St Mark's Square, the heart of Venice's historic center reached by train from Florence.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)Florence to Venice by Train
A domestic route within Italy.
Reviewed by Eurotraintrip on 2026-07-27
- Duration
- 2h 01m – 2h 45m
- Price from
- 18.9 EUR
- Distance
- 253 km
- Operators
- Trenitalia FrecciarossaItalo
- Frequency
- Around 20 direct trains a day combined — Italo alone runs about 11 daily departures each way, with additional Trenitalia Frecciarossa services on top
Compare and book Florence–Venice tickets
Check pricesWhat makes Florence to Venice different
- North of Bologna, Frecciarossa and Italo trains leave dedicated high-speed track and join the Bologna-Padova line, a mixed corridor shared with regional trains where speeds are capped well below the 300 km/h reached on the approach through Tuscany — a structural reason this 253km hop takes over 2 hours despite being shorter than the Rome-Florence leg.
- The Florence-Bologna stretch runs mostly in tunnel on a line opened in 2009 (91.4km long, 80.5km underground), including the 18,713m Vaglia tunnel, Italy's longest railway tunnel — cutting that portion of the journey from about 1h15m on the old 1934 Apennine crossing down to roughly 37 minutes.
- Direct services on this route typically call at Bologna Centrale, Ferrara and Padova before reaching Venice — a different stopping pattern from the Rome-Florence leg's near-nonstop profile.
Florence station
Departs from Firenze Santa Maria Novella, in the northwest corner of Florence's historic center — no baggage screening before boarding, just a ticket check at the platform gates.
Venice station
Arrives at Venezia Santa Lucia, which opens directly onto the Grand Canal in the Cannaregio district — there's no metro and no cars anywhere in Venice, so onward travel is by vaporetto (water bus) from the stop right outside the station, or on foot.
Train vs. other options
Flying isn't a practical option for this specific hop — there's no useful direct air link between Florence and Venice for a journey this short — and driving via the A1/A13 covers about 260km in roughly 2.5-3 hours before accounting for the fact that cars cannot enter central Venice at all; the train is the only way to go door-to-door into the historic center.
Booking tips
- Confirm whether your specific train terminates at Venezia Santa Lucia or Venezia Mestre before booking — it changes your onward trip into the historic center.
- Book a few weeks ahead in high season (April-October) to catch the lowest Super Economy/Low Cost fare brackets before they sell out.
- If your train stops at Bologna Centrale, that's the main interchange for this route — useful if a delay forces a re-route.
Good to know: Most Florence-Venice services run through to Venezia Santa Lucia, the island station on the Grand Canal, but a handful of departures — including some Italo services — stop only at Venezia Mestre on the mainland; landing at Mestre by mistake adds another 10-minute train ride or a bus/tram across the causeway into the historic center.
While you're in Venice
The Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal, the oldest of the four bridges crossing it.
Photo: Saffron Blaze / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Venice charges day-trippers a separate entry fee on dozens of dates in 2026, has no metro or roads anywhere in the historic center, and its top sights — St Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace — increasingly require timed online booking rather than walk-up queuing.
Full Venice travel guide →Frequently asked questions
How long is the train from Florence to Venice?
The fastest Frecciarossa and Italo services take around 2h01m. Trains with more stops (Bologna, Ferrara, Padova) can take up to around 2h45m.
Does the train go all the way into central Venice?
Most direct services terminate at Venezia Santa Lucia on the Grand Canal, in the historic center. A few stop only at Venezia Mestre on the mainland, so it's worth checking your ticket's final stop.
How much does the train from Florence to Venice cost?
Fares start around 18.90 EUR for advance Italo tickets; Trenitalia Frecciarossa's cheapest Super Economy fares tend to start a bit higher.