I'm planning a trip to Italy in January. What are the best bets for day trips from Florence and Rome reachable by train? Any favorites?

Orvieto, north of Rome, is amazing! Duomo, underground dwellings, setting, wine, shopping, kindness of the people! It may be one of our favorite places in Italy!

Florence: Siena - better by bus than train

Pisa - train
Lucca - a real sleeper, one of the finest walled towns in Europe

well there's many more but those are the best IMO

Rome- Pompeii - to some a long day trip - 3 hrs by rail each way or so but so awesome

hadrian's villa and Tivoli - villa one of finest Roman archeolgical sites and Tivoli for the famous Villa d'Este fabulous water gardens

ande... Ostia Antica - ancient Rome's port that is now a primo archeaolocial sites - easy by suburban metro line

Yes, Orvieto, one of Italy's primo hill towns - by rail thence funicular from station up to the top of the hill

well those are i think the major ones that many folks do

Bologna from Florence.

"Lucca - a real sleeper." I guess that's why it didn't excite me. I was asleep!

My favorite day trip from Rome is Assisi. You can take the train from Rome at 8.15 AM and be there at 10.45 AM, and then be back in Rome by 8 PM. Assisi is tiny and gorgeous.

Yes Bologna from Florence - did it myself this January - been to Bologna before but not in my recent memory - one of Europe's most overlooked cities - i guess because Venice and Florence get all the attention.

But both a visual and a culinary delight - miles of arcaded streets make this a good rainy day destination