Train ticket price on USA site versus french site

Presumably you are using tgv-europe.com (which has just recently changed to http://en.voyages-sncf.com). Specify something other than the USA as your ticket collection country, then at the next step - 'Choose how to collect your ticket' - there should be a number of options, to print at home, collect at a ticket machine at a French station (for which you will need a chip and pin credit card) or collect at a French station ticket counter (a non-chip and pin card is OK for that). TGV tickets can be printed at home, other types will have to be collected. Are you buying the Florence to Rome ticket on the Trenitalia site? http://www.trenitalia.com

Hello Kevin, Thanks for your quick reply. I have been checking train fares from Florence to Rome via TGV and their prices are more expensive than Trenitalia. On TrenItalia, it states 2 different departure stations from Florence: Firenze SM Novella OR Firenza Campo Di Marte?
Which one should I choose? This is our first time to Europe so I am so lost. I don't want to buy tickets with the wrong departure city. Please let me know. Thanks for your help in advance.

Santa Maria Novella is the Florence train station in the center of the city, it's the one most visitors use. For Rome, you want Roma Termini. You will get the best prices and more scheduling options from the national rail lines rather than raileurope, which is a ticket broker. I use a European country that uses euro currency as the ticket collection point, it doesn't matter which one. Trenitalia should let you purchase up to 120 days out, tgv at least 90 days.

Thanks Zoe

Santa Maria Novella and Campo Di Marti are two railway stations in Florence. They are a couple of kilometres apart. If you use the journey planner on Trenitalia and compare the options from each station you will see that some trains starting at Campo Di Marte require a change at Santa Maria Novella anyway, so as Zoe says you should just choose Santa Maria Novella.

www.seat61.com has advice for buying Italian train tickets (and lots of other things too.)

Paris-Lyon: Book now on tgv-europe.com to get the lowest fare still available. Choose France as your ticket collection country. You'll be able to either print your own tickets or pick them up at any SNCF station in France. Florence-Rome: Book now on trenitalia.com to get the lowest fare still available. You don't have to register on the site to book tickets, but things go more smoothly if you do. You'll be given a temporary password when you register. Change the password before you book tickets.

@ Kevin , Thanks for the clarification about the procedure for picking up or printing tickets for SNCF !!

Update: Seat61 has just posted (on another site) some important alternatives for buying SNCF tickets http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/why-cant-i-make-booking-at-voyages-sncfcom.cfm Scroll down to Man In Seat 61. Your fears about the cost of last-minute ticket purchases are well-founded. Buying on-line and picking up the tickets at an SNCF station or boutique works fine if you can't print-out at home. Be sure to have the credit card used for the purchase. You will have to go to a station agent if your card is not chip-and-PIN.
The Italian tickets are another matter and Seat 61's home site www.seat61.com offers strategies.

Southam, I've suggested using Capitaine Train a couple of times on this forum, to people who have struggled with credit cards on tgv-europe / voyages-sncf. If The Man in Seat 61 is saying that, then it's good enough for me, but what I would like to see is a report of an actual successful purchase from the US with a US credit card. In case anyone is wondering what we are talking about, The Man in Seat 61 is Mark Smith, who used to be station manager for Charing Cross, London Bridge and Cannon Street railway stations in London. His website is the best source of information on European rail travel that you will find. Capitaine Train is a new-ish French website which has direct access to the SNCF ticketing system, so they can offer the same trains and prices as SNCF themselves, unlike Rail Europe. It's a small company, basically 4 French web developers, and they are working on an English version of their site. In the meantime, users who struggle with French might want to try the Google Chrome web browser, which has a translator function that works very well.

I've finally successfully purchased TGV tickets through Captitaine Train but it took several attempts because I did not realize my credit card was declining the charges because they were suspicious of the foreign company. Now my problem is I can't figure out how to print them out. Will just printing what's listed under the billet be ok?