We (Mom and 2 teenage daughters) are scheduled to fly into Rome at 9am from Australia (via Hong Kong and Zurich) in early December. Our first destination is going to be Florence for 2 weeks. I am trying to work out if I need to buy our train tickets for Rome to Florence before we leave Australia, or if it is possible to just front up at the station and buy 3 tickets for the next train leaving for Florence. As I have no idea if our plane will be on time, how long customs will take, or how long it will take to get from the airport to Termini, I can't decide at what time to reserve a ticket for. I don't want to miss the train, but I also do not fancy sitting around for several hours waiting for a train if everything goes smoothly.

1) Can I just turn up and buy tickets or is that going to lead to problems - no availability, very expensive etc?
2) If I pre-purchase, should I buy a "Base Fare ticket" for late in the day, and then change it upon arrival at Termini to an earlier train (for free). OR Do I buy a "Flessible Fare" (20% premium) which allows me to change it for free before departure and up to 24 hours after departure if I missed it.
3) Or is there an easier way and I am missing something here?

We will be doing the following legs by train in Italy Rome - Florence; Florence - Orvieto; Orvieto - Rome; Rome - Sorrento return; and possibly a day trip from Florence to somewhere like Pisa.(6 separate days) From my investigations it would seem that any form of rail pass is not really worth it - it is just as cheap to buy individual train tickets. Once again, am I missing something or is this correct.

Thanks for all help.

The easiest is to front up and buy tickets from a vending machine. If the train is booked solid, there will be another in about an hour. My wife and I spent 3 weeks in Italy, and mostly bought tickets on the spot. The vending machines speak English, and accept Visa cards or cash.

You can just buy tickets when you get there. You will still get the same base fare price whether you buy now or at the train station. There are some discount tickets than can be purchased in advance, but Trenitalia is difficult to use if you don't have European credit cards.

A railpass is almost never cost effective for Italy. Railpasses don't include seat reservations which are required on the fast trains (AV, ES,ICPlus) which are 15-20€.

When you get to FCO, you will have to take the Leonardo Express train to the main station in Rome (Termini). Cost is 11€.

Some of your routes will only cost around 10-15€ for tickets.(Florence/Pisa, Florence/Orvieto, Orvieto/Rome)

Hi

You'll go from the airport (FCO) to Roma Termini via the Leonardo Express. This runs every half hour, and the trip is roughly a half hour.

Then, you will walk about 10 minutes from the track where the Express arrives, to the main track area. (This is all in Roma Termini).

Next, you will board your train for Florence Santa Maria Novella station.

So:

1) you can buy the separate tickets for the Leonardo Express and for the train from Rome to Florence, at the train station at the airport

2) there are many trains to Florence from Rome, so you can pick the most suitable time, depending on exactly when you get to the airport train station

3) no one seems to recommend a rail pass, train travel is convenient and not expensive, in Italy.

4) there is an Amica fare, (20% reduction), which you have to ask for, but there are only a limited number of seats released at that fare, not easy to get!!

Do you have the website for Trenitalia, so you can see the times, cost, etc.? The schedules change in June, so just put in a date in the next week or so, to get an idea. Also, do you need information about finding the train station in the airport? I'm off to class right now, will check later, to see if I have been clear enough, or whether you have further questions. Ciao from Atherton.

Thanks everyone - it sounds as easy as in Australia.
YvonneT - I assume the airport train station will be signposted ad relatively easy to find.

With that "hurdle" out of the way, I can now successively proceed with further bookings. We have paid for our flights in and out of Europe, and I have set in motion our two week language course in Florence and a nice looking apartment there. Now I can sit down and map out the next 5 weeks.

Thanks for the help! I am sure I will be back for other things as I go along!

There is no Amica fare for the fast trains (AV, ES).

There really is no point in paying an extra 20% for a Flexible fare unless you have to be in Florence by a certain time which still wouldn't guarantee it if the train ran late.

The last couple of times I used the Leonardo Express, it was not a long trek to the other tracks. It was using track 24 which is right next to all the other trains as shown in this station map. The track that was being used is under the word binario.
http://www.grandistazioni.it/cms/v/i...003f16f90aRCRD