Train ticket availability and validation of online purchsed tickets

Welcome, Dave.

You can buy tickets from the Trenitalia website (they may require that you register and ask for an Italian address, you can use the address of one of your hotels - nothing will be sent to it). Let your bank or credit company know that you will be making purchases from European companies.

You can buy from a ticket window or from a machine that takes euro - most American credit cards will not work in the machines but will be accepted at the window (chip and pin issue).

Trenitalia will email you the tickets, just print them out at home and take the copies with you (I do). 8.5x11 paper will be fine.

Note that there are three fare schedules: base, which is full price but you can make changes to the ticket; economy which is cheaper but has some restrictions on changes; and super economy which allows no changes. Each type gives you a seat reservation, no need to validate any of these. Just show the conductor.

If a segment of your trip is on a regionale train but the rest is on the fast trains (described above), you don't have to validate that ticket, it will have a specific length of time when it is valid. If all of your journey is on regionale trains, no point in buying them ahead, just get them at the station. Regionale trains do not have reserved seats. Regionale tickets bought at the station MUST be validated in the machines near the tracks (or in tunnels if you have to get to the track by sottopassaggio).

My rule of thumb is, if it doesn't fit in the validation machine without folding, don't validate it.

And, you can translate the Trenitalia site by clicking on the British flag icon at the top of the page. You will need to know Italian station names (Milano Centrale to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, Firenze SMN to Roma Termini, Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale). All these can be done on fast trains. To get to Sorrento, you buy the ticket at Napoli Centrale, go downstairs to the Circumvesuviana platform, Sorrento is the last stop.

You don't need to register to buy tickets on the trenitalia website. You can choose not to and continue with your purchase.

Zoe has given you great advice. The only thing I would add is that if any of your trips use combined high speed and regional trains you can often just purchase the high speed portion and get it at a better rate, such as the super economy rate, and then just purchase your regional tickets at the train station in Italy. This could save you a lot of money. You would then need to validate the regional ticket purchased at the station before getting on the train.

Donna

I have just bought tickets (today) for the freccie with a regionale segment at the super economy price, both tickets (freccie and regionale) were emailed to me within seconds. No need to stand in line to buy a regionale ticket at the station.

That must be relatively new as I tried that 3 months ago and it wouldn't sell the combined tickets. Good to know that we don't need to take the extra step now and can purchase the tickets all at once.

Donna

A little clarification especially Donna's comments about Regionale tickets and validation.

You ONLY validate Regionale tickets. Since all tickets except Regionale trains require a seat reservation, that ticket is train, and date specific AND does NOT need to be validated since it is only good for one time on a specific train at a specific time. Miss the train and the ticket is dead. Super economy tickets can never to changed. Economy tickets can be changed once paying the difference in fare. Base ticket can be changed anytime prior to the train leaving the station.

Regionale train tickets purchased at the station are good for 60 days on any Regionale train at any time. Therefore, that ticket must be validated (time stamped) in a little blue or yellow box somewhere on the platform. Once stamped you have five hours to complete your journey. And you can get on and off Regionale trains along the way.

Regionale tickets can be purchased on-line within seven days of departure BUT those tickets are pre-validated for the train/time your requested on-line. Therefore, it is not recommended that you purchase Regionale tickets on-line. BUT - one exception ---

If you train travel has several legs say you are going A to D but B to C is a Regionale train then when you purchase the total trip for A to D. The Regionale ticket will be included and it will be pre-validated. So you are just going train to train.