Train advice?

There are luggage racks at the end of each car as well as an overhead shelf for smaller pieces. Each passenger is responsible for their belongings.
You can check schedules at www.trenitalia.com and www.italotreno.it.

Great! Thanks!

Yup, steps are steep, and on the older trains the rack is a long way off the floor. Trains don't stay long at intermediate stations so you must be ready

Check out this page for information on the train set ups - there's a link for information about the TrenItalia trains and Italo trains.

https://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm

p.s. have a wonderful time on your honeymoon! Congratulations!

Vanessa, Check out this page as well (on the same seat 61 website) for info about luggage on trains: https://www.seat61.com/luggage-on-european-trains.htm

The short answer is that luggage handling is DIY. You carry your luggage on and off the train with you and keep it with you in the same vehicle, there is no separate luggage storage wagon. And the trains stop for typically 2-5 minutes at each station, so don't waste time.

Sooooo you'll have 4 luggage total? 2 each? Often those trains have long stairways to and from the cars, very steep steps, often each step is so narrow, it holds only half a foot sideways or the toes of one shoe.

In cases such as yours, the guys stay on the ground and place their wives at the top of the stairs, then the guys take each luggage in turn, place it flat on the stairway and push it up to the wife who has to bend all the way down to haul up the luggage and get it inside the car. In your case, you will do this 4 times.

You can imagine this is No small feat for the wife, it wears her out. I've seen women get caught in the handle while the case pulls her off her base and drags her back down the long steep stairway!

Now you admit you know what you should do, so do it. Go with one carryon each and that's it. Revamp and repack your luggage now. It's your Honeymoon, make it sweet and easy. It's very sexy to Lightly pack one carryon each.

On the way back down, the stairway becomes the slide it truly is. One goes down to the ground, the other stays on top and places each luggage flat so it can slide down the stairway and get caught by the person on the ground.

Make your Honeymoon about You, Not about your luggage.

Vanessa, as some others have posted, cases which can't fit above or behind your seat can be stored in racks at the ends of the carriages. We travel with 24" bags + a carryon apiece, and the carryons always stay with us at our seats.

Getting on and off the train, we sling the carryons over our shoulders, I hand the larger bags up to the husband, when boarding, and he hands them down to me when getting off. We can do this pretty fast but I wouldn't bring very large, very heavy bags as they're a pain when dealing with stairs at accommodations and stations with either no lifts or lifts which aren't operating.

Your bags shouldn't be larger/heavier than you can manage by yourself!

Yes, schlepping big suitcases is draining. It's your honeymoon!

We travel with 2 carryon-size roller bags and 2 personal items--at the train station, my husband picks up both rollers and boards the train, I put my Euro tote cross-body and carry his smaller bag up the stairs which leaves me one free hand for holding the railing. Then we hope for space to hold the rollers and put the smaller bags under our seats or in the overhead. And every trip I swear I will pack less.

If you're taking a train from its origin, you have a better chance of getting luggage space if you arrive at the station early -- if you are boarding at an intermediate station, you have to move quickly and hope for the best. Same with disembarking -- at the end of the line, you have a little more time; at an intermediate station you need to be near the door with bags in hand when the train arrives at your station.

LOL! One time on a train I had 2 bags with me, one carryon and one checked. I was on a train where you had to push a button to open the door at your Stop.

I did that. I got down with one bag in hand. Before I could turn around and reach inside for the second bag, the doors closed and the train took off.

I never saw that bag again. I never packed two bags again.

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for all this feedback, it is really helpful! I wasn't sure if European trains were similarly set up to the trains I've been on here but it sounds like they are.

So we will actually be gone for almost 3 weeks, with the end of the trip in Paris, which is why we are planning to have two 24 in. rollers and 2 carry ons (one a roller suitcase, the other a backpack style). We are flying into Paris, then immediately into Rome, then planned on taking the high speed trains between Rome to Florence, then Florence to Venice eventually throughout the week. We then fly from Venice to Paris. We really wanted to have some space to buy souvenirs as we go along and I will admit to being a type-A chronic over-preparer that is already nervous about not bringing enough stuff that we will need.

It sounds like getting on and off the train won't be fun, but that it is doable as long as it is super quick and we can lift our luggage fairly easily. I can probably put the carry on inside the bigger suitcase so that it is only maneuvering one case instead of two, which sounds like it might help somewhat and will still give us some room to bring stuff back with us eventually since I already paid for the luggage on all our flights.

Again, thank you all for your help and especially for the websites, those are great!

I should clarify -- maybe I'm Not the Toughest gal on this Forum, But I Am the Only Gal on the Forum who Ever rode a bus in Rome Alone with a known Pickpocket !!! This After ALL the Locals flew off the bus in the middle of the street!! Now it's true he was a Hunk, but still !

But when it comes to luggage on Italy trains, I know when I'm licked! From my own experience and watching others, I'd rather be Alone with a Pickpocket on a bus than being caught on a train with 2 bags!