to railpass or not????

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Are travelling to Europe next month and have a firm itinerary that we are following, as follows: Milan - Florence -Monterosso - Como - Verona - Venice - Zurich - Paris - London.  All travel is on separate days over a 4 week period.  Italian rail prices look cheap, but would we be better to buy a railpass (looking at a 3 country 6 day pass, but this would exclude Paris to London leg and the Verona to Venice leg) or should we go with separate legs or are there other options??  Starting to get a bit confused.  Also any comments about 1st v 2nd class - is it worth it?? and process and costs for reserving seat with or without a pass.

thanks

First of all, looking at your itinerary it seems that rail pass would be a wrong way to go here.
It is hard to operate with exact financial arguments here, since you didn't provide info about pass type (Youth, Adult, Saver etc.?), but to give you an idea - lets count:
1) Milan - Florence: most expensive regular tariff ticket for the high-speed trains costs 52 euro (if purchased in advance - much cheaper), regular ticket tariff for IC train is 27.5 euro, Regional trains <20euro
2) Florence -Monterosso: by regional trains - only 9.9 euro
3) Monterosso - Como: 14.55 euro (regional trains) and 32euro for IC/EC trains.
4) Como - Verona: from 12 to 28 euro (depending on train type)
5) Verona - Venice: 6.15 euro by regional train
6) Venice - Zurich: discounted international tickets Italy-Switzerland can be bought from 19 euro (http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=e6eaf0bde7aca110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD#4). Full regular fare 89 euro.
7) Zurich - Paris: regular tariff is around 100 euro, but route can be done cheaper
8)Paris - London: pass is not a solution - supplement is extremely high.
So, even we count the most expensive options (those bought before departure at the ticket counter) without Paris-London, then the full price for the journey will be app. 300 euro. If you go cheap, then you can manage for the sum twice as low. Plus you will have to pay certain seat reservations with pass as well, for instance for high-speed trains in Italy, Italy-Swiss and Swiss-France trains.

Also any comments about 1st v 2nd class - is it worth it??

Really depends on your preferences and thickness of your wallet

Thanks tUt
We were looking at the saver (2 of us travelling) 3 country 6 day pass.  It appears I can get these for 305 euro (1st class), but I haven't ascertained what the additional supplements and seat reservation costs would be.  What are the best sites to make bookings for the trip I am taking and also gettign details about additional costs for the passes.

... but I haven't ascertained what the additional supplements and seat reservation costs would be.

Well, those are pretty easy to find on Eurail website - domestic journeys by country (http://www.eurail.com/eurail-reservations-supplements-domestic) and international (http://www.eurail.com/eurail-reservations-supplements-international-trains)

What are the best sites to make bookings for the trip I am taking.

On these matters you should trust only official websites of the railway companies, like TrenItalia (http://www.trenitalia.com) for Italy, SBB (www.sbb.ch/en/) for Switzerland, www.tgv-europe.com for France & EuroStar for Paris-London