Train Travel Confirmation

Lidia,

You can check all the rail solutions at the https://www.trenitalia.com/ website.

The Caserta to Lecce route seems to be served by a variety of trains, including high speed and Regionale. Whether buying tickets in advance is a good idea will depend on which specific departure you want to use. Note that tickets for the express trains are specific to train, date and departure time, so you must be able to commit to a specific departure.

Venafro to Caserta is possible by train. These are mostly Regionale trains or Bus / Train combinations so there's no need to buy advance tickets for those. With locally purchased tickets, be sure to validate them prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or you'll risk hefty fines.

Bari to Rome will be a bit of a longer trip, involving a couple of train changes. It appears that there is at least one direct high speed train on that route every day, with a travel time of just over four hours. That's the one I'd suggest.

I normally use www.trainline.eu for rail tickets in Italy. As I recall, tickets for the high speed trains are offered for sale 120 days from the travel date. Note that Super Economy tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable once purchased.

You could save money by buying tickets for the high-speed trains in advance. I believe tickets go on sale 120 days in advance. A quick check suggests the per-ticket savings could be up to 23 euro from Caserta to Lecce and up to 25 euro from Bari to Rome. In exchange for that savings, you give up flexibility to make changes to your travel dates and times.

The regional train from Venafro to Caserta gives you about a half hour to connect to the high-speed train to Lecce. Caserta is a small station and so it should be an easy change. The ticket cost is only 4.20 euro and you'll have to make some type of change in Caserta not matter what you do, so you might as well go with the inexpensive option. If you decide to purchase your high-speed train tickets to Lecce in advance, you could book Venafro to Lecce instead and would receive pre-validated regional train tickets. You could also buy the regional train tickets separately in Venafro, but then they must be validated before boarding the train to Caserta. There are no discounts on regional train tickets, so it comes down to personal preference.

Ken thank you for the response. When I checked the website, I did see there were a variety of trains from Caserta to Lecce but I am more interested in the high speed/direct route. Good reminder about validating the locally purchased tickets. I understand Bari to Rome is a long trip but I already factored this in and I personally found the train to be a better option as opposed to flying. So, a direct high-speed train is the only one I would take for this trip. Appreciate the tip about super economy – good to know but that will not be an issue for my trip as my departure dates are set in stone.

Frank saving money is good, even if a small amount. I will need to make a note on a calendar about the 120 days so I know when to look for them. As my dates of departure are set in stone, I am good with buying in advance. Appreciate the information about booking from Venafro to Lecce and not needing to validate – always an option. My only concern is traveling with my Mom what happens if the regional is late to Caserta and well I rather not rush my Mom (she is not a fast walker) – LOL – that is why I was thinking of doing it separately.

There is a 6:31am regional train to Caserta that would give you about a 2 hour layover instead of the half hour you'd have with the 7:50am train. It does mean getting up very early though, and you would have to buy it as a separate ticket.

Lidia train tickets bought online on trenitalia.com do not need to be time-stamped, even if they are for a Regionale train.

You must validate only Regionale tickets locally purchased.
Book the regionale leaving earlier even if you'll have 30 (or 10) minutes to transfer. If you'll miss it, you'll be allowed to freely board any other Regionale departing within the following 4 hours. That's how Regionales work.

Note that Trenitalia thinks that 15 minutes are enough to change in huge stations like Milano Centrale and Roma Termini.

Trenitalia.com always displays the number of changes and the total journey time. There are no high speed tracks south of Salerno, only high speed trains forced to run on the old lines to make people pay higher prices.

Thank you, Frank. I did see that. Thankfully I have a bit of time to think about things before I need to make a decision.

Dario appreciate the clarification and information on how Regoinales work. Good information to know especially as I am not a savvy user of public transportation back at home. So I just want to be aware before vacation so I am not bumbling about.