Germany Italy

You might look at a German Rail Pass. It is valid on EC trains between Munich and Venice. It is only valid from the German-Dutch border to Berlin, but you can buy the Netherlands portion from NS. Italy trains are fairly reasonable even last minute for fast trains, and if staying on the Venice-Florence- Rome-Naples corridor, you can use Italotreno for a bit less than Trenitalia.

In Italy if you can commit to taking specific trains and not change your schedule, you can save a lot of money by purchasing “super saver” tickets in advance. If any trains you are taking are “regionale”, seats are not reserved and price never changes. You can check pricing on the easy to use Trenitalia app or on their website. Using any kind of rail pass in Italy normally will not save you any money.

The German Rail Pass is valid in Germany AND from Bavaria to Verona, Bologna, Venice and certain other Italian destinations. See link below with map.

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/mdb/bahnintern/international/redaktion_bahn.com/pdf-datein/pdf_2019/mdb_289891_grp-flyer_2019.pdf

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/passes/german-rail-pass.shtml

For other Italian cities you may wish to add on rail tickets or flight tickets from one of those above - or from Germany.

js,

Rail passes are not usually cost effective for Italy, as the daily cost of the pass is often higher than the cost for P-P tickets but only on Regionale trains. If travelling on the express trains such as the Freccia high speed or InterCity, you MUST have valid reservations for the specific train you're riding on, or you'll face hefty fines which will be collected on the spot! When travelling with a Rail pass, you'll have to buy the reservations separately. Also, I don't believe Italo Treno (the other rail network that runs high speed trains) accepts rail passes.

You don't need to buy tickets in advance in Italy, as they can easily be bought at stations, either from a staffed ticket office or from automated kiosks. Regionale tickets are always the same price, so buying in advance or buying on the spot will be the same. Regionale tickets purchased locally MUST be validated prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or again hefty fines collected on the spot. However advance purchase tickets for the express trains are discounted with Super Economy or Economy pricing so significant savings are possible provided you can commit to a specific departure. You can also buy tickets for the express trains at the time of travel, however it's likely all the discounted tickets will be sold out, so you'll be paying Base Fare, which is the highest price tier. Tickets for the express trains do not have to be validated.

This is all great information thank you. I think I feel comfortable now with making my decision on train tickets.