Local trains along the coast of France and Italy

Sally, You must be talking about the "TER" trains, which are the local trains in France. No need to reserve in advance for these trains,...if you ride is less than half an hour, chances are that your ticket may not even be checked. Just buy the ticket at the station.

I can't help you with information, but simply to let you know that if you put more info in your title, you will probably get more helpful answers. We don't know which local trains you are asking about. It is easy to change the title, after you sign in.

you don't need to buy ticket in advance. the train on french coast runs very frequently and they're usually half empty. you can get on/off at any station. i think the italian trains are less frequent, and the train doesn't follow the coast line as in france, so you should just use it to plan point to point trips. same as in france, buy ticket where you're there.

Trains run along the Italian coast Ventimiglia to Viareggio. You can buy an Italian railpass that would be good for the on-off stops, but may not be a good value. I would suggest picking two or three stops along the coast and buying individual tickets for these places. Once you get to Levanto, I think you can still buy a "pass" for the Cinque Terre trains. From La Spezia south to Rome, one train line parallels the coast with some views of the sea. The prettiest part of the coast is the more northern part between Ventimiglia (the first Italian town after France) and Levanto. In the CT, the trains are in tunnels much of the time, so there is not much view from the train.