Is there any way to our seats on a high speed train, Rome to Venice, once the mandatory seats have been assigned? We would rather not be seated in a group of four around a table but prefer single seats facing each other.
I have not done it so this is not a good recommendation. You might try to agent at the train station. Seating variations vary by train. Not all trains come with 2 facing 2 seating. Some have all the seats facing the middle so at any one time half the seats are riding backwards. In that set up you only have a table in the middle where you have a pair of facing each other. You might check with seat61.com to see what he says about changing seat reservations.
George, you don't say which train company - Frecciargento from Trenitalia or .Italo Treno from NTV you will travelling on, nor your fare type and amenity level. Both of those will get us much closer to being able to give you a correct answer.
Have you already bought the tickets? If not, there is an option for choosing your seats on Trenitalia. I don't know about Italo. But you would have to know the configuration of the seats in your class of travel to be sure of getting what you want. I don't actually recall any "1 across from 1" seating on Le Frecce trains in first class.
We are looking at Trenitalia, Rome to Venice later this fall, debating on 1st or 2nd class. I didn't see a choice to select our own seats on my practice runs booking tickets, but I do have seating diagrams for both 1st and 2nd class on the high speed trains. I think the schedules change in early June. Once those are official, I think we can book tickets 120 days out. Thanks, George
The seat choice option appears at the bottom of the window that opens up with prices for each fare class after you hit the "s e l e c t" arrow for the train you want. It is below "View Other Fares and Service" and will offer Automatic Assignment () Seat () Seat Nearby () So you tick the one you want (after you pick the fare and class you want). But it doesn't show up for all trains. I just saw it on Frecciarossa trains from Milano to Firenze, but the option does not appear for trains from Milano to Roma the same day. Edit: I just checked Rome to Venice and the option shows up for every train I checked. Look for it below the array that shows Base, Exonomy and Super Economy fares in each class, before you hit the red "continue" button.