hollywoodsc

I have to be at FCO on Sunday Oct 21st at 1pm to meet a tour. I'm coming from Florence and I know the trip is approx 1.5 hours to Rome (then change at Triburtina and continue to FCO)
My question is this - Does traveling on a Sunday make any difference in schedule reliability? Should I make my way down Saturday evening in case there's any schedule disruption? I've been hearing about sporadic strikes.
A night in Rome is fine by me, I love Rome, but is it necessary?

bobthenavigator

There are a dozen trains on Sunday---sometimes 2 per hour--not to worry.

kybourbon

You shouldn't have to change at Tiburtina. The fast AV trains from Florence to Rome will not even go to Tiburtina. You will arrive at Termini where you would change to the Leonardo Express to FCO.

Dukey1

Kybourbon assumes you are going to use a Trenitalia service as opposed to using the competing high speed Italo service which does, in fact, connect Florence with Tiburtina.

Frankly, I would take a Lefrecce service from SMN to Termini and change for the Leonardo Express to FCO.

GAC

On Sunday, the Trenitalia airport train from Tiburtina to FCO runs every 30 minutes, versus every 15 minutes from Monday through Saturday.

The Trenitalia airport train from Termini to FCO runs every 30 minutes seven days per week.

Both Trenitalia and ITALO TRENO run trains from Firenze SMN to Roma Tiburtina. Only Trenitalia runs from Firenze SMN to Roma Termini.

Taking the airport train from Tiburtina to FCO will save you 6 Euros in each direction (8 Euros versus 14 Euros one way).

jim21

All of the above advice is excellent but you did bring up an issue that has not been addressed...the possibility of a strike.

If there is a strike it is typically on a Sunday. We have had to negotiate around strikes a number of times and it has always been on a Sunday.

Most Italians know about strikes in advance so you could ask your hotel to keep you informed.

If you absolutely need to be in Rome on 1:00pm it would not be a bad idea to go the day before. Sometimes the "Sunday strikes" will begin at 9:00pm on Saturday so you should take that into account also.

kybourbon

>>>Both Trenitalia and ITALO TRENO run trains from Firenze SMN to Roma Tiburtina. Only Trenitalia runs from Firenze SMN to Roma Termini.<<<

Trenitalia only has one very early fast train that goes to Tiburtina on the OP's date. All the others go to Termini or are slower trains.

If taking Italo, the OP could take the 9:53 train to Rome Ostiense station which is closer to FCO.

Will you have luggage? Is this a sightseeing tour of Rome? Why not meet them in town instead of at the airport?

hollywoodsc

I usually travel with the minimum or just carry-on. The meeting place is at FCO, then we head out to Abruzzo so that can't be changed.

I was thinking Tiburtina since it's not as busy at Termini although I do like the Express to FCO.

Thanks kybourbon.
The AV fast train to Termini, then the Express seems like the best, most straight forward option.

I'll ask the hotel to keep me posted of any strikes and stay flexible to head South on Sat afternoon instead.


I knew you guys would help!