Train Tickets in Advance or Buy at the Station

First - the ONLY reason to purchase tickets on line is to take advantage of any discounts that may be available. There are three tiers to Italy train pricing - Super economy, economy, and base. The number of ticket available at the SE and Econ level vary depending the train, date, and time. Once those ticket sell out, there are no more. The base fare is always available. SE is no refund/no change. E is one change and Base can always be change. The difference in cost varies but you can see that by going to trenitalia.com and running some sample routes. The SE can be significant.

However, since you are leaving in a month you probably have miss the opportunity to purchase the discount tickets so just buy the tickets when you get there. Trains rarely sell out so you can buy the ticket just before you leave or the day before if it is convenient. It will be the same price if you purchase on the internet and you have to have access to a printer to print the ticket. Buy it at the station.

Since you are traveling to Naples via train. Just do downtown stairs in the Naples train station and that the commuter train to Sorrento - last stop.

How do you go about changing it? We were looking at Economy since the super was all taken from Venice to Florence. I didn't even think about the printer so I guess it wouldnt make sense to buy them online when there since we wont be able to print them. So its either all at home or at the station.

Do they charge for your luggage and is there a certain side(left or right) with more to see?

Take a look at the Italo website too - we found better prices on Italo over Trenitalia. The http://www.seat61.com has photos and comparisons of both. Trenitalia is a government-run train . . . Italo is private. Used to be Italo didn't have as many locations, times, & stations, but that seems to have changed - we compared both sites and found them comparable. Italo was actually easier to use. I'm just offering another option. We booked tickets from Rome to Naples and then from Naples to Florence (the main stations) without any problems. We did book 120 days in advance and the prices were fantastic - we even did 1st class because they were only 2Euros more at the time. They do have photos of the train and seats so it's super easy to figure out what you want.

Don't buy a reserved train ticket that you think you might need to change; buy it when you're ready to commit. After the departure of the train, the ticket will be useless. The specific Ecomomy and Base fares are shown on the price chart at www.trenitalia.com when you start to buy a ticket for any particular departure; they're pretty consistent for various departure times using the same route and type of train.

"Ticketless" tickets do not need to be printed; you only tell the conductor your PNR code; see http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en/Purchase/The-Trenitalia-electronic-ticket.

You carry your luggage onboard yourself and there is no charge for that; see also http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/on-the-train and also video at http://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/european-travel-skills-part-1.

There is nothing special to see on either side of those train routes. I would let the computer just assign you seats together.

Ok great thank you. If we do the "ticketless" how do we stamp it?

Also, how much time would you give yourself from leaving your hotel in Venice to get to the train station and find your terminal

No need to stamp the ticket if you have the PNR code on your phone. The conductor will just look at that.

For your part about - Do they charge for your luggage and is there a certain side(left or right) with more to see?

There is no charge for luggage. There is a rack above the seats just like an airplane for bags. Or for larger items there is spaces inbetween seats that face back to back or at the end of the car.

For right side or left side there is no way to answer that. You may pickout a seat that you think online is facing forward and on the right side of the train. But in reality you never know how the cars will be setup behind the engine. You may find your seat in the cabin and realize it's actually facing backwards and you are on the left side. Had that happen a few times. I never been on a sold out train though where I wasn't able to move 1 aisle up or over to see the view from the other side of the train.

Is napoli centrale the train station to go to from Florence to get to Sorrento?

Thank you for all the info :)