Advance purchasing train tickets

25 minutes really ought to be fine. And don't plan on every train being late... I was 1 minute late getting to my reserved train, and got the pleasure of watching it pull out of Milano Centrale without me. Thankfully I was only out 9 euros, but it also meant that I got into Verona much later than I had planned for.

You will have to change trains in Naples to get onto the circumvesuviana train, which you won't need reservations for.

Amy, your "generality" on Italian trains needs to be tweaked a bit. They don't generally run late. In fact, you will be surprised how on-time they really are. Not the Swiss to be sure but they do quite well.

For your train out of the CT, you will be on a Regionale train that will most likely require a train change at La Spezia Centrale. From La Spezia Centrale, you can transfer to a nice high-speed train that goes direct to Rome-Termini via the west coast. You avoid Florence and the train change there. It's less expensive also. At Rome-Termini, you do need a bit of time to find your next train. Rome-Termini has about 32 platforms and a daily population going through of about a 1/2 million. Thus, 25 minutes should be quite safe to transfer to your high-speed train to Napoli-Centrale. Here's a picture of what I see on two runs that show what I describe above. http://gyazo.com/20cef938c21290fdf2dbcc5df86d602f

The schedule above is how Trenitalia will present the runs. You can schedule these 3 legs separately if you want. You can't buy the Regionale train ticket online but you can buy the other two. Or, you can input Manarola to Rome-Termini and the Regionale train, as well as the Freccibianca fast train will be presented. If you need more assistance, just let us know.

Thank you so much. Your response is very helpful. How nervous should I be traveling on the line from Naples to Sorrento? There are 4 of us traveling together. Would taking a taxi to the ferry be a better choice as far as safety is concerned? I'm concerned about pickpockters but it's starting to border on paranoia.

Amy, the Circumvesuviana train from Naples to Sorrento is a local train that is often very busy and crowded. The Naples station has been mentioned as a hangout for pickpockets and you do need to watch your luggage. One suggestion you could consider is to take a taxi to the front of the Naples airport and take the Curreri bus to Sorrento. Here's a picture of their schedule and fares. http://gyazo.com/7e0fa7820c4888eff275b74145c3d84d

The website is http://www.curreriviaggi.it/inglese/E_index.html

I take lots of trains in Italy, almost all are on time, but I like to allow a fair amount of transfer time just in case (for me that's 25-30 minutes). I usually get an espresso while I'm waiting, or read up on the next destination if the wait is longer. I like people-watching so I never feel like it's wasted time.

Dangers of the Circumvesuviana are overstated.

Getting a taxi from the train station to the airport and a bus is non-sense, in my opinion.

My take is simple: if your train from Napoli to Sorrento appears to be too crowded so that you'd have to stand and be separated from your luggage, wait until the next one comes, then you should be good to go. As with other regional lines, Circumvesuviana trains are busier on morning and afternoon peak times, less so otherwise.

Now, a final bit of nip-picking: "west coast" or "east coast" are totally strange terms to refer to Italian coastlines and areas. Nobody uses that in Italy. If you want to refer to either coast, call them by the local sea names, Ligurian (coast), Tyrrhenian (coast), Ionian (coast), Adriatic (coast).

Same goes with "Lake District".