How do I validate the ticket for a Regional Train?

See answer on your duplicate post
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/train-ticket-purchase-between-sorrento-to-pompeii

Thanks - newbie here.
Still do not understand what to do with the ticket that I purchased online from Trenitalia. I could not find the answer on "the man in seat 61"
I purchased the ticket for April 2025 and the 9x11 inch page says not valid for travel It has the departure and arrival stations and a ticket code. So I take this large page and stick it in a machine that prints a date and time stamp and then board the train? Or do I exchange it for a smaller ticket which is then validated?

You do not need to validate a ticket purchased online.

https://www.trenitalia.com/en/info_contacts/travelling-on-regional-trains.html
https://www.trenitalia.com/en/purchase/digital-regional-ticket.html

"Your Regional Digital Ticket will be validated automatically upon the scheduled departure of your chosen train."

You may need to go to the app and download your ticket for the regional train?

kmurphy,
If you purchased your Regionale ticket online there’s no need to validate it (in a machine) anymore because the ticket is for a specific time, date, and journey, unless you decide to change it (time and date only, until 11:59pm day before your trip)

According to the trenitalia website:

You no longer need to check in and your ticket is automatically validated, on the scheduled departure of the train you’ve selected.

You’ll find more detailed information about this here: trenitalia.com

Hope this helps!

Edited to add…
Oops! I didn’t see Pam’s response before I posted ;-)

If you are a bit wary of apps and tech, you could still cover your bases and use one of the little green and white boxes mounted on the platform to manually validate the ticket.
I believe those are being phased out soon.
Do try and have the app on your phone, it’s really very easy to use.

If in doubt before boarding, just ask a railway official for help/confirmation .
Italian train travel is efficient and enjoyable, at least that is what I have found in nearly 40 years of using them.

Thanks all! I feel more confident about this train travel now.

The original question from kmurphy was never actually answered. I'm experiencing the same thing now: a QR code is visible (in the Trenitalia app, in my Apple wallet, and on the pdf) for the part of the journey that's not on a Regional train, but the QR code is not visible - not in the app, not in Apple wallet even after clicking "Add to Apple wallet", and not on the pdf - for the leg of the journey that is on a regional train. The only way you can see the QR code for the regional leg is by clicking the button in your original email from Trenitalia that says "CHECK-IN & BARCODE". Then you can see it, but you can only print it from your browser. You can't force it to appear anywhere else, apparently (and this is what they leave out when they say "Validation is automatic and occurs at the time of the scheduled departure of the train"), until the scheduled departure time of your train. That is, the QR code never appears until your ticket has been "automatically validated", that is, it's your day of travel, you're on the train, and your actual journey has begun.

Google AI seems confident about this, although of course I won't trust Google AI alone:

"QR Code Visibility: The QR code, or "dynamic bar," which confirms the ticket's validity for the conductor, will appear at the scheduled departure time of your train."

...but I eventually found it buried on this page at Trenitalia:

https://www.trenitalia.com/en/information/digital-regional-ticket.html#:~:text=Manage%20your%20ticket%20in%20a,the%20train%20you've%20selected.

Where it states:

"What should I show to on-board staff on ticket inspection duty?
Show your Digital Regionale Ticket with the green dynamic bar, which will automatically appear when the scheduled train departs."

I'm pretty sure I get it now...but I'll be taking a printed page showing the QR code from my browser anyway, especially since the automatic appearance of the QR code must be dependent on your phone having access to data, or being connected to wi-fi, at the moment the conductor comes down the aisle.