My flight was changed to LA-Milan, what is the best method to get to Florence? By train? If so any idea how long a ride it is from the airport to Milan to Florence?

Unless you are planning on renting a car, which can be very expensive in Italy, the train is the best way to travel. The trip takes approximately 2 hours depending on when you leave Milan and the type of train you take. This may also require you to get from the airport to the main train station in Milan. I do not see anything leaving directly from the airport. The Italian train website is www.trenitalia.com. You can buy tickets up to 60 days in advance. Depending how you purchase tickets, you may experience some issues buying online. From experience, when you are about to board the train, make sure that you stamp the ticket in the yellow boxes located throughout the train station. If you do not validate your ticket prior to getting on the train, you could face paying a fine when you present your ticket to the people on the train. In my opinion, the high speed trains (EuroStar) are worth the extra money.

Not very difficult to figure out once you do it once. Good luck.

Bus ride from MXP to Centrale train station takes around 50 minutes.
http://ticketonline.malpensashuttle....ne/default.cfm

You can buy the train ticket when you get there.

Take the Malpensa Shuttle BUS from the airport to Milano Centrale train station. From there you can get a direct train to Florence.

Consider that the Bologna-Firenze highway route is often congested because of traffic (in summer) or weather troubles (in winter) or car accidents (all the year).
The best way to go from Malpensa to Firenze is definitely the train.
Evaluate car renting only after the visit of Firenze, if you have enough time to explore the rest of Tuscany (I suggest it very strongly).

Here is the reason why you should take the BUS from MXP.

Bus option:
MXP - Milano Centrale: Shuttle Bus
Milano Centrale - Firenze: Trenitalia train

Train option:
MXP - Milano Cadorna: Ferrovie Nord train (NOT Trenitalia)
Milano Cadorna - Milano Centrale: taxi or metro
Milano Centrale - Firenze: Trenitalia train

Greg, can you shed more light on the bus option from MXP? Thanks

macswim,
Come out of the terminal and there will be a shuttle bus to the train station. You pay the driver. The bus lets you off at Milano centrale. There is some construction going on so will have to walk around it to get in the station. Just follow the crowd.

Henry