edmondshi

I will be staying in Piazza Navona and want to travel to Florence, Italy. I'm assuming that the best way is via one of the trains - does anybody know which train station is closest to PIazza Navona? Any recommendations on which train company to take?

Thanks,

- Ed

Tiggy22

It is a quick taxi ride to Termini Station. You can check trenitalia.com for schedule information.

pjjcm

Ed

I agree with tiggy22.

If you book online and print your tickets at home you don't have to validate the tickets prior to boarding which you need to do with normal tickets bought at the station or risk a fine.

DebitNM

Have a look here, a great guide, with step by step on trains in Europe.

http://www.seat61.com

bvlenci

Of the two stations with direct trains to Florence, Termini station is definitely the closest to Piazza Navona. You can also get there by bus. The number 64 bus and the number 40 bus both stop along the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, which is a very short walk south from Piazza Navona. If you're staying in the area for a few days, you'll certainly see that street, which is the major thoroughfare in the area. You have to cross to the other side of the Corso, coming from Piazza Navona, to get the buses going in the direction of Termini station. There are probably other buses that go to Termini station as well, because many buses stop along that street.

<< If you book online and print your tickets at home you don't have to validate the tickets prior to boarding which you need to do with normal tickets bought at the station or risk a fine. >>

It's not true that all normal tickets have to be validated. The only tickets that ever have to be validated are those without seat reservations, which can be used on any train within the next two months. Validation prevents them from being used multiple times, because it puts a date and time on the ticket. The only trains that don't have seat reservations are regional trains, and those are mostly found on minor routes or for short distances. There are a few regional trains from Rome to Florence, and they're very cheap, but they take a long time to get there.

Booking online has the advantage that you might be able to buy your tickets far enough in advance to snag a good discount. Ticket sales open up 120 days in advance, and the best discounts, especially on popular routes like Rome to Florence, are bought out quickly.

bvlenci

I should add that if you buy a regional ticket online, which you can only do within a week of your travel date, it's true that you wouldn't have to validate it, but you'd lose all the flexibility associated with a regional ticket. They give you a two-hour time window within which you have to use the ticket when you buy online.

I made the mistake once of buying a regional ticket online. I ended up throwing it out and buying a new ticket. I wanted to change to an earlier train, which was an Intercity train, because the regional train was greatly delayed and would have caused me to miss a connection. If that had been a normal regional ticket, the kind that have to be validated, I could have applied the cost of the regional ticket towards the new ticket for the Intercity train. However, regional tickets bought online can't be changed in any way, for any reason.