Need advice on purchasing train tickets in Italy between cities

You have to select an hour and a train: there are only reserved seats on Freccia and Intercity trains. Bullet trains work like planes, but getting on is ten times easier.
Tickets can be purchased at the counter, on line and at automatic machines up to 10 minutes before the train departure. Discounted tickets sell out quickly and can't be changed. I doubt that any pass can be cheaper than discounted tickets or Regionale trains.

Italian trains rarely sell out, note that there are 2 competing companies running high speed trains on major routes: www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en and www.italotreno.it/en

Yeah, now that we have used the current on-line options to buy tickets for trains, I would not use the Eurailpass or any pass ahead of time. Buying tickets a day, maybe 2, ahead of time allows you to see discounts. In Germany, the DB Reiseburo was very helpful to find the cheapest fares, and I am sure Italy has something similar.

Unless you are certain of your travel times, don't purchase discounted (supereconomy or economy) tickets online ahead of time. Those tickets have restrictions. Once booked on a given train, you cannot get refunds, or make changes, let's say if you want to take a later train.
If you can stick to the booked train, then a discounted ticket is a good bargain.
If you don't care to save money, and want maximum flexibility, then you can buy full fare (called "base" fare) tickets at the station just minutes before the train arrives.
High speed railway runs from Naples to Milan (and also Turin to Milan and portions of Milan to Venice) therefore in your case you can use it from Rome to Naples (on your way to Sorrento) and from Naples to Florence. The base price for 2nd (standard) class is about 45€ from Rome to Naples or Rome to Florence. From Naples to Florence is 75€. Supereconomy tickets offer over 40% discounts over the base price.

Thank you Dario, Paul and Roberto for your feedback. I appreciate it. Any chance the Frecce trains can sell out in summer time? That was a concern of mine and why I was thinking of purchasing ahead of time.

Jillian

Note that you won't be able to use high-speed trains on all segments of your trips. You'll need to take either the Circumvesuviana or Campania Express between Naples and Sorrento (private train line). Trains from Firenze SMN to Cinque Terre are predominately regional trains, and the trains between La Spezia and the Cinque Terre villages are virtually all regional trains. There are a couple of high-speed trains per day from Florence to La Spezia, but they leave from the Campo di Marte station (easily reached by taxi or city bus).

You may still be able to pre-purchase discounted tickets for late-June or early-July high-speed trains, but you'd need to be willing to lock yourself in to a specific time and date. No discounts are available for private or regional trains, so just buy those tickets as you go.

Yes! Reserved trains can sell out! Once in mid-December I sauntered into Napoli Centrale at Noon on a Sunday, thinking I could buy one reserved seat to Rome easy for that day. Wrong! Not one reserved seat available. I had to wait for a "Special" train coming at 5 pm, which turned out to be a Regionale, standing room Only! With a transfer at Cassino - this station had No elevators, No escalators, No ramps, just those grand ballroom stairways, and No platforms. We all waited in a long line out in a weed and gravel field for another Regionale!

It took seven (7) hours to reach Rome. My lower back felt every lurch. Then at Termini, the train stopped at a staggered spot, meaning a stopped train was in front of us, giving us a mile or more walk to the station!

So, soon as I arrive at a station, I buy my reserved tickets out, wherever I'm going in the area and back home. Or if I'm Not sure of my departure day and time, I hightail it back to the station as fast as I can get there and buy my ticket back home. I think the latest I've bought tickets out was three days before departure, which is still cutting it too close in my experience. I try to buy all the tickets I need as soon as I arrive at the station.

You're competing with tourists, workers, students, and soldiers. In my case, you'd be surprised at how many Napoli work in Rome! A Lot! You've got students and soldiers going to Rome the night before so they can be available early Monday morning, as an example. I had stood for seven hours, I hobbled off the train and to the station, I was the last to reach the station, and Termini looked mighty good to me!

Thanks Frank and Sandra. Yes Sandra, what happened to you is what I am afraid of. I know my exact dates that I am traveling between cities so I will just purchase the seats. Thank you! 2 more questions:
1. When there is mention of discounted seats, are you referring to the Economy and Supereconomy seats on the Frecce Trains?
2. What about the 3-day pass that Rick mentions in book? We will be traveling from Rome to Sorrento; Sorrento to Florence; Florence to Cinque Terre; and back to Rome to fly home. My daughter is 18yo so she would qualify for the Youth Price.

It will cost us 99.80 euros one way from Naples to Florence so that's 400.00 euros just for that portion of trip. Italy 3 day rail pass is less than this but can I use it on Frecce Trains is the question?

Thanks again!
Jillian

Jillian, today you'd just go to the Italo's counters and get on one of their bullet trains. I really wonder why would anyone go from Naples to Rome on a Regionale changing in Cassino: there are many direct regionale between Rome and Naples. Trains where you can get on without a reserved seat... but Sandra is always a source of interesting stories: as she's speaking about soldiers travelling on a Sunday before Christmas I guess it all happened in the 90s.

When there is mention of discounted seats, are you referring to the Economy and Supereconomy seats on the Frecce Trains?

On trenitalia.com the walk-up fare is called Base. On Italotreno.it it's Flex. All other fares are discounted ones. Don't forget to check italo's prices, they have been selling cheaper discounted tickets than trenitalia for months.

It will cost us 99.80 euros one way from Naples to Florence

Trenitalia's Base fare from Naples to Florence in 2nd class is 75 € per person. Italo's Flex costs 84 € per person. I don't know where did you get that 99.8 € price.
Discounted fares are even cheaper: 29.9 € on italotreno.it and 39.9 € on trenitalia.com. But, as Roberto wrote above, those can't be changed and refunded.

If I'm not wrong, I think that:
- with a pass you must pay a 10 € reservation fee per person every time you want to use a Freccia train.
- you can't use passes on Italo and airport trains.
- Passes do not cover the Circumvesuviana local train (it's not private!!) that runs from Napoli Centrale to Sorrento.

PS Believe me, nobody worries about sold out trains, except tourists. And nobody travels in 1st on high speed trains, except italian politicians and foreign tourists.

Look at it this way, out of all the trains from Napoli to Rome, I have to stand up for seven hours. Maybe there was an empty seat on another train, maybe not. I've stood on many, many Regionale after that one in December 2013.

First Class cars in Italy are full of Italian families with children and babies, professional people, older residents, younger residents, and a few tourists. I'm in First Class cause I like to sit down on a train, and I enjoy the First Class community of people. And it saved me from a train stalker that time at Ancona to Rome.

High speed trains very very rarely sell o out, and if the do, it's because there is something in your destination city (a concert, a big event). There are normally trains every hour or every 2 hours, so it's very very unlikely that you won't find a seat on a train.
Sandra says she likes first class because she likes to sit, she is referring to Regionale trains, as high speed trains always come with a reserved seat.

Whoever says that freccia trains sell out seats don't know what they are talking about. At most they sell out the standard class for the very next train, and only the higher classes are available, but even that is rare.

If you don't believe me go to Trenitalia and check trains departing from Napoli to Firenze NOW (it is almost 4pm in Italy as I write), and see how many have the standard class sold out: ZERO. They are all available at the base price of 75€ in all trains until the end of the day (1 to 2 trains per hour from Napoli to Florence)

Let's stop the Fake news. I've always bought tickets on the spot and at most had to wait for the next train half hour to one hour later, if I didn't want to pay for the more expensive class.

If I had a child with me, I would always travel First Class Reserved wherever available, and buy those tickets as soon as I knew my schedule. But I buy point to point, not online.

My point with the Regionale is that no matter how many Regionale out there, you never know when you have to stand. This Forum is about reporting personal experience and mine is that I stand on most Regionale. I think I sat down once. With a child, I personally would not take a chance on a Regionale.

For that reason and others I noted, I buy First Class reserved. I just don't know about passes and those other issues that arise online. But there are plenty of experienced online ticket buyers on this Forum.

Thank you everyone for your input. It has been helpful.

Jillian

My family of 4 is in Italy now. I had purchased tix online for the legs of the trip I knew were set. (You have to pick a specific time/train to tak, like an airline reservation.) It was really easy to have the tix already printed and just jump on the train and have a seat already reserved. We chose 2nd class or 2d class premium for all legs and they are all comfy and air conditioned. And as rick says, they all go the same speed as first class. I think it's also cheaper to buy ahead of time.