We will be in Italy next year, May 3 through 14, 2020 and want to get some idea as to the train schedules and ticket availability for our transportation from Rome to Florence. The furthest out I can find is January 2020. I can at least see the time schedules, which I assume will probably be close to those times already posted, but was wondering when the new schedules get posted on their websites. In seeing information in the forum, it appears that they post their schedules at certain times of the year and was hoping you could let me know, if you know, when that would be for May 2020 so I can mark on my calendar to book at that time. Most have lower fares if you can book them early.
Appreciate any information on this.
Thanks
Posted by
Chicago
8041 posts
This is a good resource on how to use the trains in Italy that you should read:
https://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm
Booking usually opens 120 days ahead for most high-speed & long-distance trains.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Cindy, Train times (schedules) are changed twice a year, 2nd weekend in December and 2nd weekend in June.
That means the times from December 2019 to June 2020 should appear any day now, if they haven't already.
Tickets go on sale ~120 days out. So for 3rd May, tickets will appear in January.
"Most have lower fares if you can book them early." - that applies to long distance and high speed trains. The ones where a ticket is for a specific train (and the ticket includes a seat number).
For local trains ("Regionale") there is no discount for advance purchase. You can just buy at the station, get on the next train and sit in any empty seat.
All your questions about trains in Italy should be answered by this webpage: https://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
In short, the above posts are partially wrong: the tickets you need and the full schedules will be uploaded by December 14. Most high speed trains have already been uploaed, are you looking for a local train? Those have no reserved seats and offer no discounts.
Since trains do not sell out months (or days) in advance, you can set an alarm for December 15 and avoid wasting time; this way you'll be the first customer, but remember that there are two competing companies running high speed trains in Italy: Trenitalia and Italotreno.