We’re Andrew and Kait – we share travel tips to help you see the world and have the best vacations ever. If you daydream about traveling to sunny Italy as often as we do, here’s what you need to know about traveling from Rome to Florence in 2023.
FLY TO ROME
We’re based in Dallas, Texas, so our first step to getting to Florence was to fly to Italy in the first place! Our American Airlines flight path took us directly from DFW to Rome, Italy (FCO Airport), on a nine-hour flight. We were thankful for an entire row to stretch out for ourselves! Thanks to good AirPods, eye masks, and melatonin, we slept for about half the flight. The other half was filled with movies and reading. The food service on the flight featured a chicken dish and sides for dinner, a sort of “midnight snack” of ice cream and drinks, and a light breakfast of granola, yogurt, a fig bar, and coffee. Here are a few of our favorite things to get us through those long overnight flights!
ROME AIRPORT TO CENTRAL TRAIN STATION
Once we landed safely in Rome at about 8:30 A.M, we breezed through security and customs in less than 10 minutes. After passing through, we followed the airport signs throughout baggage claim, guiding us to the (external) trains attached to the airport that take you into the city. We bought our tickets directly from apps like Trainline. Tickets can also be purchased from attendants at the ticket windows or through one of the multiple kiosks at the station.
You’re looking for tickets from Rome Fiumicino Airport to Roma Termini. Roma Termini is the biggest, most central train station in Rome which offers many speed train options in all directions throughout Italy. Within 30 minutes of arrival at the airport train station, we boarded the direct train that would take us from the airport to Roma Termini in 30 minutes.
ROME TO FLORENCE TRAIN
Upon arrival at Rome’s most central train station, we used the Trainline app to book our tickets from Roma Termini to Firenze Santa Maria Novella. Firenze? Yes! Italians call Florence Firenze. Much like most of Italy (Italia), the names most English speakers know of Italy aren’t quite aligned with their regional speech patterns. (For example, Rome/Roma, Naples/Napoli, Florence/Firenze. You’ll typically see the Italian rendition almost everywhere in Italy.) The speed train options to look for include Italo and Le Frecce. Each have options: Frecciarossa or Frecciargento. We’ve taken all of them, and they’re all equally good rides!
ARRIVING IN FLORENCE
Once we finally arrived at Firenze Santa Maria Novella station, we were too jet-lagged to try to figure out how to walk to our Airbnb. Instead, we took a white taxi to our stay. It’s important to note that legitimate Italian Taxis are white. You’ll find plenty lined in front of the train station. We rode five minutes to check into our Airbnb – a fabulous stay with the BEST views of the Arno river and the best of Florence. I would love to tell you that we ditched our luggage and immediately started exploring the city, but we needed a quick nap first. Jet lag, am I right?
Florence is a fantastic start to an incredible Italian vacation! With iconic Italian cuisine, palaces, extraordinary renaissance art, and unbelievable sunset views from Piazzale Michelangelo, this Tuscan city is the perfect starting place for an unforgettable Italian getaway.
