I am planning on a 9-day trip to Italy in the summer and I want to see three things:

Rome y 3 days
Florence - 2 days
Sicily - 2 days (then back to Rome to fly home)

I will probably fly into Rome and I was considering between driving and taking a train.

I have done some research, and I see that regarding travel between Rome and Florence, the Eurostar takes 1 hour 35 minutes and costs 30 Euro for 2nd class, the Intercity 2 hours and 30 minutes and costs 22 Euro for second class, and the slow train takes 3 hours and 37 minutes and costs 14 Euro.

However, I am not sure about Sicily. I think that Florence to Sicily is a long distance and maybe too long to drive and maybe it is better to do that by train. Is a night train possible? If so, how much does it cost?

So, can anyone help me with the costs of train from Rome to Sicily and from Florence to Sicily.

The hard part is that I will fly into and out of Rome so I cannot fly out of either Florence of Palermo.

Thank you in advance

For clarification, although I mentioned Palermo, I am really interested in seeing just the eastern part of Sicily (messina and Cesaro).

Hi Jim
On www.trenitalia.com you will find two night trains from Florence to Messina.
Cost is about 66E 2cl couchette.

The best night train option between Florence and Messina is the following:

Eurostar (ES) lv Florence 20:54
arrive Rome Termini 22:30
Intercity Night (ICN) Conca d'oro lv Rome 23:00
arrive Messina 7:10

Note that these are two very good trains: a ES followed by an ICN.

Reserved seats in second class cost 62.03 Euros for the entire trip. You can also reserve a couchette (bunk) on the ICN for a supplement of 23.24 Euros each (there are 4 couchettes per compartment). With a second class ticket, you could alternatively reserve a small sleeping cabin with two beds, although the supplement would be more.

Correction: the Conca d'oro leaves Rome Termini at 22:50. The cost from Rome is 37.37 Euros reserved seat in second class.