When to buy train tickets

Different companies. Lots of bus companies in Italy. www.sitabus.it and www.sena.it. They are both a little difficult to navigate. The SITA bus website is only in Italian. The SENA bus website is in English. For the SENA bus website, you can enter Siena and Assisi but when you go to the next page, you won't see Assisi. Under Nationale, select Umbria. Then, to the right, select Santa Maria Degli Angeli. Only one bus a day.

It depends upon a few things. 1. If you will be taking Regionale trains then you can just buy the tickets in the station on the same day. 2. If you are taking one of the Freccia trains, then you should buy the tickets as soon as it will let you, since they have a pricing scheme now with a limited number of the cheaper price level available. You will see when you go on the site that it doesn't let you buy them too far in advance, though I don't know the exact timeline.
3. If you are using the new alternative train line (ItaloTreno.it), then be advised that they have sales for various routes and that those seats sell out in advance, whereas the volume is not always as high on the other price levels, so if you see a sale price and it will let you buy it now you might want to go ahead and lock it in, whereas with the other price points you probably have time to wait.

It would help if we knew a bit more about your travel agenda. For openers, it you are riding any regional trains (i.e. Florence to Pisa or the Ct, Florence to Siena, Milan to Varenna, etc), you won't be able to buy these tickets online. Seats cannot be reserved. The Regionale trains are like buses. You buy your ticket, validate it in the little yellow machine, get on the train and find a seat. If no seat, you can stand until somebody gets off. Again, like buses, the Regionale trains stop at every stop. If you are riding the high-speeds, you can go online within 90 days of travel and buy your tickets. You can get some really nice fares if you are willing to 1) accept a non-refundable ticket and, 2) lock yourself into a specific train, on a specific day with a specific departure time. If not, you can wait until you get there. You can buy train tickets at any staffed train station of ticket machine. 2-3 days in advance is just fine. Note, however, that you will pay the full fare price. All of the special fares will most likely be gone. Go ahead and try working on www.trenitalia.com. You don't have to register to buy tickets but I would recommend registering. If you are successful (and I have been recently), you can print out your tickets at home. On many runs where the journey has train changes and you will be on both a high-speed and a Regionale, you can buy tickets for both online and print them out. I've done that recently as well.

We will be taking the train from Venice to Padua, Padua to Milan, Milan to Florence, bus to Siena, then train from Siena to Assisi, and finally Assisi to Rome. We will be day tripping from Florence to Pisa and maybe Lucca. I know that trip will need to be bought there. Thanks

Venice to Padova is close enough that you can take either the high-speed or Regionale train. 25min for the high-speed and 49min for the Regionale. 15Euro for the high speed and 3.50Euro for the Regionale. Padova to Milan. You have the same choices. The high-speed is almost an hour faster than the Regionale Veloce but it's more than double the fare (32.50Euro vs. 15.30Euro. Milan to Florence will most likely be a high-speed. 1hr45min for the journey and 50Euro for the fare. If you book early and are willing to lock into a non-refundable ticket, you can get a super economy fare of 19Euro. From Florence to Siena, you can take the SITA Corse Rapide bus (express). Note that the SITA bus station is about 800 feet from the main Florence train station. From Siena to Assisi, these will mostly be all Regionale trains. Trip can take up to4.5hrs. Some runs will have two train changes. Alternatively, you can actually take a the SENA bus from Siena to Santa Maria Degli Angeli which is actually the same place the train goes. The sign in the train station says Assisi but it's actually Santa Maria Degli Angeli. From there, you take a bus or taxi up to Assisi. Assisi to Rome could be a mixture of a high-speed and a Regionale with a train change at Folgino. The mixture ticket I mentioned above was exactly this run. I was able to buy both tickets online and print them out at home. You trains from Florence to and from Pisa or Lucca will most likely be Regionales. Most are.

Thanks. What is the difference between the SITA and the SENA buses?