Need help with transportation from Rome to Cortona

Hard to believe that the trains are actually sold out. When are you going? Sometimes trains on the Trenitalia sight look sold out only because they're so far out in the future.

I just read that it might be that we are too far out! Thank you
We will be traveling 9-6-11 to 9-23-11

I agree, your dates are probably too far out. The Trenitalia website will only post schedules, etc. for a certain time frame in the near future. Just find out what day of the week you are looking to travel, that same day of the week for sometime in the upcoming few weeks, and then at least you can see what your schedule will be. And what you have heard is correct: you can definitely purchase your train tickets once you get to Italy. This is certainly true going from Rome to Cortona, as you will be taking a Regional train (and won't be locked in on a time). BTW, if you are looking to rent a car in the area of Cortona, your best bet nearest by will be Terontola (which is one of Cortona's train stops, on the outskirts of town). If you don't have any luck there, then I know Arezzo will have something. Enjoy your travels!

You are not looking too far out as the schedules for September are posted. The problem is that you are looking at regional trains and you can't buy them more than a week in advance on the website. Just enter a date within 7 days of today and you'll see the prices. You can then enter your actual dates to see what times the trains will be departing. There is no reason to purchase these tickets ahead of time as the regional trains never sell out so you'll always be able to get on one. Remember to validate tickets for these trips as regional trains have no assigned seating and your ticket is good for any regional train going to that destination. Donna

Thanks for the help!
Sue

We are renting a house outside of Cortona and were looking at dropping a car in Arrezzo at a Eurocar location which I believe was a couple minute walk to the train station (Arezzo - Pescaiola, but double check on Google maps). Arrezo is one stop north of Camucia-Cortona.

If you are leaving from Rome or any major city, I would strongly advise buying any train tickets in advance. We just returned from Italy and in both Rome and Florence (one Saturday and one Monday), the lines to buy tickets were horrendous (almost 2 hr wait in Rome). The kiosks had big lines as well, plus there was always the chance of getting stuck behind someone who took 15 min to figure out how to buy the ticket, or wail in line 30 min and have the kiosk suddently go out of service. I was extremely rushed before we left and did not get a chance to buy our tickets from Rome to Florence. The hotel concierge in Rome said it was not necessary. Luckily we were able to duck into a travel agency at Termini Station and buy tickets there after only a 30 min wait--it cost about $40 extra in fees and commissions. It's relatively simple to buy tickets online--no reason not to.

We also had a horrible trip taking the train from Cortona to Rome on 7/26/11. It started fine, but about 10KM from the Termini Station, the train stopped. It would wait for 15-30 min, move 300-400 meters, then stop again. This went on for almost 2 hours. Finally, the train moved steadily into Rome. However, it never went to Termini. At one point, an announcement said the next stop was Tiburtina, but it didn't go there either. The only way I knew something was wrong was because I was tracking our progress on our phone GPS and noticed we were meandering our way south out of Rome altogether. Finally the train stopped somewhere near St Paul outside the walls. It looked like a fairly large station that would have taxis available so I grabbed the bags and told my wife to get off. The train was packed with mostly Italians. None of them knew what was happening either. When we started getting off, a group of teenagers from Florence asked us what was happening. I said I didn't know, but I knew the train was leaving Rome, so I was getting off. At that point, everyone else got off as well. As it turned out, the station was near a Metro stop, so we were able to get back to Termini and our hotel. Because of the tolal 3 hr delay, I missed my reservation at the Galleria Borghese and had to eat 23 Euro worth of tickets. I still can't believe that a train would just bypass end destination point and keep on going without any notice or announcement whatsoever.

Because I am concerned about the very situation Rick found himself in, i.e. standing in lines to buy tickets, coupled with the fact that I tend to run a bit late getting to most places, I didn't want the added stress of finding long lines, which I know cannot be predicted. Because I prefer a "schedule" when I travel, rather than figuring things out as I go, I opted to purchase my tickets in advance, without incident, on Trenitalia. Unless flexibility for time of travel is important or absolutely necessary, I don't understand why some people insist that you shouldn't buy in advance and you should wait until you are there. Additionally, I saved a handsome sum of money by getting the mini pass fare.