I am looking to book a round trip ticket from Rome to Florence. I understand I cannot do this on the Italian railway site. Is there a way I can make reservations from the USA? Thanks for any advice.
Posted by
Bellevue, WA, USA
811 posts
you don't need reservation - the train is cheap and not crowded. you should have no problem to get ticket on the day you leave.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32213 posts
Martin, Could you provide a bit of further information on why you want to book the tickets online? My preference would be to just buy them in Rome, either from a staffed ticket window or from one of the automated ticket Kiosks (they're very easy to use). Others here have been successful at booking tickets on the Trenitalia website, but I never use that approach so can't offer any comments on the process. I've just returned from Italy and went to the local station to purchase tickets, which is my usual method. Happy travels!
Posted by
California
492 posts
Do you just want reservations because you have a train pass? Or, do you need to buy tickets with reservations which you can definitely do online?
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
Sometimes trains in Italy are very crowded. I've been on several that were SRO. It depends on the route, time of day, day of the week, holidays, etc. I like to have a reservation so I am guaranteed a seat.
Posted by
Little Rock, AR
105 posts
Martin, you may be working from old information. At one point, trenitalia was quite iffy for booking from the US. A couple of hints: They accept USA Visa cards that are Verified by Visa (and the MasterCard equivalent). You will need to use the Italian City name "Firenze, Roma" even on the english site. I booked several trains online from the US and had no issues. Happy Travels!
Posted by
California
492 posts
Martin, here's the weblink for TrenItalia: http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=c79686605528a110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD Just copy and paste the link, I don't know how to make this an automatic link. Anyway, just fill it out and send. I believe your travel cannot be over 60 or 90 days out. At some point you will be asked to register, and I strongly suggest you do. Also, once you have chosen your tickets, you have to complete the ordering within 15 minutes. Otherwise you will have to start all over again. Just ask here if you have any questions.
Posted by
Toledo
653 posts
If you do buy tickets in Italy, the phrase for roundtrip is "andare e ritorno".
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
"Andata e ritorno", per the Trenitalia site, fwiw.