Trenitalia completely revamped their fare scheme. MINI fares are no longer a fixed discount applied to a given advance in purchase but, indeed, a whole category for every kind of discounted fare, up to 65% off the BASE fare. There is a "gotcha", though. For bureaucratic / administrative reasons, when Trenitalia sells a ticket that involves a connection with a train paid by regions (Regionale (R) or Regionale Veloce (RV), or another operator (Le Nord, SBB), it can't apply some discounts and may not offer the MINI fare. I'll give you an example of a simulation I just did: Vernazza - Roma Termina 16/05. If you search for this sector, you'll find an option with Regionale up to La Spezia then Eurostar from La Spezia to Rome (there are other combinations). Quoting the whole sector gives you only a € 51,00 fare. However, you if "break" the search into 2 separate tickets (Vernazza-La Spezia and La Spezia-Roma), you can buy, for the same set of trains departing/arriving at the same time, La Spezia - Roma on the MINI fare for € 28,00 - and then you add the € 2,10 for the regional train Vernazza - La Spezia The ultra-savvy / rail-geeks can find even lower fares in some new loopholes, like buying a Roma - Salerno ticket instead of a Roma - Napoli (where you actually want to disembark) on the same train, because it is cheaper with a MINI fare not offered only on the route to Napoli. Would you spend time checking for beat-the-system-legally fares? Do you think is it work to spend 30-60min to save € 100 or more for a family? Would you start searching more or don't you have patience for that?
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