Say for example, I want to day trip from Venice to Verona with a stop in Padua. Would I simply buy a round trip ticket to Verona and get off/back on in Padua as desired or do I have to buy individual Venice to Padua, Padua to Venice, etc... etc... tickets?
Any help appreciated :)
If you take regional trains (no seat reservations), the answer is "yes." If either leg is on a fast train for which seat reservations are required, you will have to buy separate tickets for each leg.
Using your example, you can take a regional train from Venice to Verona in two hours or you can take a EuroStar train in one hour. Both trains stop in Padua. If you take regional trains, you can hop on and off anytime you wish.
However you choose to travel, you must buy single tickets. There are no roundtrip tickets.
