Originally Posted by
EDFW
The site says that you would still have to reserve seats for Eurostar trains and gives a price of 15-20 EUR per reservation which would put the price for the three trains the OP wants to take to at least 171 EUR for 2nd class, 200 EUR for 1st class.
Looking at individual point-to-point fares I get the following for Eurostar direct connections with seat reservation included:
Rome-Venice: 61.80 EUR (2nd class) / 89.30 EUR (1st class)
Venice-Florence: 35.20 EUR (2nd class) / 53.20 EUR (1st class)
Florence-Rome: 39.90 EUR (2nd class) / 56.10 (1st class)
Doing the math you would arrive at 136.90 EUR (2nd class) or 198.60 EUR (1st class) with individual tickets.
Now taking into account that you would have to go to the station anyway, either to make the reservation when you use the EURail pass or to buy the tickets, I think it's definitely better to just get individual tickets.
However, there is still some benefit to purchasing
most of your railfare in advance in the form of a railpass (I say "most" because of those darned additional fees for seat reservation which indeed add up!): you avoid currency exchange fees (since you are paying for the pass in US dollars with a US credit card as opposed to paying for tickets in Euros which your US credit card company will charge to convert to dollars); and if you order from Rick Steves, he throws in a number of goodies that might be useful:
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/freebies.htm
I agree that the convenience factor is reduced (though not eliminated) by having to make seat reservations.
Another point about railpasses: you are buying "days" of train rides, not just individual rides. As a railpass holder, you find ways to maximize the value of your pass. For example, you can do a day trip on the train to some destination outside your "big 3", at no extra charge, on the same day you use the pass for travel between your "big 3" destinations.