CartaFreccia

Yes

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/cartafreccia-discount-train-tickets-on-trenitalia-for-seniors

Thank you Christine. What did you put in the line that asks for tax code? Thank you, Doreen

I’m sorry
I have not done this application

I just pulled up the info as I knew it was here
Hopefully Carol will come along and help you

The tax code is for Italian citizens, so you can leave it blank. There is a thread on here about CartaFreccia if you do a search. Lots of good info.

My husband and I decided not to get them, rather book our Freccia tickets far enough in advance to take advantage of the early promotions that trenitalia offers.

Either way- enjoy the wonderful train system.

Edit to add: the thread Christine posted may be the one I referenced. She’s really up on info on the forum.

The answer to the tax code question is just leave it blank. It is optional. Just a warning that processing times have been all over the place. Some of us got ours within a few days. Others got theirs after months long waits.

Speaking of the long wait for CartaFreccia to arrive sometimes: does anyone know of a way to check in on progress? I submitted our applications on 30 April, and we've still heard nothing. We leave for Italy on 19 June, and I'm wondering how long to wait before I throw in the towel and just buy tickets without them. Have been keeping an eye on the journeys I'm targeting.

Thanks!

I have had one for years and find the value minimal. You have to ride a LOT in a year to get much of an award. Living in Italy and traveling 50% of the time, I earned one free ticket that I was able to use in one year. Highly restrictive. Buy8ng the super economy fares in advance is a far better deal.

Thank you, Laurel! That's very helpful. I was hoping to accumulate X-Go points on the Intercity trains, as we'll be taking several of those: https://www.trenitalia.com/it/x-go.html

Perhaps I am overestimating how valuable that would be, though? Based on this sentence: "With X-GO you accumulate points and transform them into immediate Cashback to spend on your next trips!" I was assuming that each purchase would earn me an (admittedly small) discount on the next purchase, so I was thinking I could daisy-chain the purchases, as every little bit helps.

Laura, to be fair, I am not familiar with X-GO. I did look it up and found it telling that no English translation is available. When one tries the English drop down, the site takes you to a page not related to X-GO. So I looked up the Ts and Cs in Italian and translated them via Google. (My Italian is good but not read-a-legal-document good!) here, to me, is a vital paragraph

The Initiative is reserved for Trenitalia customers traveling with Regional and Intercity/Intercity Night trains, who are natural persons, resident and/or domiciled in the Territory, including minors aged between 14 and 18 years of age (hereinafter , “Recipients” or, in the singular, “Recipient”). Participation in the Program is not permitted by persons who do not fall within the definition of Recipients (by way of example and not limited to: travel agencies, tour operators, distributors in general).

Seems you have to be a resident of Italy. Here is the whole page which you can read for yourself if you click on the translate option for your browser. https://www.trenitalia.com/it/termini-condizioni-x-go.html

I saw that paragraph too, Laurel, and you may well be correct. I was taking a shot at trying since "outlanders" can register for CartaFreccia, and the X-Go page also says "If you are already registered or are a CartaFRECCIA customer, you can sign up for X-GO from the Trenitalia App or by clicking here."

It seemed worth a try when there was plenty of time. Now that it's been almost 3 weeks and the trip is coming closer, I'm less and less sure about waiting for it to arrive. So far none of my planned routes are showing as low inventory, but as it's my family's first time in Italy, I'm a bit nervous. It's certainly a much more complex system than our prior experiences with Japan, England, and Switzerland (admittedly none of those especially recent).