Italy Train Tickets: Should book ahead for Summer???

If you want to get the best discount fares still available, book today at trenitalia.com. MINI fares start at €9.00 and go up in 10 euro increments as the allotted number of tickets at each price level are sold. The cheapest MINI fares are long gone. For example, I entered an arbitrary date of 20 August for Milan-Rome and found MINI fares ranging from €19.00 to €69.00 with all MINI fare tickets gone for one departure time. The standard 2nd class fare ranges between €86.00 and €91.00.

Trains on those routes are very frequent, so you are unlikely to have trouble getting one at the "last minute." The reason to book ahead is to save money. If you can commit to a specific train, you can see if Mini fares are still available. These are discounts for advance purchase; they start at 9 euros and then, as these sell out, go up to 19 euros, 29 euros, etc. You book on line, then bring the PNR code with you on the train, and this serves as your ticket. The only problem: these tickets are non-refundable. If you miss your train, or change your plans, you lose the money you spent on the advance tickets. There are many threads on this board, as well as on the Ron In Rome website, about how to do this.

It is extremely rare for train to sell out, so the ONLY reason to pre-purchase tickets is for the available discount. However, that does locked you into a schedule with min refund options should you change or miss the train.