Italo Trains

Just the way I feel, said so much better by you....

Jodi, your post is most welcome. Good info.

I was getting worried because I wasn't seeing too much about them on here except that I remember one person's comment along the lines of "they may not last too long".
I was also afraid that it was going to be an ordeal in the train stations due to reading about how Trenitalia and the stations do what they can to make Italo hard to find, obscure tracks,etc.

Nothing was further from the truth. Easy to find, much appreciated lounges (especially in the cold weather)and no problems boarding. I commented to our Italian hosts in two cities about it and they both affirmed that they prefer Italo as well. It did seem the Italo trains were less crowded, which may not be great for their future.

So why do people still only refer to Trenitalia when it comes to the standard routes?

When I bought my trenitalia tickets far in advance they were 19 euro and a lot less then Italo was to same city and better central stations. Italo isn't going to get you to lake como, 5 terre, Siena either

www.seat61.com has opinions on Italian alternatives and nobody carries more authority for riding the rails.

Jodi, I agree with you 100%. Italo's web site was much easier to use and the train experience itself was superior to that on Trenitalia. We used Italo to get from Naples to Rome in September and it was a great experience. And, yes, Roma Tiburtina was just as convenient as Termini. I wish Italo had more routes and I'm hoping that they will expand in the future. From now on, if an Italo route is offered, I will always choose it over Trenitalia!

On a lark we chose Italo for our trip from Venice to Florence a couple of months ago. The mid-level "Prima" service was excellent, and the private Italo waiting room in the Venice station was welcome.

Thank you for all the notes on the trains!! I'm mostly using trains to get around for my May trip and have had some trouble pin pointing which lines/companies to use!