I have spent hours at raileurope.com and trenitalia.com and other non-train sites and am totally confused. What type of train do I want to get from Rome to Florence? Eurostar, Intercity, Express, Diretto? We like, clean, comfortable and not stopping at every tiny town. What is the best way to buy our tickets so we are not stressed about getting a seat? I don't know why I haven't had this problem is other countries.
Thanks in advance for any help.

The Eurostar line has several express trains that run between Rome & Florence each day. The express usually has no stops. Both 1st class & 2nd class sections are clean, with more space available in 1st. 1st class usualy isn't as crowded as 2nd class. If I remember right the price differnce was less then $10.
I have always bought my tickets at the station so I can't help you with on-line reservations. However I have found this German site, all European trains, to be easy to use and you can find all of the schedules here,

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Peggy - The choice is really between Eurostar and Intercity.

ES takes 95 mins and costs € 29.44.

IC takes an hour longer and costs € 24.95.

You don't need to book online. Book at Roma Termini (- or any other Rome station) - the day before is plenty.

To save queueing, use one of the tickets machines at Roma Termini - it takes about 30 secs.

(If you're flying into FCO you could also book at FCO station ...)

Hope this helps ...

Steve

There are lots of trains - two or three every hour. If you go the station, they'll sell you a ticket for the next fast train. Don't worry about the type of train. For example, there's a Eurostar at 1530, taking 1 hour 36 minutes, then an Intercity at 1538, taking 1 hour 45 minutes; if you miss that one, there'll be others. Italian ticket offices normally sell tickets for the next fast train: if you really want to save money by catching a slow stopping train, you need to ask for that. If you use ticket machines, they will offer a choice of trains. Unless you're going on a very busy day, you'll be able to get on a train at short notice at whatever time you want to travel.

Hi P,

>What type of train do I want to get from Rome to Florence? <

The ES*.

Peggy, I booked my train tickets from the trenitalia website. All you need to do is type in the to/from Cities, date, and the time. The site will show you all the types of trains available,the time it'll take to get there, and how much it is. If you buy it on that website you can print out a receipt and just show it to the conductor on the train. I personally feel better to know that I have a reserved seat before my trip.
When I was in Italy last week I wanted to change my train times but there weren't any seats available (for 5) on the next 2 departures.

Thank you all so much. Now it all seems so easy. Don't know why I was so confused because it seems so simple now.

We had no problem getting our tickets right at the station. I would never book before I got to Europe. ES is definitely the way to go.