Train travel from Luzern to Florence

You would connect through Milan. We did the reverse. It was a very pleasant trip. Check schedules at bahn.de

The fastest trains require 2 connections, one at Arth-Goldau, and the other at Milan. It takes about 6 1/2 hours. The last connection leaves Luzern at 3:40 pm and gets you to Florence at 9:55 pm. After that, there is a very out of the way route with a night train through Zurich and Innsbruck, but I wouldn't bother with it as it takes twice as long as a daytime route.

Thank you! The train travel I saw was leaving later and took almost 11 hours with three or four connections. I'll check the earlier trains. Much more doable.

I'm sure there has been no direct overnight train from Switzerland to Italy for several years. If you check the connection times on the schedules you find, they might show you sitting in Milan from 23:30 to 6:30, for instance.

Wanted to say that I just booked 2nd class train for my wife & myself for our late February/early March trip, and Rick is right, the savings are tremendous. Paris/Lucerne (1 change) for $85/pp, Lucerne/Milan (1 change) for $41/pp, Milan/Florence direct for $23/pp, Florence/Salerno direct for $36/pp. Only caveat to these prices are that one must travel at that time on that train, no deviations time-wise.

Yes, there is no way around a hour & 40 minute layover at Milano Centrale--we're leaving Lucerne at 0940, arriving at Milan at 1335, leaving at 1515, arrival at Florence Santa Maria Novella station at 1655. Not so bad, we can knock around the Milan station for a while. We were tempted to investigate the Bernina Express or one of the more scenic routes through the Alps instead, but they were very expensive and took anywhere from 6 to 10 hours longer. I figure we'll enjoy it this way too, and will hit Florence at a reasonable hour. And Rick says that 2nd class gets there at the same time as 1st, so why not?

Printed out all the E-tickets from the SBB (Swiss) site for the first two legs, then for Trenitalia printed out everything they provided after the tickets were paid for. They're supposed to be E-tickets as well, but I'm not so sure. I do have multiple confirmations printed out so hopefully it will work.

Thanks for all the great info. After much research, I too think we will buy point to point tickets! It just doesn't make sense to buy the passes!