Hello - I am planning a trip to Italy where I intend to travel from Rome to Florence and then to Venice by rail. Any tips on the how to get passes and what passes are the best ones to get - best rates, etc.
Thanks!

Just go to the station and buy a ticket from a machine. Easy.

If this is all your train travel entails then a rail pass is not cost effective. Buy single tickets Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice. It will be MUCH cheaper.

Check out trenitalia.com for pricing and schedules.

Roma Termini to Firenze SMN (Santa Maria Novella) Euros 29.44, Firenze SMN to Venezia Sana Lucia Euros 26.60. Second class (very nice!), adult full fare one way on the fast train, tickets include the (mandatory) reserved seat.

If you sign up with trenitalia and order online, you can sometimes get an advance special, like the occasional 29 Euros fares and such.

A pass would cost you many times this much - in Italy you have to cover huge distances before a pass pays for itself, Italian trains cost almost half of what you pay for equivalent distances in, say, Switzerland or Germany.

This is an EXCELLENT question! Thank you for asking it.

Just did the train Milan to Florence, Florence to Rome last month. I booked our tickets on Trenitalia.com (very easy)and confirmed tickets at the station.

You just walk into a train station and purchase a ticket, from a machine, or from a person at the ticket booth.

You do not need or want a pass for only two trips, just individual point-to-point tickets for each leg.

You might want to get your Eurostar reservations at least a day ahead. If you are flying in to Rome, you can get all your tickets at the airport train station at one time. The the reason I say this is that we were not able to get on the Eurostar we wanted in Venice and were delayed about 2 hours.

If you aren't using the Eurostar then you don't need to worry about reservations.