Big fine on the trains

The way we avoided confusion when purchasing train tickets at the station was to print out the routes we wanted from www.bahn.de. Then, I wrote on it (in Italian, from a phrasebook) that I needed two tickets for two adults in second (or first) class. It worked very well. When wondering if we needed to validate, we just went to information booths, showed our tickets, and asked (again from the phrasebook) "validate?" We didn't have any problems on our ten train trips.

Robyn, I can sympathize with your situation, as I experienced something similar.

First of all, regarding the trip from Rome to Verona. I made that trip in May (I actually started in Naples) but it also took me a few minutes to find the correct "binario" when I changed trains in Bologna. I can't recall if I validated there, but I only had one ticket for the entire trip, which had been validated in Naples.

I also experienced a "problem" when travelling on the train from Venice to Florence. I HAD purchased a reservation at a travel agency in Venice, however for some reason this apparently wasn't the "correct" one for that particular train. I was also "nicked" with a fine on the spot. The Conductor was very sympathetic and apologetic, however I still had to pay. I can't recall the exact amount, but don't believe it was as high as Eu$50.00? The Conductors must deal with this on a regular basis, as they're equipped with a small PDA and portable Printer, so issue tickets right away. It was a valuable "learning experience"!

Travel in Italy is always interesting!

Ken,
We also had a "got on the wrong train" experience going from Verona to Florence, changing again in Bologna. This time, I intended to purchase the Eurostar ticket, and she gave me a regional train ticket. The ticket had VERY LITTLE writing on it; I didn't know what I was supposed to do, where I was supposed to go, etc. So I asked an official at the train station. He directed me to the Eurostar train I'd seen on the Internet that I had wanted. We got on, and lo and behold, the conductor told us we were on the wrong train. We'd paid for a regional train and were on the faster, more expensive, Eurostar. It was really frustrating because there was so little writing on the ticket; no train number, no NOTHING, to go by. They really need to explain this all SOMEWHERE at the train stations. Of course, the price of the ticket can be a giveaway; but for an unseasoned train traveler, it was not. We had to pay 15 euro for that one; he said it was the price difference between what we paid and what we should have paid to be on the Eurostar.
A woman on that train told me that if I could look on the internet before buying a ticket, to find what train NUMBER I wanted and ask for that specifically, rather than generally saying "a ticket to Florence" (or whatever).

Validate, validate, validate. That's all there is to it. Travel without a validated ticket is subject to a fine. Conductors do, in fact, periodically appear on Trenitalia and check your tickets and will issue fines. Some cases are oversights but many are plainly attempts to defraud the system by riding the train over and over on the same ticket in the hope they won't be checked. I think the conductors are fairly strict about this, and I don't think your guy was particularly rude but really just doing his job. As overheard in one case, the conductor was polite and calm, but merely said " You have made a very unwise choice." And that was exactly what happened...that passenger tried the scam and lost. There are many types of trains and many types of tickets and fares..it behooves each of us to figure it out. I am not shy about asking for help or clarification and found everyone in Italy to be helpful and kind to a confused tourist.

As I posted in another thread:

This is SOOO easy to forget to do, especially with the train. You may be busy trying to figure out which track (binario) your train is going to be on, when it leaves, which car you should get on, etc. that it can slip your mind. If you get on the train and it takes off and then you realize that you forgot to stamp your ticket, proceed immediately to the very front of the train. If you meet the ticket guy on your way, tell him you forgot to stamp your ticket. Be very apologetic. He will probably endorse the back of it for you. If you don't meet the ticket guy, keep going to the very first car where the engineer is. He or someone else can endorse it for you at that point. Humbly accept any lecture he gives you about the importance of stamping your ticket. (Your goal is to avoid the whopping fine.)

We had some trouble getting some of the validation machines to work. After a particularly bad experience, we checked with "Rick" . He advises that if you can't get a train or bus ticket validation machine to work, take a pen and write your name, the date, the route number and time right on the ticket. Will it always work? I never had to find out. However, if you get on a train and realize you forgot to validate, it would certainly be worth a try. By writing it in ink right across the ticket, you at least show that you are not planning on cheating and using the ticket again.

I've never heard that you don't have to validate 1st class tickets - then again when I travel I always take 2nd class. Always validate your ticket, play it safe because TrenItalia doesn't care if you didn't know or if you forgot - i've seen it happen almost every time I travel.

On our recent trip we were going from Innsbruck to Venice. We boarded a train going to Venice on the proper track etc. with our validated ticket. Once on board we asked three different people by showing them our ticket if we were on the correct train. Two said yes and the last one said no. So, we grabed our bags and ran out, just in time! We consulted other people waiting and found out that the first train left 10 min before our train. You need to make sure you have the right train by watching for the departure time. A few minutes later we boarded the correct train. I don't know, but I wonder if we would have been fined, just because it was the wrong train.

If the ticket has the date, time of departure etc. I don't think you need to validate. If it doesn't then you need to. If in doubt validate. It can't hurt, even if you don't need to.

We found that sometimes (esp. in CT) the validation boxes are near the ticket offices. If you go to the platform there may not be a validation box there. Once, we had to run downstairs, near the office to validate and run back to the plateform with only seconds to spare to catch our train. So, look for those yellow boxes and validate as soon as you get the ticket.

Yes, it sure can be confusing at times what train you're supposed to be on. Not all the tickets, we discovered, have all the information we needed; one was almost blank! Not all validation machines worked, either. The trick is to REMEMBER to validate! When you are tired, in a rush, trying to find where you're supposed to go, it's easy to forget to validate.
From what a local told me on a train, you must validate all non-first-class tickets. You can buy a regional train ticket today and use it anytime between now and when it expires in a few months. You must "validate it" the day you use it; that shows that you are now using the ticket you bought previously, even if you bought it five minutes ago. She said if a ticket is not used within the time frame, you can get a refund. If you don't stamp the ticket, use the trains hoping you don't run into a conductor (or avoid them; I saw this happen), and then turn it in for a refund.... well, it's obvious that this is why they want you to validate the day you use it.

She said that first class tickets are valid only for the date on the ticket, for that seat only; if you miss your train that day, you can't get on the next one for that seat number.

The fines are meant to keep people from cheating, which is totally understandable. My problem was that the conductors handled our situation very poorly, were very intimidating to us, and would not talk to us at all except to say, sternly, "No stamp; 50 euros." Had we realized ahead of time that we did not validate when we needed to, of course we would have fixed it ASAP. Not being fully aware of how exactly things worked lumped us in the category of "trying to cheat" when we were merely "ignorant". That's why I posted this: to warn people to just be careful and VALIDATE EVERYTHING just in case! :)

You have to validate the 2nd class tickets, even though they have assigned seats, because if you miss the train, the ticket still has value - with a fee, you can get another one.

We have a similar experience in our train from Rome to Florence. We were using a EurailPass. Apparently, the traveling date is supposed to be written BEFORE boarding the train. We step into the train without writing the date and start our trip to Florence. When the guy came to my husband, he told him "you where supposed to write the date BEFORE boarding, so you a fine. 50 EURO"!!! I still have those words in my head... My husband try to explain him that we didn't know about that, but he answer "yes you know it. It's 50 EURO". The thing is my husband had the pen on his hand, so he would have let him write the date in that moment, but as you said, all he would say was "50 EURO". My hussband didn't have enough cash, so he just say "no problem", and look for another man with a credit machine so we can pay the fine. We where so impressed with his attitude... we where traveling for about 15 days the day of the incident, and it was the first time we where told that we have to write the date before boardin. On the onther countries we have just visited, before Italy (Netherlands, Germany, Vienna, Checz Republic), the guys just came to us and if the date wasn't written by that time, they just take the pass and write the date, or ask us to write the date dowm.
Bottom line: italian train workers: very mean, no mercy with tourist, a very dissapointing experience for us.