buying train ticket from USA

Read this. You want italiarail.com.

http://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Naples.htm#Naples-Italy

I have good experiences with buying tickets directly from the Italian railways: www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en Payment by credit card and an emailed pdf for printing at home. It never failed me.
The one thing you have to remember is to use the Italian originals for place names. In your case that is »Napoli« for Naples and »Firenze« for Florence.

I am able to buy the tickets on italo now, and have read the reviews between the two train companies .They seem comparable. I am just wondering if anyone has ever bought the tickets online and it has actually been successful!

How much are you paying for your tickets?

Double on Tom's post. It is quite easy to buy from the national rail sites online from here. The only possible delay would be the transaction being blocked initially by your credit card company, in which case all it takes is call them and pre-authorize it. Have done this for Italy, Germany, UK, France, Belgium, Eurostar.

Yes, Italo is ok to buy tickets. You are dealing directly with the rail company and not a third party. . Since Italian trains rarely sell out, the only reason to buy tickets on line is to take advantage of the discount. But remember those tickets come with restrictions.

I buy train tickets online frequently. Never had a problem, except one time I entered the wrong date and lost the €9. Lesson: be sure to use the prompt for the calendar.

Trenitalia and I assume (Italo) has a zbritish flag icon that will give you the English page. Still need Italian place names.

I bought tickets on Italo Treno for our family trip from Venice to Rome in October 2015. We got a great price by buying months in advance, and Inwas able to select specific seats in First Class. The website is very easy to use and the train was nice.

Some credit card companies may not approve the charge unless you advise in advance that you will be making a purchase in Italy.

Do you have a specific concern?

I am a huge fan of Trenitalia. Very easy to buy tickets on their website. I always buy the fast train tickets before leaving the US and print them to take with me. Sometimes the Italo trains are in an awkward portion of the available platforms and the prices are higher, at least that's my observation.

www.tenitalia.com/tcom-en

Wrong link. Try

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

Thank you all. I got the information I needed now!

Don't bother researching rail trips on Rail Europe as they don't necessarily show all trips that are available. Use the trenitalia or Italo websites for specific times and other details.

I normally buy tickets from trainline.eu (formerly Captain Train) as they sell tickets for both Trenitalia and Italo at the same prices as the rail networks. Once you're registered on the site, it's very user friendly and tickets can usually be printed at home. They also sell tickets for trains in France, Germany and other countries.

As noted earlier, tickets for the express trains require a compulsory seat reservation which is specific to train, date and departure time. You can only use the one train specified on the ticket. If you board the wrong train by mistake, you'll be deemed to be travelling without valid reservations and will be subject to hefty fines which will be collected on the spot!

I have bought tickets on Italo online with a credit card and did not have a problem. The train was very nice and comfortable. For my ticket, it was cheaper than Trenitalia.