Apologies, I know there is an earlier topic on getting from Florence to Turin by rail, but I've been searching the web with little success. (I don't know if services have changed, hence my making a new topic.)

My hope is to travel from Florence to Turin on Sunday 14th July 2013. Any time of the day is acceptable, but morning or noon departure would be ideal. Is there a direct train service which runs between the cities? And, if so, on this day? (I would also consider a bus service, depending on cost/time.)

Thanks in advance for your advice! I know this must seem like a silly/basic question, but I am a little stuck nonetheless.
Tom

Although the schedules for 14 July have not yet been loaded on the Trenitalia site it appears that currently on a Sunday you would almost undoubtedly have to change trains in Milan.

Changing in Milan is not at all difficult IMO especially if you give yourself enough time. The station is large with lots of platforms BUT getting between platforms generally involves no stairwells and there is a huge schedule board suspended over the head of the platforms which will inform you as to which platform you need.

The summer train schedules have not yet been published. I just get an error message on Trenitalia website when I try to book that day.

I tried a Sunday in May as a rough indicator of how many options you'll have on that summer Sunday

There are a couple of direct Frecciarossa (high speed) direct trains. You can also take a high speed train to Milan, then transfer to a Turin train.

Time varies between 2h55 and 3h30, I think. Prices in May can be as low as 30 E for the direct train.

Great, thank you both very much for your help. I'll keep my eye on the Trenitalia website - I haven't used that one yet, but it looks good, so that's a big help.

Tedgale is correct. There are at least 3 trains per day which are direct Firenze-Torino. My apologies for giving you incorrect information.

Trenitalia is the Italian train company so you should be using that site and not others. Once summer schedules are loaded (keep checking every day for them on Trenitalia), you can book 120 days in advance. If you are sure of your times, you can find very cheap super economy tickets. You must use the Italian spellings of the cities (Torino, Firenze).

Those "Freccia" trains are great, btw. We got lucky last month on a high speed train, Rome to Bologna. Got 1st class tickets online for 29 Euros.

Attendants bring newspapers, snacks, wine or other drinks. Not only do they have some closed compartments but our carriage actually had a board room for 8 that could be booked for in transit meetings!