Please comment on train plans

Advance buying gives considerable discount. These are good prices.
This kind of tickets is available in a pdf format for home printing. I always make an extra copy in case one gets lost.
If you leave your luggage at the baggage consignment, you've got some hours to have a look at some highlights - such as the cathedral - and have a cup of coffee or a beer before taking the train to the airport.

Yes, it does not hurt to register, and you can access your account on line. Buy them now as the prices will only go up as the cheap tickets sell out quickly.

The trains from Milano Centrale go to Malpensa until 11:25 pm. You can store your bags at the train station, buy 2 Milan day transport tickets and see the town.

Verify your transit times. Venice to Florence by train is about 2 hours, Rome to Milan is 3 hours.

I would leave Rome earlier and get to Milan for lunch and spend the afternoon. You won't have time to do much of anything in Rome that morning anyway.

Thank you all. We will purchase our tickets...and yes, i had the travel times wrong. I've updated them.

One last question...2 of 3 trips are "super economy". One is a "cartafreccia special". On the "info" button, it states that I have to show a cartafreccia card that was used to purchase. What is that and should I avoid those types?

I looked and found that I cannot buy those cartafreccia tix. :(

Thanks again for the help. We went ahead and booked, as one of the tix became unavailable already from this morning! You weren't kidding that they sell out fast in Economy!

Anyway with some time changes, we were able to put together this itinerary for only 142Euro!

April 5-(i get nervous every time i see day/mon/year on the site!)
Ven-Flo super economy premium 38 euro

April 8
Flo-Rome super economy premium 38 Euro

April 11
Rome-Mil super economy standard 66 Euro

I made sure that they were all on the faster trains rather than regional ones. One mistake that I made was that I put my wife's name in for one of the legs of the trip, but not the other two. Searching the forum, someone said it would not matter.

So, I am going to print off 2 copies of each ticket to be safe. And if I understand correctly, we must get the tickets validated prior to boarding? How early should we get to the train station? Is there usually a long line? For a 12pm departure time, what time is safe to arrive to the station (we are pretty conservative and don't like to feel rushed!)

I made sure that they were all on the faster trains rather than regional ones. One mistake that I made was that I put my wife's name in for one of the legs of the trip, but not the other two. Searching the forum, someone said it would not matter.
So, I am going to print off 2 copies of each ticket to be safe. And if I understand correctly, we must get the tickets validated prior to boarding? How early should we get to the train station? Is there usually a long line? For a 12pm departure time, what time is safe to arrive to the station (we are pretty conservative and don't like to feel rushed!)

Names on tickets do not matter. In 5 years of extensive train travel in Italy, no capotreno has ever checked.

No validation required when you have reserved seats. You do need to show your tickets at a security entrance, designed to keep out the unticketed.

There are no lines, just a mad dash for the platform when it posts on the big board. Usually, the assigned platform only posts about 10-15 minutes prior to departure. I have an app on my Android phone called "Train Timetable" (there are others) that can give you normal track info, for planning purposes, although that is subject to change. Sometimes you have to walk to the other end of the train to find your car, which can take a few minutes, so once you are 100% certain of the track, start walking! We like to arrive 30 minutes or so in advance, grab bottles of water and maybe a snack.

RK,

To begin with, you can purchase advance tickets in Italy either using the rail network websites (Trenialia, Italo) or at www.captaintrain.com. The latter site is more user friendly than Trenitalia, sells tickets for both rail networks and you can print tickets at home.

As this is your first trip to Italy, a few points to mention on transportation. On the routes you listed, all the trains will be high speed, and those have compulsory seat reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time. Therefore you can ONLY use the ONE train listed on the tickets. If you board the wrong train by mistake, you'll be subject to hefty fines which will be collected on the spot!

At the conclusion of your trip, how were you planning to get from Milan to Malpensa / MXP? If you use the Malpensa Express, you can purchase tickets locally (I usually like to buy these the day prior to travel), but you MUST validate them prior to boarding the train on the day of travel. Failure to do so will also result in hefty fines collected on the spot!

Validating tickets is also required on the Metro, Buses, etc.

Instead of a spare copy of the tickets, I save a pdf copy. You can just email them to yourself. If you need to print a copy, most hotels will either let you access your email on their system and will print the ticket for you or will ask you to email them the pdf. Either way, they'll be able print it for you.