Transportation from Loggiato dei Serviti to Cinque Terre (likely Vernazza)

Yes, the Trenitalia site will give you schedules and sell tickets. Some regional train schedules won't be available past the Europe-wide schedule change on Dec. 10, but they will be similar. For schedule info only for all of Europe, Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the Deutsche Bahn train schedule link and tips for using it.

Simply enter any two cities and the fastest connection points will be reflected in the results. You will rarely need to select a station. However, your Florence hotel is within walking distance of the main train station, Firenze S.M.N. Train schedules from that station to Vernazza always require one or two connections but you'll probably want to choose a single connection, which is usually at La Spezia.

I don't understand the timing question for getting to Rome. You do need to sleep within striking distance of the airport for an early flight, although the city of Rome fits that bill, too. Trains from either Vernazza or La Spezia to Roma Fiumicino take 5-6 hours.

Most Italian tickets are sold for specific train departures. Don't book ahead if you're not ready to commit. Your distances are not particularly long or expensive. You can't book more than 3 months ahead and sometimes less. You could also buy tickets in the station on the day of travel.

You'll find the trains easy to manage. Just keep track of where you are vs. where you need to hop off the train and be near the door with luggage in hand as you approach your station. The whole process will be more pleasant if you aren't burdened with a lot of luggage. (The same will be true of the rest of your trip, as well.)

First, you'll need to get to Florence's Santa Maria Novella station. There may be a public bus that would help you there, or you could arrange for a taxi. Your hotel or landlord should be able to advise.

You can check train schedules and buy tickets on the TrenItalia web site. It requires that you use the Italian spellings of station names, so you'd use Firenze S. M .Novella for Florence. At the moment you will only find schedules up until early December, but the schedules probably won't change a lot before your trip. (Which is when??)

Getting to Vernazza by train will not be a problem. You'll probably need to change trains in La Spezia, and possibly also in Pisa. Some trips are all on regional trains. Those have no reserved seats and there's no advantage to buying your ticket early, though you don't want to wait till just before departure time since there might be a line at the ticket window. Sometimes the ticket-vending machines are not fond of US credit cards, but they are certainly worth trying.

Some of the Florence-Vernazza itineraries include a faster train (Freccia or InterCity) for part of the journey. Those legs require reservations (and you are guaranteed a seat), and the tickets for those legs can be significantly cheaper in percentage terms if you snag one of the promotional-fare tickets shortly after the tickets go on sale. Still, it's a short trip and we're probably only talking about a difference of $10 to $15 per person one way, so I don't think you need to agonize over it. The promotional tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable, so you'll want to be very sure of your timing before making the purchase.

Although taking an express train for part of the trip sounds like a good thing, it will not always save you a significant amount of time, so do pay attention to the actual duration of the trip.

If I understand you correctly, after your visit to the Cinque Terre you plan to travel to Rome (use "Roma ( Tutte Le Stazione )" on TrenItalia) on Sunday, then you are flying back home on Monday. You can certainly make that trip from Vernazza on Sunday; no need to change hotels on Saturday night. This is a longer trip, with more time on one of the fast/costly trains, so you can save a good bit of money here by figuring out your schedule early and buying the tickets early on.

Most trips to Rome involve a change in La Spezia. For this Sunday I see an 8:53 AM departure from Vernazza, arriving in La Spezia at 9:13 AM. There are at least a couple of options at that point. The simplest routing puts you on a fast train for Rome that doesn't leave La Spezia until 10:06 AM, so I wouldn't be concerned about the connection. A faster routing overall--but one requiring two additional transfers and a lot more time on regional trains--has you leaving La Spezia at 9:23 AM. So that would be tighter. As a default TrenItalia didn't show me that 9:23 departure; it tends to focus on trips maximizing the use of the fast trains, even though in this case the fast train gets you into Rome later.

Whatever itinerary you choose, check during your time in the Cinque Terre to be sure there's no rail strike planned.

There are lots of ways to get to the airport, which is where I'd head if I were staying at a hotel hear there. You'll be coming in on a train, so I'd use a train from Rome to the airport. The Leonardo Express runs from Roma Termini station. There's also a cheaper regional train running from Roma Tiburtina station. At least some of your train options will stop at Tiburtina before going on to Termini.

thank you so much for that volume of information. Our dates have us leaving Florence on 26 April for Cinque Terre and then leaving Cinque Terre on 29 April for Hotel Tiber (which is near the airport in Rome).

While you can walk from Logiatto dei Serviti to the train station in about 15-20 minutes, it's easier to take the bus. There's a bus stop just around the corner from the hotel, and 3 of the 5 buses that stop there go to the train station (#6, #14 and #23). Ask the hotel staff for the exact location of the stop. Buy the bus ticket in advance (no onboard sales) and be sure to validate it upon boarding.

Also, there are a few high-speed (Freccia) trains each day that go from La Spezia to Roma Termini with no changes required. You may want to consider taking one of those.

I appreciate the bus info and I like the idea of the nonstop train.

I had hoped to end up near the Hotel Tiber (near FCO) so thought I should take a train to FCO (if that's an option).. Can you offer suggestions on getting from Termini to Hotel Tiber?

From Termini, you can take the Leonardo Express train to the airport (FCO). Hotel Tiber's website indicates that they offer shuttle (navetta) service between the airport and the hotel, although it doesn't say whether the service is free. I suggest you contact the hotel for more information about the shuttle service. Train plus shuttle may be the easiest way to get from Termini to the hotel.

The hotel's website also indicates that they offer shuttle service to the cruise port in Civitavecchia. You might inquire about the cost to pick you up at the Civitavecchia train station, where you could end your train ride instead of going all the way into Rome (i.e. only buy a ticket from La Spezia to Civitavecchia). It would likely shorten your trip, but I'm not sure whether it would be less expensive.

Note that there are both Freccia and Intercity trains that go directly from La Spezia to Roma Termini. The Freccia trains are nicer, but you may find the departure time of the Intercity train more convenient. No trains go directly from La Spezia to the airport.

If you have luggage you should take a taxi from Piazza Santissima Annunziata (Loggiao dei Serviti is there) to the station. The walk is 20 min, but with luggage it may be too long depending on how much you pack. Also getting on and off the buses with luggage may be cumbersome, especially if the bus is crowded.

You already know about the Trenitalia website and the train travel from the comments above. So you should know that traveling from Florence to Vernazza requires multiple train changes (at Pisa and La Spezia). I just wanted to add that there is also a high speed Freccia Bianca train (one and only) that leaves from Florence but from another station (FIRENZE CAMPO DI MARTE) at 7:38am. The train stops in La Spezia from where you take the regional train to Vernazza. That train is the fastest train to get to the Cinque Terre, if you don’t mind the early departure. To see it in the Trenitalia website you must enter in the departure station field FIRENZE (TUTTE LE STAZIONI), which means ALL STATIONS, or you can enter FIRENZE C.M.

THANK YOU...I appreciate the info.