Chip and PIN credit cards

You will not be able to use your US non chip/pin credit cards in machines whether toll roads or gas stations or train tickets. There are a few exceptions but this is the general rule. This means when driving to be sure to gas up frequently and not to go into weekends without a full tank. Gas stations with attendants can fuel you with cash or magnetic card, but you won't be able to use the unmanned pumps. Since locals just use their cards in the pumps gas stations in rural areas often do not staff at lunch time, or weekends or even when the sign says they are open. If desperate, you can head for a toll road where the gas islands are staffed. I always travel with a small purse filled with one and two Euro coins, a few 5 notes, and some other change to pay tolls along the way.

You can use your credit card at restaurants, grocery stores, shops etc that take credit cards so long as there is a person to run it -- they don't work in machines.

Besides the gas situation, the biggest annoyance is train tickets. I have spent an hour in line while the locals just zip up to machines and get their tickets.

However, you can use your debit card in ATMs to get cash. You can also use your debit card in the trenitalia ticket machines to buy your train tickets and avoid the lines.

Thanks guys but I'm still not clear on this - do the various machines you are describing (gas, train, tool booth) take a standard ATM card?

Alex, no, those machines do not take American ATM cards.

I have never hear of a "standard ATM card" in my 12 summers in Europe. I have and always use DEBIT CARDS
tied to CHECKING ACCOUNTS from two different financial institutions. This way I have a backup incase anything ever happens to one of them. I have heard of folks using a credit card to get local currency from an ATM machine but most, if not all, credit card issuers consider that to be a cash advance with high fees and poor exchange rates. By the way, ATMs are machines not plastic cards.

My card has "ATM" printed on it in bold letters Charlie!
Also as far as I know all debit cards also function as credit cards at retail outlets (perhaps I had to enable that feature).

But it sounds like a chip and pin CC is a very good idea in Europe.

It is best to check with your bank and/or credit union before you go to ensure that you have
a debit and/or ATM card.
I asked to have my ATM card set as a plain ATM card - with no debit card ability (that's the way
I like it.)
But if I ever needed debit card - I would have to go the credit union and get a new card.

Self Service Payment machines (for train tickets, gas pumps, motorway tolls, Parking lots) require CHIP+PIN cards. Unfortunately American credit cards and ATM debit cards are (with very few exceptions) either MAGNETIC STRIP+SIGNATURE.or CHIP+SIGNATURE, meaning that you are required to sign the card to an attendant, rather than just enter a PIN number in the machine. Your ATM/Debit card has a PIN but probably doesn't have a CHIP (only a magnetic strip), therefore you won't be able to use it in a machine, because those machines do not read magnetic strips, only chips. In fact you don't even insert the card in totally, but only about 1/3 of it until the Chip is inside the machine.
One way around that is to pay cash at the machine (instead of using credit/debit cards), because those machines accept euro bills. The bank ATM machines will take your Magnetic strip+PIN ATM card, so you can still withdraw cash at the ATMs and then pay cash at the machines. It's not really a big problem because you rarely have to pay more than 100 euro at a machine, whether it's gas (a full tank is generally less than 100€, unless you rent a large SUV), or motorway toll (which rarely is over €50, unless you drive from the Alps to Apulia). Parking is just a few euros, so it won't be a problem to pay parking with cash. The only issue might be trains if you are purchasing multiple tickets on high speed trains, which can be quite a bit of dinero, in which case you might have to withdraw quite a bit of cash before using the self service machines at the train station.
Note that to pay the motorways tolls with cash (rather than cards) you must drive through toll booths that display the big white sign with the cash logo (bills and coins). If the logo shows also a black hand holding the bills, then it's a manned booth with attendant (however they don't take cards, only cash). If there is no black hand holding the bills on the white sign, it means that there is a self service machine that takes cash. Don't go through the toll booths that show the blue CARTE (cards) sign, because those machines take only chip+pin cards.
So, to make a long story short, carry enough cash with you and you'll be able to use any of those self service machines even without chip+PIN cards.

Charlie, you may not have heard of them, but there are "just" ATM cards, as well as debit cards. ATM cards can only be used to withdraw money from an ATM. Debit cards, which are also used in ATMs, can also be used to make purchases, though I have never used mine that way in Europe.

Regarding using debit cards to make purchases in Europe, I've found that doesn't work with my cards (I can't even make purchases in the U.S.). I can only use my debit card at ATM's to obtain cash, and not for POS transactions. It does however work just fine for POS transactions in Canada.

When travelling in foreign countries, I likely wouldn't use a debit card for purchases anyway, as credit cards provide better protection against fraud.

I too only have an ATM card; it is not a debit card and cannot be used to make purchases. As noted, often debit cards won't work for purchases oversees for various reasons. It is also not a good idea to try since the fraud protections are a little different and you don't want your checking account emptied for a couple weeks while you are out of the country.

Sometimes chip& signature cards will work in kiosks. It depends on the various validation protocols. But you won't know until you try it in a particular machine.

There is no reason to get a chip&PIN card (they are available in the US but hard to find and not worth it for a short vacation). Toll booths have cash lanes. Train stations have attended booths or the kiosks accept cash too. And any manned transaction will work with your old fashioned magnetic strip card.

We traveled last year in Amsterdam and Venice. A few places in Amsterdam refused our non-chip card but most could accommodate except trains and any type of Kiosk. In Italy we had no problems, in fact where never asked if it was chip, but again trains were the exception. I did use my ATM card (yes, which can operate as a credit card) to obtain cash, the common denominator was NYCE. My credit card company Capitol One, says chips will be available 2015. I believe Chase offers chips now.

I have a debit card with a four number pin tied to a US bank and to VISA. I have no problems using it in the ticket machines for trenitalia or italo.

Just be patient. By October 2015 US cards must be chip and pin too.