Confused on booking train reservations and tickets-by website-Help

There is no such thing as a Eurail ticket. Eurail is a marketing organisation that sells passes which are valid on the trains of many different railway companies in different countries.

If you want to buy a ticket from Milan to Venice, or look up times, go to the website of Trenitalia, which is the national railway company in Italy and which operates most of the trains, including between Milan and Venice: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

You do not normally buy a separate "reservation", the ticket will either be valid on any train, or in the case of long distance tickets like Milan to Venice, you choose which train you want and the ticket will only be valid on that train (same system as air tickets). On the ticket it will say date, time, train number, coach and seat numbers.
The only time you need to buy a reservation as a separate purchase is when you have a rail pass, but these are rarely good value in Italy.

For much more usefull info see here: http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm

or you can always buy tickets at the rail station in Milano. Costs more, but gives you flexibility, and someone can answer any questions in person.

First, you are buying tickets for the Italian rail system. There is no eurail. Go to trenitalia.com. All trains, except Regionale, in Italy require a seat reservation and it comes with the ticket when you purchase. You have three levels of ticket pricing - Super Economy, Econ, and Base. SE and E are discount tickets available for early purchase on line. SE is no change, no refund; Econ is one change paying the fare difference but no refund. Base is the walk up prices - easily change and refunded if necessary. The number of SE and E available vary by train, time of day, etc., and frequently , especially the SE, sell out quickly. The ticket will specify the train number, car number, seat number, and date. The ticket is only good for that train at that day and time. If you miss the train, you need a new ticket.

The Regionale trains are slightly different. The tickets are the cheapest, never discounted. When you buy the ticket in the station it is good for that day on any Regionale train going from A to B. You validate (time stamp) the ticket in a little blue/yellow/green near the tracks on get on the train. No seat, stand till one becomes available.

Try, https://www.raileurope.com

Another option is www.trainline.eu (formerly Captain Train). We bought most of our train tickets through their website, with no hassle whatsoever.

Jlaguna,

As the others have mentioned, you can book your tickets on the Trenitalia.com website.

You will need to write the station names in Italian:

• Milan = Milano Centrale
• Venice= Venezia S. Lucia
• Florence = Firenze S. M. Novella

You don't mention when you will be traveling, but if you want to save money, you can book your tickets as far as 120 days in advance.

Here is a pdf with step by step instructions on how to buy tickets on the trenitalia website.

Have a wonderful trip!

Jlaguna,

I'd suggest you book your tickets from Italy's Railways official website(TrenItalia) for best offers & NOT from Rail Europe, which is a third party company based in the US, & you may pay extra fees by booking with them.