Sleeper Trains from Venice to Naples- Need information

From Venice to Naples you can take a sleeper train from Venice to Rome and change there to reach Naples. Or you can take a direct high speed train in 5:20.

According to Trainline.com, there are a few sleeper trains that connect Milan in the north with Lecce or Sicily in the south, but none that serve Venice.

https://www.thetrainline.com/trains/italy/night-trains

The trip from Venice to Naples is only 5 1/2 hours by the regular fast trains, with a single change at Bologna, so not really a good route for a sleeper train. If that is too much for one day, why not plan your itinerary to break up the journey with a few days at a city in between, like Rome, Siena, or other?

there is only one reasonable choice to do what you want to do.

There is (now, and presumably in October but you will need to check after June) one ICN (InterCities Night) train - 2nd class only, and with 2nd class sleeper facilities, the ICN770. It leaves Venezia Santa Lucia at 23:05 (having originated in Trieste 3 hours earlier) and trundles south, stopping at 10 stations along the way

Venezia Santa Lucia arr 22:38 dep 23:05

Venezia Mestre arr 23:15 dep 23:17

Padova arr 23:36 dep 23:38

Terme Euganee-Abano-Montegrotto arr 23:46 dep 23:48

Monselice arr 23:56 dep 23:58

Rovigo arr 00:11 dep 00:13

Ferrara arr 00:30 dep 00:32

Bologna Centrale arr 01:09 dep 01:51

Arezzo arr 04:23 dep 04:25

Terontola-Cortona arr 04:43 dep 04:45

Chiusi-Chianciano Terme arr 05:05 dep 05:07

before it arrives at Roma Termini at 06:35.

You then have 25 minutes to change to a fast train to Napoli Centrale departing at 07:00, arriving at 08:12.

Have you ever used a train like that? Are you and the family going to sleep through 10 station calls throughout the night?

I can see that the two children might get a kick out of this. It's true that when I was younger (I'm now 70) I used to doze off and on when I took a night train and had a berth in a couchette compartment--basically a padded ledge. I was somewhat fuzzy-brained from insufficient sleep the next day, but I was functional. Young children might do better than that. As I've gotten older, I don't sleep as well, and I spent a totally sleepless night on the night train between Rome and Catania in Sicily back in 2015. I never fell asleep at all because the train carriage jerked constantly from side to side. If was a more miserable experience than sitting up in coach class on an overnight, transatlantic flight.

There is a possibility the rails north of Rome are in better shape and you would have a smoother ride traveling down from Venice, but all those stops Nigel listed will probably wake up at least some of you. You'll near the brakes, feel the braking action, hear the station noise and then feel the acceleration at every one of those stops. If you are so sleepy when you arrive in Rome that you need to nap away much of the next day (as I did in Catania), your bodies will be off-kilter for at least 24 hours.

A lot of folks who consider taking night trains are doing it to stretch their severely-limited vacation time and allow for more sightseeing. That is an understandable goal (and for me the concept works when I'm taking an overnight ferry rather than an overnight train), but if you get no sleep or grossly inadequate sleep on the train and are non-functional or barely functional the next day, you will lose rather than gain sightseeing time. In a case like this, when the daytime train takes only about 5-1/2 hours (and you can spend part of that time picnicking on food you've taken along), I don't think the night train is a good plan.

But as I noted originally, I can imagine the children might find it different and fun. I'd consider, though, how you will deal with the situation if Mom and Dad are both dead to the world upon arrival in Rome and the kids are raring to go.

Keeping the children up to 11 pm to catch a sleeper train that takes 7 1/2 hours to get to Rome, with 10 stops along the way, and then getting everyone up at 6 to disembark and change trains, would not be my idea of fun.

Each day there are 9 direct high speed trains from Venice to Napoli Centrale run by Trenitalia, plus 6 trains run by Italotreno. No need to change in Bologna or Rome.

The fastest one departs from Venezia S Lucia at 12:26 and arrives In Naples at 17:36.

We took a direct fast train from Salerno to Venice-about 6 hours- and enjoyed every minute of it
Take a picnic

Cannot imagine taking kids on a long late at night sleeper train that’s not really long enough or direct enough to even sleep

Ditto to the others: the night train sounds like one very unpleasant experience with two young children. Take an earlier train that gets to Naples in 5 - 5.5 hours, no changes, and book a hotel room.

When I was younger (25 years ago) the night train seemed like fun. It wasn't.

Too much jerking and swaying side to side, too many other trains passing us in various directions.

8 years ago, I took a night train from Venice to Paris. It wasn't even a little bit fun.

This isn't the Orient Express; it's an idea about how to utilize and sell long distance rail when air fare is much cheaper and quicker. It sounds romantic and exciting. It isn't. You generally get couchettes, vinyl covered benches with sheets and scratchy blankets. Every turn, every change in speed or direction (cars change direction through coupling and uncoupling) results in a startled awakening from a fitful sleep.

If you want to try it once, go ahead, but expectations are likely to exceed reality.

No one mentioned the Man in Seat 61 so I will, he's the expert on train travel.

Youtube is full of train vloggers who love riding these overnight trains, you should have no trouble finding some. Most of them seem to end up saying, glad I did it don't need to do it again. And that is one crazy route. Probably better to just stop in Rome and then start up again.