Train travel in Italy

You should check out www.roninrome.com
He has excellent information on every aspect of train travel in Italy. It's an invaluable resource!

What is or are you specific concerns/confusion? Trains are just like using the airplane. You want to go from A to B. Go to trenitalia.com and plug in your A and B points and it will provide the options, times, etc. and the fare. Buy far enough in advance and you can get some pretty good discount but you are then locked into the schedules. Trains are the easily and less expensive way to get around Italy. The seat reservation will come automatically with the ticket except for regional trains (slowest and cheapest) which do not have a reserved seats. Just get on and go. If no seats, you stand.

In general, the trains in Italy fall into two categories. The low-cost Regionale and the higher-speed trains. This last group includes the InterCity trains and the higher-speed Eurostar-class trains. I place the trains into these two groups for one reason. The Regionale trains permit no seat reservation. These are the local trains that make every stop. They are the slowest and the least expensive to ride. Although they are trains, they are a lot like the MARTA in Atlanta. The Regionale train is the most common train in Italy. If you take the train from Florence to Siena, you will be riding one as there are no high-speeds to Siena from Florence. Fare is 7.70Euro. In general, you cannot buy these tickets online more than 7 days in advance of travel. For your Milan/Venice, Venice/Bologna and Bologna/Florence, these runs are part of the major high-speed train corridors in Italy. Yes, you will see Regionale and InterCity trains in these stations but you'll also see the best of Italy's high-speeds. These trains all require reservations and seat assignments. All of this comes with the price of the point-to-point ticket. Even if you buy online in advance, the system will make the seat reservations for you. These high-speeds cut your travel time in half but they are also the most expensive. On these high-speeds, you have two choices. Buy the tickets when you arrive in Italy. It's best to buy 2-3 days in advance. Thus, when you arrive in a city, buy your exit tickets before leaving the station. The problem here is that you will pay the full fare. If you are willing to plan ahead and buy ahead, you can take advantage of the mini-fares. Fares on the three runs can be as low as 9E if you book within 90 days out and you are willing to be locked into specific train runs. These tickets are non-refundable. You can see all of this on www.trenitalia.com

Thanks for the replies. We did go to trenitalia.com but got locked out for some reason. I'll try again now or tomorrow. Because we have scheduled all of our hotels and some of our excursions booking our train in advance isn't a problem (except me figuring out how). Thanks again... Still seems confusing but hopefully it won't be once we're there.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I tried to book the tickets from Milano to Venice and it says "Invalid Arrival Station". Can't seem to enter the time either. Saw where it said morning or afternoon etc but then went away and there is a spot for the time and it says 21 and I can't change that either. I know I'm doing something wrong.

Shari - used to live in Dacula and Auburn and had a store in Commerce; My how that area has changed in the last 15 years! There are basically three different entry points for the Trenitalia website so your confusion is understandable. I would read these two articles - both on the SAME topic but directed at the "different" websites out there: Booking on the Trenitalia Website - 2012 and Booking on the Trenitalia Website - prior to 2012. Why are there so many websites with such different ticketing options? Who knows? Trenitalia HAD to update their site, especially with the new train service Italo starting. The website at Italo is incredibly easy to use. Unfortunately it appears that Trenitalia is "hedging their bets" as the newest site is struggling... so they've left the old site up -- which leads to even more confusion. They can't continue to "support" three options so hopefully they will get all their "revisions" working and then they will take down at least the old site. Thus, it's hard to give specific advice unless we know what "site" you're on. If you do "www.trenitalia.com", you'll end up on the newest site and that requires Italian train station names... so you would have to enter: Milano and Venezia for station options... That could get you started!

Shari, with the new Trenitalia website format, you now have to type the Italian name of the train station even though the page is in English. Do not capitalize either, the website will do it. You will want Milano Centrale, Venezia Santa Lucia and Firenze Santa Maria Novella. Bologna is fine. Once you begin typing, a small box that is sometimes to small to notice will open in the left center of the page just under the lime green box with the special fares. You must the train station from that list. IMHO, Trenitalia has done a terrible job in re-designing their website.

Ron.. yes, Commerce has changed a lot I'm sure. We actually use that address (since we use it for our mail) but actually live in Honduras, Central America right now... but small world. I'm still confused. I went back into the train site and knew I needed the station name in Italian but wasn't having any luck. Now it's really late and I'll try tomorrow or Monday. What i couldn't do is get the discounted price. Says there are fares to Venice from Milan for as low as 9 euros but then got a price of 48 each or more. Came up different several times too. Not sure what station to put in as well since we really are having trouble figuring out the maps and districts of where we should be. Milan I think I know and will put in Central - since we'll be around the Duomo. But Venice is confusing too and I haven't even began to look at Bologna, Florence or Siena. I have heard that Florence is very busy and so we want to try to get near our hotel. Again thanks for all the responses and sorry we seem so confused.. guess we are at the moment and hope it will clear up in the next few days as we finish booking everything.

I'd agree with Larry, Trenitalia has just screwed up their website and having multiple sites up further compounds the problem. The Italo site is a dream to use and I've already purchased tickets on one of their fast trains to Florence - Can't wait! Shari, you may NOT get the €9 price because those tickets are done on allotments by Trenitalia... so that's the lowest possible option. But if they have sold that allotment - or if it's a popular time of day there may a very small allotment - and thus, you'll get their "capacity-driven" MINI fare.. It's much like buying an airline ticket. The more seats sell, the higher the prices go. So you may not be doing anything wrong... it's just that those €9 fares are NOT available for that route, or even that day! The Trenitalia site is best done with a large glass of wine... and a lot of patience. Larry has given you a few of the train station names and really no need to look at maps for Venezia Santa Lucia, Bologna Centrale, and other stations as they are primarily in the center of town. Seek out the "central" station and you can easily get transport from there. Since Florence has more stations, use Firenze Santa Maria Novella (sometimes listed as Firenze SMN).

Ok... When I return later today I'll put my feet up, get relaxed and try it with all the suggestions and advice. Hopefully this will do it. Thanks so much.

I had the same frustration - I ended up using
www.bahn.com to find the train schdule/routes I wanted, and then going to the Italian website. I thought the German website was very straight forward and easy to use.

I know everyone has listed trainitalia but what about http://www.italiarail.com/.. is there a problem with using this site. I could not find any savers - and as we will always be traveling together it looked like it would save us some money. Also, we are now thinking that rather than booking for specific days and times we would just book for 4 days of train. What advice do you have regarding these choices.

Shari, I'll try to offer a few tips for the rail journeys you mentioned. I've used an arbitrary date of 15 May when searching, using the Trenitalia website. Note that the travel details and prices may vary depending on which train you choose. > Milano Centrale to Venezia Santa Lucia: numerous departures shown, travel time 2H:35M, reservations compulsory, Mini fare of €29 and Base fare of €35 shown. > Venezia Santa Lucia to Bologna Centrale: numerous departures shown, travel time ~1H:25M, reservations compulsory, Mini fare of €19 and Base fare of €29 shown. > Bologna Centrale to Firenze SMN: numerous departures shown, travel time 0H:37M, reservations compulsory, Mini fare of €19 and Base fare of €25 shown. > Firenze to Siena: I'd suggest travel by SITA Bus on that route, as it's an easier trip. The Bus station in Florence is close to Firenze SMN station. Travel time is ~1H:15M and cost is about €7.10 PP, one-way (as I recall). DON'T forget to validate your ticket prior to boarding the Bus! You'll be dropped in Piazza Gramsci, which is in the main part of Siena (as opposed to the bottom of the hill, where you'll have to take a Taxi to get up to town). Note: there are both Corse Rapide (fast) Buses and Corse Ordinarie (regular) Buses - there's not much difference in the travel times, so use whichever one best fits your schedule. One IMPORTANT note - the trains I suggested are all EuroStar Italia / Frecce (fast) trains. Reservations are compulsory, so you'll be assigned a Car No. and Seat No. If you travel on Regionale trains, BE SURE to validate your ticket prior to boarding, or you risk hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot, and they're not cheap! Happy travels!

thanks... I sure hope we'll find time in the next 2 days to get this booked. Thanks everyone for the suggestions and ideas.

Shari, In the examples I found, there isn't a huge difference between Base fares and Mini fares on the routes you'll be travelling. Pre-booking will save you a bit if you can get Mini fares. Keep in mind that it's also very easy to simply purchase tickets when in Italy, either from staffed ticket windows of automated Kiosks. If you check the Ron In Rome website, there are excellent instructions there for using the Kiosks. Mini fares must be purchased prior to midnight at least 48-hours before the travel day, so it is possible in some cases to still obtain these in Italy. If they're all sold out, you'll have to pay Base fare. I usually just buy tickets when in Italy, usually at the Kiosks as the ticket windows often have a queue (at least in the larger stations). Cheers!

Unless things have changed, we did the bus to Siena in 2007 and we found the bus, but we were looking all over for the "bus station" and were having a hard time finding it. Now we are not normally challenged at these things but it was a challenge never the less. Anyway, the bus pulls up under the awning, roof area that is on the front of the ground level entrance of the train station. It is right there in front...easy as can be. Boy, did we struggle until we just decided to go ask that bus driver. I looked at Ron in Rome's website today and it is great. You can easily use the train without all the detailed information and get to where you want to go but with his information we should save quite a bit of money. Love it!

Thanks for the information. We guess we won't have that many problems just felt overwhelmed when we looked at the webpage for the train. So excited about our trip next week. Grazie

Shari, we had a horrible time trying to get tickets. I hired Ron in Rome to help. I was so stressed out trying to figure it out then it wouldn't take our c-cards. If your still having trouble go to his site and think about getting his help...SO worth it!!
Good luck, julie

@Shari Where are you lodgings in Siena? We've always found it easier to make the Florence to Siena trip via Sita bus. The station is just around the corner from SMN station past Bar Deanna. It let's you off in Pza Gramasci in the historic center. The train station is on the outskirts though you can catch a bus or taxi into the historic center. The Rapido bus takes an hour and fifteen minutes and is very comfortable.