making train travel arrangements in advance

Trenitalia: 120 days in advance, but on June 12 there will be the summer timetable change and most regional trains will be loaded in the system only in June. Italiarail is just Trenitalia's US based official re-seller, hence they follow the same calendar.

Italotreno: 90-120 days.

Out of curiosity, which website are you using?

thanks. I tried both trenitalia.com and italotreno.it.

How far out were you trying to look? And the 120 is not a guarantee. Should be but can be a few days less.

It is very frustrating at this time of year to make reservations for the period after the schedule changes June 12. the only way to nab the low fares is to check daily until the schedule opens up, and as mentioned above, it may be less than 120 days. They many also only release a few trains one day, to be followed by more. You just have to keep checking.

It is very frustrating at this time of year to make reservations for the period after the schedule changes June 12. the only way to nab the low fares is to check daily until the schedule opens up, and as mentioned above, it may be less than 120 days. They many also only release a few trains one day, to be followed by more. You just have to keep checking.

I'm sorry to disagree, but there are no reasons to be frustrated or to compulsively check the websites of railway companies. For instance, consider that today there are still discounted fares available for high speed trains from Milan Central to Rome Termini leaving next Monday. They're selling at 49 Euro some SuperEconomy tickets for the "Standard" class of seats, the cheapest one, on the most crowded high speed train, the one that departs from Milan at 8:20 AM.

95% of Trenitalia / Italo customers are Italians who are used to purchase train tickets less than two months in advance. The vast majority of Italians doesn't even know about the 120 days window and the seasonal timetable change.

darioalb,
If one wants a certain schedule at the cheapest fare, jumping on it compulsively assures a successful outcome. I have missed the super economy fares on the trains I wanted in high season by being at day 115, and I do this all the time. Will there be seats? Yes! Will they be at the lowest fare? Maybe, but maybe not on the most convenient schedule. Plenty of people know about the 120-day window, believe me. If I can gt a Euro 19.00 fare instead of Euro 39 or 49, It is worth 5 minutes a day to check.

Could someone advise what is a "Cartafreccia special" - does it require a special discount card or is only for locals?
Thanks!!

It's a discount reserved to holders of Trenitalia's fidelity card, that's called Cartafreccia.

If you register on trenitalia.com and enter an address in Italy (i.e. the first hotel where you're staying) they'll send you a pdf temporary version of the card to print.

I've been showing the pdf on my mobile for years as I lost the plastic version. No problem.

Try Captain Train. I purchased tickets from Rome to Orvieto and back for mid-may several weeks ago.
Easy to use and price same as elsewhere.

Until the schedule is loaded on the official site, it's unlikely that other sites will have the schedule.

I do what Laurel does, and get 9€ fares on the routes that have them. Some start at 19€. I have never paid more than 29€ buying ahead of time (that was a Roma-Palermo ticket).

I see that you can also purchase train tickets here on the Rick Steves site. And there is an email service that notifies you when tickets for your date become available. I haven't purchased tickets on this site..