Trains in Italy

Rail passes rarely work in Italy. You really can do much better by making your reservations (if you are travelling on the Freccia lines) early. Of course, that can mean deciding early what your travel schedule would be.
Rome to Sorrento - Freccia to Naples, Circumvesuviana (local) to Sorrento
Sorrento to Rome - reverse
Rome to Florence - Freccia. Bus to Siena is easiest and best.
Florence to Verona - check schedules for options
Verona to Rome - check schedules for options

Enjoy!!!!

thank you
I noticed a shuttle from Naples to Sorrento is offered, would that be better than local train?

If you can save your Rome visit for the end, that would be one less hotel move, one less day of boarding a train, and increases the potential value on one day of a rail pass.

Full-fare tickets for standard class on 4 routes Rome-Naples, Naples-Florence, Florence-Verona, Verona-Rome would add up to about $290, compared to a 2nd class rail pass for $197 per adult plus $50 for seat reservation fees on Frecce trains. Obviously, it's not a strong savings mandate and does not avoid the need to reserve at some time before boarding the train.

Jumping up to 8 days of pass coverage at $304 per person would allow you to just hop on some of your "side trip" trains, although some may still need a seat reservation for €5 or 10, depending on which departure you choose. Florence to Siena by bus is also convenient and cheap.

I'm all astonished about a rail pass for Italy...not for inquiring about - but about the response of actually recommending one. Booking ahead in Italy gives you incredibly low fares. For example I'm looking ahead right now and see:

Roma Termini -> Napoli Centrale (9.90Euro)
Roma Termini -> Firenze SMN (19.90Euro)
Firenze -> Verona (14.90Euro)

From Napoli Centrale you'll buy a cheap ticket on the little commuter train onward to Sorrento. The price is negligible.
Train fares in Italy are dirt cheap - that's why an Italian RailPass is not a good deal. Laura is probably talking about a Eurail Pass which is even a more dubious financial idea than an Italian RailPass.

Thank heavens you inquired before purchasing because many people purchase first THEN inquire as to their decision - and then it's a little too late :-)

You said:
travel to Florence (4 nights) base for Siena, Lucca etc.
travel to Verona (3 nights) base for Venice, Bologna, etc.

I can see using Florence as a base for Siena, but Lucca is a bit far. Have you seen Pisa, most people go to Lucca and Pisa on a day trip.

Verona is worth a stop, but not particularly high on my Italy list of cities, neither is Bologna. Venice deserves more than a day trip, also staying there is special, even though it can be expensive. You can save money by booking a hotel near the main train station.

Further, Ravenna has more to see than Bologna.

Yeah, it would be a shame to visit Venice on a day-trip from Verona. Venice is worth at least two full days, and it's far better to be staying there overnight (or in Mestre if you must). With that little time, and staying in Verona, I'd probably go to the closer Vicenza (smaller) and Padua (a full-day destination for me) and leave Venice for another trip when I could give it more attention.

But I don't see anything wrong or odd about the rest. Although I hope to spend a couple of nights in Lucca then next time I'm in that part of Italy, it is certainly workable as a day-trip from Florence. Otherwise, we'd spend a lot more time and energy trying to discourage travelers from visiting Lucca and Pisa on the same day when they are staying in Florence. That's a common combination; if it's OK as a day-trip, why isn't Lucca by itself?

I yield to no one in my love of Ravenna, but it's a 3-1/2 hour trip from Verona so not viable in this case without altering hotel plans. Bologna is imminently workable and has one of the largest medieval districts in Europe, plus some of the best food in Italy. What's not to like?

I'm going to assume that you are making all of your accommodation reservations well in advance of your trip. If that is the case, then your arrival/ departure dates for each city are nailed. So there is no reason not to also nail down your travel arrangements for those days as well. And since the prices are so deeply discounted for tickets bought well in advance, I see no benefit at all in paying so much more for a rail pass plus added costs for seat reservations.

Having said that, a couple of comments on the itinerary. I agree that your time might be better spent by going directly from Sorrento to Florence, and adding the Rome days to the end of the trip. Go to Siena by bus; Lucca by train. But please don't shortchange seeing Florence at the expense of these if you haven't been there before. It's a wonderful city. This is one instance where I wouldn't buy train tickets in advance. If you want to spend more time in Florence, ditch one of the day trips. As for the "etc", I don't think you have time for that, unless you mean to include Pisa on your Lucca day.

If you're only staying in Verona for 3 nights, I don't think there's enough time for any "etc". I wouldn't want to only do Venice as a day trip, since my favorite times in that city are very early mornnings and late evenings. But that's just my opinion, and your priorities are likely different.

ETA I would never recommend renting a car for a trip like this. Parking would be a nightmare, never mind trying to avoid all the ZTLs and the cost of tolls. We've done driving trips in Italy, but only when travelling in rural areas of Tuscany and Umbria where it made sense. Even on some of those days the drive consisted of going to the train station and then back to the agroturismo that night.

We flew into FCO in September and immediately went to Sorrento, also. We took the Fiumicino Express bus from FCO at Terminal 3 (where you go for passport/etc) to Napoli Centrale and the bus was clean, comfortable and inexpensive. It also saved us from going to FCO via Leonardo express to Termini and then from there to Napoli Centrale. Since we have arrived at different times depending on the tailwind (we fly out of PHL), we did not make reservations for the bus. We just went to the bus and paid in euros, it was perfect. It took 3 hours which was less time that what we originally thought (we didn't have to wait for the 2 trains) and easily walked from the bus station to the train station in Naples. We then boarded the CV local train from Naples to Sorrento and stayed at the Hotel Plaza for six fabulous nights. I would highly recommend this hotel, everything about it was beyond our expectations. We then went back to Napoli Centrale and took the train to Firenze for three days . We made these reservations ahead of time and got great prices. We went to Lucca and Fiesole while we were there. We then continued to Verona for 5 nights (visiting Venezia, lago Garda, etc) and loved Verona (our second time there staying at Hotel Torcolo- again highly recommend this place) and then flew out of Venice . The flights to PHL from Venezia leave at 11:45, so we had plenty of time taking the train to Venezia, capturing some great time early in the morning before the crush of tourists and then taking the bus to the airport Marco Polo. If you have any questions, please message me. Good Luck! Marie