed to Florence. Note that some runs of the Leonardo Espress will take you to Rome's Tiburtina train station where you would change there. A bit easier there. Hopefully, your agent has given you 15 minutes or so to make this transition. Then, off you go. Also, children under 16 are supposed to ride for 50% off the regular fare. Here's a link to afternoon runs. http://orario.trenitalia.com/b2c/nppPriceTravelSolutions.do?car=0&stazin=fiumicino+airport&stazout=florence&datag=30&datam=05&dataa=2011&timsh=17&stazin_r=Staz_DA&stazout_r=Staz_A&timsm=39&timsm_r=39&lang=en&nreq=5&channel=tcom&npag=1&lang_r=en&nreq_r=5&channel_r=tcom&npag_r=1&x=38&y=7