Vernazza (Cinque Terre) to Venice

as the trenitalia site has been giving me "no results" messages for travel on Sept. 7 2015

Freccia-something, Intercity and EC trains' tickets can be bought up to 120 days in advance. You can see the schedules, but you have to wait till May 11 to get the tickets.
Regionali (locals mainly used by commuters): 60 days if you buy at the station, 7 days on the Internet.
Problem is that there is a timetable change on the 13th of June and the Regionali are always the last ones loaded in the system.
Use tomorrow to get an idea of times and prices, then check again on the 14th to see the the Regionali final schedule . It won't change that much.

Oddly, I got results for Venice to Rome but it would only give me "next day" train options no matter the date I'd put in!

Did you put something in the hour box? If you leave it blank the site switches to your PC clock, and I bet it's the middle of the night in Italy.

I couldn't get pricing (all the options had a cart symbol with a circle and line through it), does this mean I have no hope of buying??

See my first answer, you must use a date within the next seven days to see all trains and prices.
That symbol means that you must wait, nothing to be worried about.
Even if you're using the English version, trenitalia.com is thought to Italian customers, and Italians take trains for granted.

The prices don't vary much by route. Just choose the timing that you prefer, whether for a particular hour of the day, faster time, or (most popular) fewer train changes. You may find the DB schedule site to be easier to read and print from. It does not sell tickets or give prices. It does reflect all regional trains that are scheduled through June 13.

alana,

There are two primary routes from Vernazza to Venice, one through Milan and one through Florence. I've found that the Florence route is often a bit quicker. As a previous post mentioned, the schedules for the latter part of the year won't be uploaded until mid-June, so that's why you're not able to find any solutions for 7 Sept. I'd suggest choosing a date in the next week or so on the same day-of-the-week that you'll be travelling, and that will provide a "ballpark estimate".

A few thoughts on your questions.....

1.) I didn't check cost but for best time, I'd use a departure at 09:28, arriving Venezia S. Lucia at 14:20 (time 4H:52M, 3 changes at La Spezia Centrale, Pisa Centrale & Firenze SMN, reservations compulsory on second and last segments). The first and third segments will be Regionale so DON'T forget to validate your tickets prior to boarding the train on the day of travel. That route is consderably quicker than most of the others.

2.) Venice to Rome is very easy as there are departures about every hour and most of the trains are direct, with a travel time of 3H:45M via Freccia high speed. You can take your pick of departure times. It's not likely that the new schedules will change much from the present ones. Second class Base fare (the highest price tier) is €80 on that route. I wasn't able to see Economy and Super Economy as they appear to be sold out for this month. Super Economy typically ranges from €9 - 39 and Economy ~€49. You can purchase tickets up to 120 days in advance but be sure you're willing to commit to a specific train, date and departure time, as the tickets will be valid on only ONE train. If you manage to get Super Economy tickets, they're non-changeable and non-refundable, so choose carefully! Note that your departure station will be Venezia S. Lucia and arrival station Roma Termini.

3.) I'd suggest waiting until 120 days from your trips before trying to book on Trenitalia. You'll be able to easily buy tickets for the "fast" trains such as Freccia or InterCity, but purchasing Regionale tickets is awkward and they're more restrictive if purchased online. Best to buy those when you arrive in Italy, either from a Kiosk or a staffed ticket office. The Trenitalia website will show all classes of tickets that are available in the "Offers" column.

One other point to mention is that you can also use the competing Italo high speed trains from Venice to Rome, although they often arrive at Roma Tiburtina rather than Roma Termini. Have a look at their schedules to see if that might work for you.

Thanks so much to all who replied! Very, very helpful comments - now I have a game plan!

Alana,

what are my best (cost/time) options for getting from Vernazza to Cinque Terre?

I don't know if you meant to write Ct to Venice (as in your title)
I will answer your question just in case.

Vernazza is one of the villages in the Cinque Terre ( 5 lands consisting of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore)

You can easily visit each of the 5 villages via Regional train travel ( less than 5 minutes between each village)
or via ferry (except for Corniglia which does not have a ferry port).

Corniglia is on a hill above the train tracks so you will need to climb many stairs to reach it.

As other have explained, you can buy Regional train tickets up to 7 days before travel but it's not recommended to buy them in advance online as they come with restrictions.

You can easily buy the Regionale train ticket when you arrive to your first destination in Italy.

Regional tickets are good for 60 days from date of purchase.

Do not forget to validate these tickets prior to boarding the train to avoid fines that will be collected on the spot.

Edit: Here is the website for ferry schedules for CT: http://www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it/orario.asp?lang=eng

Yep Q1 was an oops (I meant from Cinque Terre to Venice) but thanks a lot for the added info!

I'm interested in your first leg as well, since I'll be doing that route in May (and have no idea what I'm doing!) It sounds like there are 3 changes to get from Vernazza to Venice, if I read that correctly. So, will I have 4 separate tickets? And how easy is it at these stations to figure out my next train, if I can't speak Italian? And what is meant by Compulsory? How do you know which need to be validated? Is it written on the ticket?

Thanks!

if you can not speak italian, can you write down the italian spelling for the various cities that your train is going to? Like Firenze, Venezia Santa Lucia or La Spezia? Then match that name and the train number you have written down and you will be fine. The screens will have that number and final destination as well as the platform (binario or bin) and you just go there. Italian lesson over.

It is mandatory to validate any ticket that does not have a fixed date and time on it, that is all regional trains. All other faxt trains have a seaf and time of reservation and not need to be validated.