Italian train reservations

First, it very hard to make a rail pass cost effective in Italy. The trains are cheap. Second, ALL trains in Italy except the Regionale trains require a seat reservation. The fee is roughly 10E/reservation fee for high speed, something like 3E for ICs, ICEs and, of course, nothing for Regionale since those trains are open seating. Unless you are using a Regionale train you will need a seat reservation for each leg. So if you hop off, you need a reservation for the next time you hop on - new leg. Now on a Regionale train you can hop on and off as long as you have a ticket from A to D, you can get off and on at B and C. However, that ticket may be only good for five hours (varies depending on the distance between A and D. Further apart the longer you have to complete the journey) If you want to hop on and off you could do that with a pass on a Regionale train. However, given how cheap Regionale trains are, you may not want to burn day of the pass.

All Trenitalia Regionale trains are free to ride for Eurail pass holders. All of the trains that run in the CT are Regionale trains. Seat reservations are required for each intercity and fast train that you will be on. As Frank explains, you will pay 10Euro for each fast train you will be on. And, unless you buy your reservations online at RailEurope of some other location, you will be standing in line at each location to purchase your seat reservation. Note that the Eurail pass will not work on the new Italo trains in Italy nor will it work on the Circumvesuviana trains from Naples to Sorrento.

Sue, "Italy seems to have required reservations for every train." Reservations are not required for Regionale trains. You'll be able to use your Railpasses as "tickets" for those trains. However, you MUST be sure that you're not boarding a train that has compulsory reservations, or you'll get a nasty surprise in the form of a huge fine! "Is it really necessary to make them for every trip?" It is ESSENTIAL that you have reservations on trains where they're compulsory. You MUST have reservations for the "premium" trains such as the Freccia high speed trains, InterCity, etc. Note that reservations are specific for a particular train, date and departure time, so you CAN NOT just get a reservation and then use any train! If you're caught without valid reservations on a train where these are compulsory, you'll likely be fined €50-60 PP, and the fines will be collected on the spot! You'll have to check the bahn.de or trenitalia.com websites to determine the specifics of the trains you plan on taking. Some will require reservations, some won't. If you're planning to go from the Cinque Terre to Rome, I'd suggest taking one of the direct trains from La Spezia Centrale to Roma Termini (there are several each day), which have a travel time of ~3H:45M. You'd have to skip the stop in Pisa though, as that's in a different direction. Travelling with a Railpass, you would ONLY be able to "hop off / hop on" in Pisa when using Regionale trains. Happy travels!

Thanks for the information, guys. Kind of frustrating about the difference in Italian train travel.

Sue, Unfortunately, that's the reality of rail travel in Italy. One other point to mention is that when riding Regionale trains with P-P tickets, the tickets MUST BE VALIDATED prior to boarding the train on the day of travel or again hefty fines. That's not a concern for those travelling with a Railpass, as the pass will be validated prior to first use and will then be good for it's validity period.