Just home from a couple weeks in Rome and Amalfi and we were surprised with the ticket validation process, having read many, many entries on the topic here. We arrived at FCO and walked to the train station, passing by the many ticket machines along the way and bought our Leonardo Express tickets at the ticket booth along with our tickets from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale. As we were about to validate the LeoEx tickets at the platform, a conductor said we didn't need to do it. We boarded and had no problem. At Termini, I showed the tickets to an agent where you go out to the platforms and he assured me there was no need to validate the tickets. Coming back from Napoli to Roma Termini, same thing. The ticket agent said no need to validate. These were all Trenitalia tickets so I'm wondering if it's only Italo tickets and tickets that are purchased online that need validating.
Posted by
St Pete, FL
209 posts
I was in Taormina last week, and bought train tickets at the station to Siracusa. The person selling the tickets made sure we understood that validating was mandatory.
Glenn
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
5101 posts
Were the tickets you bought timed tickets ( for a train at a specific time)?
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23463 posts
You ONLY validate Regionale train tickets purchased in the station or at a ticket machine. All other tickets are specific to a train, day and time and cannot be used on any other train. Only good for one train. Regionale train tickets purchased on-line come pre-validated and specific an open time window of four hours when the tickets are valid. Any ticket purchased on-line cannot be validated because they are printed on plain paper. Personally I would never purchase a Regionale ticket on-line. It restricts your flexibility.
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
Only tickets on regional trains need to be validated - i.e. tickets that can be used on any train on the designated day of travel. Tickets that are only for a specific train do not need to be validated, and both regional and high-speed train tickets purchased online come pre-validated. All Italo tickets are for a specific high-speed train and do not need to be validated. Leonardo Express tickets are "validated" when you scan them at the entry gates at FCO, but you may need to manually validate them when departing from Roma Termini depending on what type of ticket you purchased. It might seem confusing, but it's really not.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16064 posts
I think Frank has the provided the reason why you only had to validate your Leo Express tickets if traveling TO the airport but not the other way around. A couple other posts out there mentioned not having to validate for the Fiumicino>Termini run (below), and the poster of the first link explains that it's because tickets auto-validate when passing through the turnstiles at the airport.
Last post on this thread.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/leonardo-express-8a6d1bea-2b19-4ed2-9afe-3a5488186efd
Your Roma Termini > Napoli Centrale journey was very likely on a specific high-speed train, at a specific time, with seat and carriage assignments. Validation is not necessary for this sort of train/ticket.