Train travel in italy

It’s even easier. Download the Trenitalia app, and you can just purchase your tickets with it. What you will need is the Italian spelling for cities. A few common ones:

Rome is Roma
Florence is Firenze
Venice is Venezia

You can buy tickets ahead of time for the faster trains to save some money. Otherwise, be sure to purchase the rest at least 5 minutes before the train leaves because there’s a cut-off time.

You might this well regarded site helpful:
https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-italy.htm

Previous comment reported. Sales pitch.

Train travel in Italy is cheap and easy with either the app or paper tickets. Most stations will have English speaking agent, at least enough to sell you the tickets. Even the ticket machines have English options.

The system works well, but be very careful to validate your ticket if bought on the platform. A searing memory of my otherwise lovely time in Cinque Terre is being accosted by a ticket taker right inside the train as it pulled away, and charged E25/person in our party, for failing to validate. He did not care even a little that we were dazed tourists who didn't speak Italian.

Besides the TrenItalia app, download the ItaloTreno app. TI is state owned and includes intercity and regional trains. IT is private. Both have high speed trains, routes are often the same but times can be different, costs are similar. Use whichever works for your schedule.

Book directly through the apps. Set up your account before leaving home. I do a few dummy bookings to figure out routes and times before my trip as I plan my itinerary. It helps to see what the apps look like. Just don’t finalize if you don’t want to book. “Oops” won’t help you.

Routes post in January and June (correct me if I’m wrong.). If you are looking at routes now for September they probably aren’t accurate.

Use the Man in Seat 61 website to understand routing and the trains themselves.

seat61.com is VERY helpful also. It will tell you the differences between the 2 train companies in Italy and show you photos. The owner of the site is very helpful and will answer questions if you email him. We always book online and early for better prices and to ensure a seat.

Be careful, I am not sure that KC's comments are accurate any more. I believe the days of validating (time stamping) paper tickets are long gone. Check with the ticket agent but I think you validate in the app.