Train Italia

jenny, For booking tickets on Trenitalia, your best bet would be to have a look at This Excellent Website. There's a VERY comprehensive step-by-step description there on how to buy tickets. There are two important points to note: > Trenitalia is currently overhauling their website, so not all schedules may be loaded yet. > If you're travelling well into the future (ie: June or later), the schedules and ticket information may not be on the website yet. Happy travels!

It's true, website in undergoing some changes, but using it today for another question I didn't find any complication with it nor trains not being loaded yet. To get tickets from their website you must be registered. Is that why you can't go on? If you're experiencing many problems, we can always Skype or FaceTime so that I can help you get through it. Let me know, cristina.

thanks I do appreciate your help and will look into it.

there is a schedule change due June 9th so most schedules after that have not been posted. Just keep checking. They load the faster train schedules first then add in the slower trains. If you are traveling after the 9th you may need to wait a little while for your trains to appear. Donna

jenny, It's great to hear that you'll be getting the Guidebook! That will answer some of your questions and give you lots of information to plan sightseeing. You may also find it helpful to download the free PDF Rail Guide from this website. Click the "Railpasses" tab at the top of the page, and then look in the lower right corner for the link. While this mostly applies to those using Railpasses, there's a lot of information there. There are LOTS of trains on that route every day. One "caveat" to mention though - if you see the word "Sciopero", be prepared to alter your travel plans. That indicates a strike, which is unfortunately one of the aspects of travel in Italy. They're usually short-lived, and some trains do operate during these events. Christina, As you mentioned "Facetime", I'm assuming you use a newer version of the iPhone? I was wondering if you've tried the Pronto Treno App, and whether it works well??? Unfortunately, Trenitalia doesn't make the App available on North American iTunes stores, but I'm hoping that will change in future. If it works as well as the DB or SBB App's, it would be a great travel accessory! Cheers!

Pronto treno is their official app. I use it to look up the schedule, but when it comes to buy the ticket, I found it easier to use the website. Any way I have an iPad. For what concerns phones, I'm a blackberry fan.

Christina, Thanks for the info. It sounds like Pronto Treno still needs a bit of work. There's another App called Che Binario? that is available on the iTunes stores in this area. I may try that instead, although it would probably only be useful for viewing schedules. It was interesting to hear that you were a Blackberry user (good Canadian technology!). They'll be introducing a new OS in a few months and hopefully they can regain a bit of their market share. Cheers!

Some of the summer fares are now posted, as of today. I also had trouble purchasing tickets despite being registered on the trenitalia website, but found that using the new paypal payment option on the website worked like a charm. Purchased two sets of tickets today and got some great mini fares.

I also just purchased tickets for Rome-Verona on July 12th (about 110 days from now ?!?) for a decent mini fare of 19euro each. I had no problem using my US-based Mastercard

so can't wait for the new software upgrade!!! :)
i would use other apps just to check schedules, to purchase tickets i would only trust the official trenitalia website.

I had success booking tickets on trenitalia. I've printed the tickets. QUESTION: Do I have to get the tickets validated in the station, or am I good to get on the train?

if you have the train ticket, like this one http://www.google.it/imgres?q=biglietto+frecciarossa&um=1&hl=it&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=907&tbm=isch&tbnid=xTTefiH-Nw4MuM:&imgrefurl=http://viaggi.aaannunci.it/biglietto-frecciarossa-roma-mestre-531962c20.aspx&docid=CR5NJFBO_XjoDM&imgurl=http://viaggi.aaannunci.it/img10/64/899526.jpg&w=560&h=418&ei=66dwT4-QJM_4sgbshpybAg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=260&sig=103320582069234726146&page=1&tbnh=163&tbnw=226&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=88&ty=96 probably needs to be validated.
if you have a print out of the page with reservation number (i think this is your case) you don't need any validation as it is just a piece of paper :) just get on the train and at some point someone will come and check it so you will just need to show it. actually there's even no need to print it out, as long as you have a smart phone to show the person the email you got from trenitalia. they just need reservation number to make sure you paid :) hope this was helpfull

Thanks! Very helpful. I have the email with the thing you can scan with your smart phone. (What do you call that funny looking thing??) I don't have a smart phone, but I'll just show them the paper. It has reservation number and receipt.

Christina, Thanks for the feedback on Pronto Treno. As the App isn't available here, my inquiry was more for "future reference". The nice thing about Pronto Treno is that it has an English-language option, whereas Che Binario appears to be only in Italian. While I can function to some extent in Italian, it would be a bit of an effort to use that. As you suggested, I'll just use the Trenitalia web site. Cheers!