Buying Amica tickets online

Amica fares are limted based on day, train and class (says so on their website). You can easily buy standard fare tickets when you get there but the Amica fares may be sold out.

It's difficult to buy tickets online from www.trenitalia.com. Plus, you may not be able to buy them more than 90 days out. If you can see the train schedule you want on the date you want AND, you see the shopping cart on the right of the schedule, you should be able to purchase. You might want to make the effort early to get these fares.

Amica fares only apply to Express, IC, ICN, IC Plus, EScity, ES, AV and T-Biz, couchettes and WL trains..
If any of the trains are category R (Regional), you will have to price out each segment seperately to get the AMICA fare for the qualifying segment(s).

Will you be in Orvieto--or anywhere else in Italy--a few days before going to Venice? If so, you might be able to get Amica fares for Orvieto-Venice at any station. If any of the allotted seats are still available, you can get an Amica fare up to midnight of the day before departure.

The URL for the English version of the Trenitalia site is www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html. For domestic routes you can book up to 60 days in advance (90 days for international routes). Registering on the site can be problematic so do it now, even if you have to wait until you're within the 60-day range to actually book your tickets.

Larry, William and Tim, thanks for all your input. I did read about getting registered early, so I already did that. I also knew about buying them a few days before but since there is 4 of us, there is a lot to save and I don't want to be disappointed if there are no more Amica left to buy at that time. So I figured I should buy now for our May trip. By the way, we have decided to go 2nd class. I know it's a long train ride but with the dollar exchange costing us so much, we figure going 2nd class is one way to "cut back on expenses". Does everyone agree?

I would like to add another question to this thread. If I am able to purchase train tickets through Trenitalia website, do I select "ticketless" or should I request they be mailed to us? We don't leave for Italy until May. Thanks for any advice.

Linda, I like saving money when possible so I'd choose 2nd class myself.

Carolyn, Go ticketless. It's simpler. And I don't know for sure, but it's possible that Trenitalia may not mail tickets to North America.

Hello Linda for asking and
Hello Tim for answering them,
I am going in May too and had a few questions myself on buying train tickets. This is my first time to Italy.
What does ticketless mean? How do you show prove of purchase?
Do the Amica fare assigned seats for you?
Thanks

Thanks Norm. All clear to me now.

Peggy,"ticketless" means you'll get a confirmation via e-mail, like an airline ticket these days. You can jump aboard the train without having to stamp anything, and find your seat. When the conductor comes around, show him the e-mail confirmation, and he/she will punch your booking number into a small PDA, and run off a receipt for you on a tiny little printers. That's all there is to it! And yes, seats will be assigned. Just as a reminder, in case you'r afraid of losing all these "ticketless" e-mail confirmations for trains, planes, automobiles, hotels, etc, simply open a free web-based e-mail account (like hotmail, Yahoo, G-mail, etc), then e-mail copies of all these documents to yourself. If you lose one or more, all you have to do is find an internet cafe, log into your account, and print out the ones you need. I also scan my passport photo page to a jpg file and send it there, too. You could also e-mail yourself credit card numbers, etc, in case of problems.

Hello Linda and Hello Norm,
Still more questions and hopefully you do not shake your head for my asking.

Is there a booking fee charged for booking directly with Trenitalia like some museums do?
When you book, will they assign seats for you or you get to pick like you do on airlines?
Thanks in advance.

Peggy....no extra booking charge, and yes, they will assign seats to you.

Thanks Peggy for asking those good questions and thank you Norm for your responses. They were very helpful to me also.

Ok I'm going to Italy in May too LOL. I've been looking at the Amica fares but worry that it appears if we miss the train for any reason we would simply be out the entire amount of the ticket Is that correct?

We will be arriving in Rome a little before 8 am figure to take the Leonardo to Termini and then a rapido to Florence. I'm figuring a 10 am train could possibly be doable. We won't have any checked luggage so that should get us out reasonably fast--- but what if the plane would be seriously delayed for some reason? We're flying American and I've seen several posts about them typically being late.

Also, what exactly is the difference between 1st and second class passage? With the euro chomping up my dollars like Cookie Monster with a bag of Oreos I'd like to trim things where reasonably possible.

Maggie...the solution is simply book a slightly later train...say a 10:50 out of Termini. If you arrive late, rush over to the Trenitalia ticket office at the airport and ask to make a booking change...possible up to your train's departure time. However, you'll likely have to pay the extra for an upgraded ticket, say an extra 7-10 Euro second class. And take second class....first may give you more seat room and maybe a free drink, but it's not worth the price. After being jammed in a plane for 8 hours, you'll love the extra legroom, even in second class!

Hi All! Well, it is May 31 so I take it that all of those who asked about booking online have already used their 'ticketless' train rides. Could you share your experiences please ?

I am going end of June. there'll be 4 of us.

1) Did the e-mail for your bookings include the Gates ? Were the gates easy to find ?

2) How do I know which carriage to choose when booking online ?

3) Are the Amica fares close to "R" fares that are not available online ?

Our trip will be from Milan-Verona-Venice-Florence-Rome. Maybe Verona to Venice would be cheaper with "R" for the distance.

Thanks in advance for sharing your train ride experiences!

Thanks, Tim! I'm getting ready to purchase my train tickets. I guess I'll just do the "R" lines for short distance day trips, like Venice to Padova. I saw Rick ride one in his Italy video. It did look cramped, just like a local bus.

Hi Sonny. We are back and it worked great! Here are the answers.

1) Did the e-mail for your bookings include the Gates ? Were the gates easy to find ?
No. The track numbers or Binarioa are only assigned 10-15 minutes (usually) before the train arrives. The tracks are very easy to find and there are huge boards and TV monitors to inform you. We were concerned that it would be difficult and arrived almost an hour early the first time. It was brain dead simple, and we ended up standing around just watching the board.

2) How do I know which carriage to choose when booking online ?

We simply chose 2nd class and let the system pick ouyr carriage. It worked great and really seemed as if the system gave us the best available car.

3) Are the Amica fares close to "R" fares that are not available online ?

I'm not entirely sure but "R" usually means a Regional Train which can not be purchased online. Regional tickets are not for specific trains as there are no seat reservations. So for example the ticket might read Vernazza to Firenze, even though we needed to get on 3 different trains to get there. You must validate it in the yellow boxes before you board the first train and you have all day to finish your trip.

Our trip will be from Milan-Verona-Venice-Florence-Rome. Maybe Verona to Venice would be cheaper with "R" for the distance.

Regional trains are always cheaper, but we found 2nd class fares on short hauls with higher speed trains to be very inexpensive. Rail travel in Italy is such a bargain. The Regional trains stop at every little station, have far less room for luggage, and though fun, can take much longer to reach your destination.

Hope this helps. We traveled all over Italy by train and it was an enjoyable part of our Italy experience, efficient, and at least for us, all the trains were right on time. Have fun!

Thanks in advance for sharing your train ride experiences!

OK, what's the deal with Trenitalia's website ? They won't accept my credit card !!! Has anyone from USA succesfully booked online with them ? What kind of credit card do they want ?

Sonny: Here's the answer to your question: this is a current discussion of the same question, going on in the last couple of days: clickIf you want about a hundred more discussions of this, use the search box upper right corner, search on Trenitalia.

Thanks, Kent. It seemed like another turn through the maze ;-) Larry seems to be the lucky one who got through. What I'm curious about is what bank or card co. he used. It might have to do with an affiliation to the bank that Trenitalia uses.

I know I can buy tickets there. My friends have told me that, but I sure can use the extra Euros that I could save through Amica, to splurge for 1 dinner in Venice for my family of 4. Imagine the savings! More gelatos !!! :-D

Hi All! Just got back from my trip and want to share a few tips and experiences:

1) Since Trenitalia has the option to reserve and purchase within 24 hours, I reserved my train trips just before flying out and printed the emails I got from them. I successfully reserved 1 Amica fare from Florence to Rome. When I got to Milano Centrale station, went to reservation ticketing office, and got the tickets!

2) Buses - the drivers don't really care if passengers pay or not, from Verona to Florence to Rome, etc. One time, we hopped on the bus and asked the driver if he had change since I only had a 5 euro bill. I said, "no change", and he said, "then, no pay."

3) Metro - in Rome, a spot inspection was done at the exit. So, better hold on to your tickets.