Purchasing Regional and Frecce rail tickets prior to arrival

You can purchase regional tickets online but there is no need to. If you are purchasing a trip that includes a regional leg, go ahead and purchase it. They will give you good connection times and you won't need to buy anything once in Italy. If you have a trip that's just on a regional train I would suggest just buying those at the time of travel. This will give you the best flexibility. Just remember, if you buy regional tickets at the station, be sure to validate them. If you buy them online they are already validated and are for a specific train.

When purchasing tickets you need to choose a specific station. Tutte le stazione means to choose the station, they will all be listed. For Rome you'll want roma termini.

La spezia is a very small train station. You should be fine with the connection. Once you make your purchase you will get a PNR number. This is what you'll show the conductor when he comes around checking tickets. Other than writing down your trips or keeping your emails I don't know how you would keep track of them.

Donna

Although the print-at-home regional ticket is pre-validated, and you cannot board an earlier train, you have 4 hours to complete that portion of the trip, so you can take a somewhat later regional train (don't board an InterCity by accident). See also http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en/Purchase/Regional-online-ticket-and-passes.

" we're thinking of avoiding navigating the late evening, red eye, from US West Coast arrival, transportation hassle from Linate Airport to Varenna... and splurging on a driver/taxi. Any opinions?"

As long as you don't mind the cost, sounds good to me. I have no direct knowledge, but I expect that such a trip would cost €100 or more.

Regarding seat selection, when purchasing your tickets online, there’s a select seats box you can check. If you don’t check that box, the website will assign seats. I tend to pick seats near the center of high-speed train coaches, where the overhead luggage racks are larger. I also find the facing seats with table preferable. If you prefer that the website picks your seats, you can ask it to assign seats that are near one another. Regional trains are open seating.

Lets see if I can summarize this for you in simpler terms. And short primer on Italy trains

1. First the prices for train tickets have not skyrocketed. They are exactly the same as the first time you looked. There are three level of fares - super economy, economy, and base within each class level - first and second class. The SE and E fares are discounted fares with certain restrictions and limited numbers. When those tickets are gone they are gone forever. On some trains the SE fare, especially at peak times, may not be offer. The base is always available unless the train is sold out - that rarely happens. So what you are seeing is that the cheaper fares are no longer available.

2. The exception (there is always an exception) to the above is the Regionale trains - think of buses on wheels. These are the slowest trains because they hit nearly every stop. These tickets are never discounted and there is no reserve seating. These tickets, if purchased in the station or at a tobacco shop, etc., good for sixty days from purchase. So to make it a valid ticket for a train, these tickets must be validated in yellow/blue/green box that puts a time stamp on the ticket and that ticket is good for five hours. Just watch the local do it. Just get on a Regionale train and go.

   You can purchase Regionale train tickets on-line SEVEN days in advance but these tickets come pre- validated with a specific date and time window that the ticket is good. When you buy the ticket on line you put in a day and start time and then the ticket is good for three hours after the start time but not before. So this reason, it is strongly recommended that you do not purchase Regionale tickets on-line but you can. Just understand the restrictions.

   Another exception - if purchasing on-line a ticket from A to D but the B to C segment is a Regionale train, that ticket will be include in the A to D package with a date and time stamp to match the transfer,

3. When looking at schedules - Tutte Le Stazioni means ALL the stations in Rome. Like looking at all of the airports in New York area. So make sure you know the originating station. Many cities have more than one train station. There are four or five in Rome. If you are closer to Roma Termini that is the station you should be selecting. You don't want to make a train reservation leaving from one of the other stations when you want to leave from Termini.

4. In Italy there are two types of train stations. Termini (terminal) where trains originate and end. The platforms tend to be E (on its back) where trains pull in and out. The other is a station where trains pass through - enter at one end and leave at the other. Platforms are parallel to each other and you get to the platforms by walking under or over the tracks. Small stations tend to be of the pass through style.

Hope this helps.

You can purchase Regionale train tickets on-line SEVEN days in advance

Sorry, but you're wrong. Now you can get regional train tickets on-line 120 days in advance (but not after the timetable changes of June 12 and December 11).

You can easily check by yourself at trenitalia.com

Wow darioalb! Thanks for the info. We rarely take regionale trains so I did not know TI had opened up advance purchase. Thanks!

Our trip to Italy begins mid April and I "bit the bullet" and bought rail tickets through Trenitalia. Over three weeks we will travel from Rome to Cinque Terre to Venice to Pescara (Adriatic Coast) to Amalfi Coast and back to Rome. We were able to get a good price - $343 total for two people - but we are pretty locked into days/times. The travel includes both fast and Regional trains. I printed the tickets and will not have to validate. It was a little scary, but all our lodging is reserved and plane tickets for specific dates so why not lock in train travel too? I printed all the tickets and also saved them on both my phone and my husbands in case the paper tickets are lost.

We also "bit the bullet" and got ground transportation to our first hotel (outside Rome). After travelling for 18-20 hours, we felt that was worth the E70 quoted by our hotel for airport pick up.

Now that is what you call being locked in. It is not our style but I know (several friends included) who absolutely cannot stand loose ends. Too much stress. Good luck with your trip.

batkins - We travel a lot and I love having those trains locked in. And it is worthwhile to splurge on local transportation when you are arriving tired in a city you do not know well. Bravo!

Thank you, Frank and batkins, for your help.
I love to plan, prepare and research for travel. It extends the vacation for me! For this trip, the ground transportation will be new for me and I know I will enjoy myself more if we take care of it prior to travel. With that said, I've left plenty of time for "discovery" as well!