Booking train tickets for January

Schedule should be complete by about Dec 13 although some probably sooner

If tickets not available nobody has access to them so no worries about discounted tickets being sold out

Book on Trenitalia

No need to wait for Trenitalia’s tix to go on sale—You can buy high-speed Italotreno tickets NOW up through January. Be sure you have the high-speed train routes to input ( ie Roma to Firenze, Firenze to Milano) which are the routes you’ll save money on by buying in advance.

You can buy the Regionale tix ( ie Firenze to Lucca) anytime as there are no savings by buying the Regionale tix in advance.

www.Italotreno.com/en

Since regional train tickets are always the same price, you may look if you book the fast train portion now and book the regional connections nlater when they become available. In the example you gave, Verona to Lucca involves a Frecciarosso train from Verona Porta Nuova to Firenze S.M. Novella, then a regional train to Lucca. You can buy the Verona-Florence train now at a discount Super Economy ticket. Buy the regional connection later, it is always the same price.

Thanks for the replies.

Kenko, you suggested that I could buy Verona-Firenze now and then regional later. That's an idea - hopefully there would not be a long connecting time (Sunday).
Do you know where I would have to change trains going from Lucca to Napoli?

Thanks

Hi Viajero, , Lucca to Firenze Santa Maria Novella is a Regionale train— so no need to book in advance.
Firenze Santa Maria Novella to Napoli Centrale ( 3-hour) high-speed Italotreno train tix is now on sale,

You can view schedules and fares (and buy tickets) at www.TheTrainline.com and www.Omio.com for both trenitalia and Italotreno high-speed trains.

What Kenko says is just not true. Neither Trainline or Omio have any special access to tickets.

They can't and aren't selling regional train tickets beyond December 12th.

However like Trenitalia themselves are (now) they are selling fast train tickets until the end of March.

In other words Trenitalia know the fast train timetables now, but not the Regional ones.

As the Regional tickets don't change in price the trick on Verona to Lucca or any other route where you change from fast to regional train is to buy the fast train part of the journey now, then the Regional part later or even on the day.

Isn31c, I think you misread my post. What I wrote is that Trenitalia and Italotreno high-speed train tix for January are on sale now through The Trainline and Omio platforms. Italotreno is also selling its high-speed train tix on its website.
Trenitalia sells Regionale tickets.
Trenitalia does contract with both The Trainline and Omio to sell its train tix—as does Italotreno. So they do have special access to sell Trenitalia’s high-speed train tickets. They have access to Trenitalia’s computerized ticketing systems which enables them to sell Trenitalia’s high-speed trains tickets. And you’ll find that Trenitalia High-Speed train tix are for sale on both of those platforms for dates beyond December 13..

I still can't find high speed train tickets for some dates, like Napoli-Roma on 24 January. They don't seem to go that far. I will probably buy the fast train tickets portions where I can get them and hope for the best regional connections. Might be tricky on a Sunday.

I see train times for 24 January (Napoli-Roma) but it states "not available".

Trainline and iralotreno have tix through January 22. January 24 should be available shortly.

January is ages away. Buying train tickets so far in advance is not really something the railways expect you to want to do. So you encounter all kinds of weird things when you try.
I would expect that by end of October or so all schedules should be on line, and tickets should be available till about the summer.

Thanks for advice. I see that there are tickets from Verona to Firenze on the January date I want. Wouldn't it be wise to book the fast train tickets now and then pay cash for the connecting regional train from from Firenze to Lucca on day of departure? Presumably there will be adequate regional connections.

Yes, go ahead and buy the high-speed train tix once you’ve nailed down your itinerary. I always buy them as soon as I can and just buy the Regionale tickets at the train stations just before the journey. The Regionale trains can not sell out. They may have standing room only but you can always catch a train.

BTW, tix for Napoli to Roma on January 24 are now on sale.

I don't see them for sale yet from either Trenitalia or Italo on Jan 24. From Amalfi Coast, you will most likely want to travel from Salerno.

Kenko, I do not see Napoli-Roma for sale on Trenitalia for 24 January, only up to 22 January.

One other question: I have heard that in case of a strike, trains prior to 9 AM will operate. Is this true?

I'm still struggling to buy tickets for January dates. Strangely I found tickets for later dates than I want but none for the dates I want. The logic escapes me.

As 24 January is a Saturday presumably there is scheduled engineering work, so presumably RFI (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana) the Italian Rail Infrastructure company are determining how to run the trains- maybe to an extended schedule over a diversionary route.

Until they advise the various Train Operating Companies what is possible they cannot sell tickets.

We are well over 3 months out- either trains or rail replacement buses for part of the route will run. There aren't just going to be no trains, but they may be on the old slower classic lines for part of the journey, not the high speed lines.

It is worth noting that there are at least 9 routes (from a basic Italian rail map, missing many lesser lines) between Milan and Rome, so the chance of not being able to make a journey (assuming no strikes) is totally nil.

Thanks for the info about possible track work. The route I need for 24 January is Naples to Rome but I assume the same situation would prevail if there is track work. Incidentally, when there is track work do they reroute trains or reduce and slow down service on the same routes?'

I am having the same problem with trying to book Verona to Lucca on a Sunday. I assume track work is also done on Sundays. I know that part of the trip involves regional trains but I can'r even find Verona to Firenze.

It is a general rule in much of Western Europe that you try to do track work on a weekend so as to be the least disruptive as possible. Sometimes of course it is big enough work that the track has to be closed for whole weeks.
On a High Speed route it is more likely that the whole route will be closed, and diversions to a slower route, on safety grounds. You can't have people working on on one track, and trains whizzing by on the other. But you might use the other track to run slowly, and maybe in both directions on the same track (not at the same time obviously). Many, many permutations of what may happen.
Until timetables come out everyone is just second guessing.

But the reason I, and probably most locals would be really laid back about this situation is that there are three direct routes from Naples to Rome- the high speed route you hope to use and two other slower routes.
For Verona to Lucca - there are three separate routes between Verona and Bologna and at least two between Bologna and Firenze. If push came to shove you could route between Bologna and Lucca avoiding Firenze (I know you want to route via Firenze, as the fastest route but it is possible).
Sure the other routes take longer (even a lot longer in some cases), but unless Bologna Centrale station was closed for major work I can't see how you couldn't find a valid rail route.

Thanks for your detailed info.

I checked Verona - Bologna and Verona - Firenze . Tickets are available Thursday 15th January but not for the following Friday, Saturday and Sunday, They are again available for the 19th

For Napoli-Roma there are tickets for 22 January and 26 January; none for the weekend.

For Lucca - Napoli nothing is available for Wednesday 21st January.

I think you are right about trackwork on weekends. I guess I have chosen the wrong days to travel which presents a problem as hotels are booked, either prepaid and non refundable or otherwise with stiff penalties so changes are difficult.

I assume too that if I have to wait until closer to travel dates fares will be significantly higher. Have you any idea when schedules will be available?

The rates will not be higher
The Base rate remains the same
Discounted tix might sell out but since none are even available yet you have nothing to worry about

Just wait-it is almost 4 months til the dates you are looking for

Three months actually but I have no choice but wait at this point.

Verona to Bologna and Florence tickets are now available for 21 January.

The onward section to Lucca is, as expected, not yet available- probably awaiting the December timetable release.

Naples to Rome on 24 January has tickets released currently for the InterCity trains which take 2 hours, but those for the Frecc. trains which take half the time have not yet been released. The IC trains are only available on the Trenitalia website, not Trainline or other booking platforms, and ItaloTren have also not yet released tickets.

Thanks for info. They are offering Carta Freccia and "Me and You" fares. Are foreigners allowed to book the Carta Freccia? Are foreigners qualified for Senior fares? And what is "Me and YOU".

CartaFreccia info here-you must apply for it in advance
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/cartafreccia-discount-train-tickets-on-trenitalia-for-seniors

Read the info box next to the Me and You offering

https://www.trenitalia.com/en/offers/me-and-you-offer.html

Sam, thanks for info. I booked You and Me. They didn't ask for Carta Freccia. I hope that was correct.

It does not say anything about having a Carta Freccia to buy You and Me tickets.

Thanks Sam and others who have been very helpful
I've been able to book two train routes. Still need Verona to Lucca 18 January and Lucca-Napoli 21 January. I see a few trains Verona-Firenze with changes required are available but not at convenient times and I don't know what the regional connections would be, so I guess I'd better wait,

Do regional trains always operate over routes with fast intercity trains? And where can I find schedules for regional services?

You will find the regional train schedules on the same place as you find the intercity and high speed train schedules: www.trenitalia.com

When looking up times you can select which trains should be shown. Look for the "solutions" drop down to the right.

If you go to www.trenitalia.com and look op Napoli to Rome for tomorrow you will see that there are still tickets available for about every train of the day.

If you look at January 24 the trains are shown, but with "temporarily not available".

So what do you do? Just let it rest for a couple of weeks. Try again next month or so. There is obviously something planned, and Trenitalia does not want to sell tickets unless they are sure the train will run (unlike eg. DB which would sell you a ticket, and then send you a confusing email a week before travel...)

So just be a bit patient. It is a train. Trains do not sell out months in advance. There will be trains and you will be able to book them eventually.

Thanks. I'll wait until November.
One other thing I noticed: If you look for trains on a Sunday, for example, the Trenitalia site often states "next day". To find Sunday trains I have to go back to Saturday where it says "next day". Is there some reason for this?

I'm not sure, but make certain you have re-set the travel time before executing the search. I think trenitalia.com is one of the websites that defaults to the current time. Italy is 6 hours ahead of us [oops--that's for the US, not Brazil], so if you're checking in the afternoon, the default search time will be in the evening--possibly quite late in the evening. There might be no trains departing after the default search time.

The Trenitalia website does not change the time zone in the US, but may vary by different countries. Remember the time difference now is 5 hours between Buenos Aires and Italy, but this Sunday, they go off of "Summer Time" and the clocks get turned back 1 hour, so it will be 4 hours difference.

It probably depends on when you are looking......as others have said, it defaults to the time it is for ANY day you are looking and if the time is "defaulted" to 11pm, then it will always go to next day....

If you don't pick a time of travel from the drop down menu, trenitalia.com defaults to the time on your system.

The deadline to upload the 2026 winter schedules is December 14. Just use any day before the deadline to look up the schedules and get tickets on December 15. Trains in Europe are mass transit, not planes that sell out and must be booked months in advance.