Is there one of the smaller airlines anyone can suggest? Obviously, we could take an overnight train...that might be an adventure!

Air Berlin and Niki (same company) fly ZRH-FCO.

But don't forget to check fares on Swiss International. They may be just as cheap.

One direct night train that takes about 11 hours. Or day train should be quite interesting too, though it takes about 9.

Unfortunately, Air Berlin /Fly Niki only has connecting service between Zurich and Rome.

Another option is to fly EasyJet from Basel airport. They have once daily service to Rome Ciampino (CIA). Basel airport is about 1.5 hours from Zurich by public transportation (train & bus). If you book far in advance and snag a deeply discounted fare, this is probably the best option.
www.easyjet.com to book the flight
www.rail.ch for transportation to Basel airport.

If you are flying one way and pricing tickets on Swiss, you should still book a round trip ticket with a fictitious return including a Saturday night "stay" between both legs, as they still use a stupid pricing system where one-way fares are much more expensive than cheap returns.

The train ride has some nice sections, but 9 hours is a looong time to sit on a train. Never taken an overnight train, so can't comment on that option, it is direct however (all daytime connections involve at least one change).

Hope this helps,
Andre

Example of EasyJet fares: for February 14, 2008, I found a fare of CHF 36.95 (about USD 32) all in between Basel and Rome!

Hope this helps,
Andre

Thank you Andre for taking the time to respond. In another thread I would be classified as lazy and clueless! Exactly!

Anyway, I adore trains and still loving to settle back to old black & white movies I may have some "romantic" notion of travelling on an overnight train. LOL...

On the other hand, after I posted this, I went a searchin' and found that if we change our travel days to week days, rather than weekend days, we can get from Philadelphia to Rome reasonably on a non-stop from USAir.

When my dear-husband wakes up, I'll see what he thinks...!

Thank you once again. I appreciate it.

We took a train from Zurich to Lucca via Florence. We left Zurich at 7.42am and arrived in Florence at 2.32pm - I think it arrived in Rome at around 4.00pm. It was a very pleasant trip. We booked lunch in the dining car and had a great meal. The trip through the Alps was great.

I booked the trips through Click & Rail Europe and the cost was 70 euro. I think you can only buy them within 7 days of departure but you can buy them online through the Swiss Rail site. You can't buy normal tickets online.

We went from Rome to Bologna by train, spent the night then a train from Bologna to Milan then Zurich. I know flying would have been much cheaper but we really enjoyed the ride and had some incedible conversations with the German business men we met.