Train Rome to Florence

We will be staying near the Gemelli Local Train Station near the Vatican. Does anyone know if I can catch a train there to the Termini and then on to Florence? We are a group of widows so need it to be as simple as possible. Any directions or advice would help. We are planning on doing a day trip to Florence. Thank you

Take the local train from Gemelli to Termini (no need for a definite article, the name of the station is simply Termini) and change there for a train to Florence. It looks like you'll have to make a change before getting to Termini, the schedule seems to require a change at Ostiense.

If you know the date you want to travel you can save a lot of money by purchasing your Rome - Florence (and back) tickets in advance. There's no benefit (and in fact there are reasons not to) to purchasing the local ticket in advance.

You can see the Rome local train and metro map here: http://atac.roma.it/files/doc.asp?r=4

Check train times here: http://www.trenitalia.com

The stations you want are Roma Termini and Firenze S.M. Novella

Hi,

I did Florence - Rome in the summer. Definitely worth booking in advance as you can certainly save money. Its also worth looking at the difference in price between standard and first class as sometimes this can be minimal and very worthwhile. As well as trenitalia check out this site too:

http://www.italotreno.it/EN/Pages/default.aspx their trains are fast, very comfortable and modern. Rome - Florence will take about 1 hour 20 minutes. One other tip - if you are planning on visiting the Uffizi in Florence its again definitely worth booking your tickets in advance as queues can be very long especially in high season

Thanks for your advice. Since we won't have luggage I think it should be pretty easy to switch trains to Termini. I have been to Florence several times but a few in our group have never been so I think it is worth doing a day trip so they can see the highlights. Thanks for your help.

We did a trip with Italotreno railways from Tiburtina station Rome to S M Novella station Florence.

The cost was 39euro for a one way 1st class ticket, it took 1h 20mins. Wide leather reclining seats.

Tiburtina station is a great place to travel from and to because it doesn’t have the crowds and hawker types trying to hit you up for money, and it’s easy enough to get to.

Thanks for the advice. That should be a great day!

You can find visual informations on railway an metro stations here: https://*******/maps/CEnUP

if you know in advance which day you will go, reserve in advance with either Frecciarossa https://www.lefrecce.it/B2CWeb/search.do?parameter=searchOutputViewer&cFID=K0dkqOn820iw or Italotreno https://biglietti.italotreno.it/Booking_Acquisto_Calendar.aspx you can save a lot of money.

the quote function does not seem to be working right now. albertbell and eurotravelmagazine-did either of you travel with luggage? if so, how was it to handle and navigate? were there stairs on either end? thanks

the quote function does not seem to be working right now. albertbell and eurotravelmagazine-did either of you travel with luggage? if so, how was it to handle and navigate? were there stairs on either end? thanks

Termini itself is flat, but most trains require you to navigate 3-4 relatively steep and narrow internal steps up into the train. It's been too long since SMN Firenze station, so I can't help there.

There are no porters; you are responsible for managing any luggage.

The easiest thing if you have more than one person is for one to board the train, then the other hands up the luggage and boards behind. If there is just one person, it's really imperative to travel on the lighter side. My personal mantra is one bag that I can either wear as a backpack or across a shoulder, and one that I have to lift or carry in my hand. No more than that or it is too easy to get distracted, injure oneself, or not make it onto the train with everything.

the quote function does not seem to be working right now. albertbell and eurotravelmagazine-did either of you travel with luggage? if so, how was it to handle and navigate? were there stairs on either end? thanks

Just did this last month - there were no stairs at either end; however, as mentioned there are a couple on the train. Also, once you arrive in Florence there's a new underground (well it was new to me) if you continue to the left instead of the front of the terminal. The underground takes you out and across the street from the terminal with a ramp to pull your suitcases up to street level. It was really nice not having to fight traffic to get across the street.

Barbara

the quote function does not seem to be working right now. albertbell and eurotravelmagazine-did either of you travel with luggage? if so, how was it to handle and navigate? were there stairs on either end? thanks

The Tiburtina station in Rome was so easy with large elevators to get us down from street level and no other steps to worry about, we had 2 large bags and 2 hand luggage bags, the train stops for 5-6 minutes at Rome and Florence so there is plenty of time to get on and off. We did this trip with no problems so I’m sure you’ll be alright.

On the train there are luggage compartments for the big bags and the hand luggage was place over head, in first class there’s a lot of room.

In Florence there are no steps and the station have official porters that will help you if you need, try to book a couple of days ahead to get the cheap fares.

Definitely look at Italotreno from Tiburtina and if you go with them ask for the chocolate cookies with your coffee.:)

Thanks everyone for all of the information. I took notes ;)

the quote function does not seem to be working right now. albertbell and eurotravelmagazine-did either of you travel with luggage? if so, how was it to handle and navigate? were there stairs on either end? thanks

Termini is not a same area, be careful. I had a bad experince there :(

Termini is not a same area, be careful. I had a bad experince there :(

We had no problems but were very very alert the whole time we were in Termini and on the return in SMN in Florence. Americans buying tickets at the train station were hassled unmercifully by gypsies, so it is much safer to buy your ticket in advance, find a place to perch while you wait for your train to be announced and enjoy watching the action. Likewise be street smart in both cities....we were in Europe for 18 days....inc 7 in Florence. There were two occasions in Florence where people tried to distract us in order to take advantage, but we kept going and knew what the methods were and had no problem. We bought museum passes in Florence in advance and it was a great help....didn't mean there was no wait, but did mean that the wait was manageable.