Train ticket printout

It's mandatory you show the conductor the credit card used to pay for this print out ticket, even if the account is cancelled since buying the ticket on-line. That's what I've done in Germany, ie, show both to the conductor. I had no problems but I have seen passengers thrown off ie they had to get off at the next stop since something was amiss with their ticket or they had no ticket...stowaways.

Some more details.
On whose website?
From where to where are the tickets for? I ask because it makes a difference as to the type of train. Only Regionale trains need to be validated. Other trains have seat reservations and do not need to be validated. Also if you buy a ticket for a Regionale train with a print-at-home ticket, it will be prevalidated for a specific time period and date. That is because you can't fit an A-4 sheet of paper (or 8 1/2 by 11) into a validating machine. Those are for IBM card stock, which is what tickets bought out of a ticket kiosk or ticket window use.

Thanks for your reply. It's the Rick Steves website (In partnership with RailEurope). I am hoping to go from Rome to Florence. And then from Florence to Venice.

For Italy train tickets, if you're purchasing from the Trenitalia site, you print your ticket at home, and they are just interested in the PNR Code that's on the paper. Anything you print at home doesn't need to be validated because you have the seat reservation, i.e. it's a specific ticket for a specific time & train.

If your ticket doesn't have specific time/train printed on it (similar to buying a metro ticket), you need to validate it; otherwise, there's the risk that the ticket could be reused.

I would not buy these from Rail Europe, but at the official site of the train operator, www.trenitalia.com
These would be high speed Freccia trains and come with seat reservations. Board the car no. shown on the ticket and sit in the seat no. shown on the ticket. When the conductor comes by, just show him the ticket.
You can also buy at www.capitaintrain.com
They come in 3 varieties and prices.
SuperEconomy are the cheapest and you must travel on the train on the ticket, kinda like an airline ticket. There are only a certain number of these sold for each train. These tickets are totally nonrefundable. When these are gone you get:
Economy tickets, which are changeable for a fee up to the day before, When these are gone you get:
Base tickets, which are full fare and changeable without cost up until the train departs.

I'd agree with Sam: buy your tickets from Trenitalia or Captaintrain. One other option would be Italo: a private company which operates high-speed rail between some of Italy's larger cities for competitive rates.

http://www.italotreno.it/en

Thank you so much to everyone who so generously replied to my question. Your answers have put my mind at ease... I'm looking forward to my train rides!

Yes, if your ticket is designated print-at-home (not print-at-station), then that's all you need. Tickets printed on plain paper come pre-validated and don't fit in the validation machine. If you see the term "Ticketless" then you only need the PNR code, not even a piece of paper, and also no ID (Italy is different from Germany in that respect).

I was typing a similar response to Laura at the same time but will change it a little. Basically the above info is correct but a few problems in the details.

The ONLY tickets in Italy that need to be validated (time stamped) are Regionale train tickets that are PURCHASED at a ticket window, local travel agent in Italy, Tobacco shop, or a ticket machine. All tickets purchased on the web and printed at home, including Regionale tickets, are validated and ready to use. The on-line Regionale tickets have a three hour window as to when the ticket can be used. Cannot use the ticket before or after the time printed on the Regionale ticket from home. (Big reason why Regronale tickets should never be purchased on line). All other tickets purchased on line have a specific day, time, train number and seat assigned for that ticket. Can only be used for that day and time.

There is no change fee for an Economy ticket. The Economy ticket can be changed once and paying the fare difference between the economy ticket original price and the price of the new ticket. It could be changed for another economy ticket IF an economy ticket is still available.

Just so the wrong impression isn't left for others who may read this chain.. One of the answers says 'It's mandatory you show the conductor the credit card used to pay for this print out ticket'. In my experience, this is not correct. I've ridden many trains in Spain, France, Switzerland, and Italy on tickets that I bought online and printed at home, and I've never been asked for a credit card, or for that matter any ID. All the conductor cared about was that I had a valid ticket. Enjoy your trip!

It is the case for Deutsche Bahn "print-at-home" tickets, but they are the only ones. I can't recall them actually doing that last year, but definitely in 2010. I suspect that the conductors, having never found anyone with a resold ticket over several years of checking, don't bother anymore. But it still states that on the backside of the ticket with the English version of the fine print written in German on the front side.

I was asked to show my credit card in France several times in 2014.

Frank, I actually was going to make the same statement that you did. But I was thinking about other variables such as the fact that a few regional train tickets that I bought last year in northern Italy were "manually validated." In that case, they were printed in the style of cash register receipts and had space for you to write the date and time in ink. And now Trenitalia has reduced the time period to use regional tickets printed at stations and travel agencies, reducing the difference between these and regional tickets bought online.