Hey everyone.
I just got back from a month backpacking in Europe and thought id share a little of what i learned about the trains. A lot of people ask whether the point to point or passes are better. I found that if you take a night train or several longer journeys it does save you money. Except if it is just for Italy. I found that the prices for point to point betweeen big cities was pretty reasonable and if you have a pass you will need a reservation, which on some trains (betwwen the big cities) costs 15 euro a person! not to mention that if you buy you ticket at the station you can use a self service machine and choose your seats instead of waiting in a long line if you just need a reservation for a pass...the lines get long
So basically, if most of your travel will be in italy, look up the prices and make sure you take into account that the reservation costs on the passes add up. In one case the point to point ticket was 21 euro (incl resevation) and the reservation alone was 15 euro!
O and if you do have a pass and need reservations you dont need to book from the us...we made our reservations 2-3 days before and never had a problem.. big cities, weekends, July...Didnt matter. There are often trains leaving every hour so you will get on. Except the night train we booked in advance so I cant comment on that