Rail Pass in Italy

A rail pass won't usually save you money on train travel in Italy. You can buy point to point tickets for a lot less than you can a rail pass. You can check the trenitalia website: http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD for fares and schedules. If you choose a train you can click through to see all the prices including the "mini" fares which offer deep discounts. These fares are not available with a pass. Also, with a pass you must add a 10 euro reservation fee for all the high speed trains. The reservation fee is included in the price when you buy through trenitalia. People have been having success buying their tickets online before they go and getting the mini fares. You should do a price comparison to see if you will really save any money with a pass or with PTP tickets. Donna

A rail pass would be a waste of money. Buy tickets point to point in Italy.

Good for you for asking before you bought it. It's almost always cheaper to buy p2p tickets in Italy than a Railpass. People have been brainwashed over decades that if you're traveling to Europe, you have to buy a Railpass. Here are all the details you need to buy the p2p tickets. You can save a good chunk of change by buying 2nd class and looking for the MINI discounts, as laid out at Ron's site: http://www.roninrome.com/%20transportation/booking-on-the-trenitalia-website

So many travelers opt for the Eurail railpass thinking that it avoids a lot of money and train station time. It usually doesn't save money and in Italy, you have to pay extra for the seat reservation on the better trains. Thus, you will be in the train stations. Also, they don't sell the railpass in most of Europe. In fact, they might not sell it there at all. It's a product sold outside of Europe.

while I don't recommend purchasing rail passes anymore (usually always cheaper with p2p tix), if you do, then you must do so from the US. You can't get them in Europe.