train travel in Italy

Hi - family will be making similar trip in May and I'm having trouble actually buying/printing the tickets from home. What am I missing?
Thanks

Are you perhaps looking on RailEurope instead of Trenitalia? Trenitalia has recently upgraded their website, but it is now easier to enter the "To" and "From" as it gives you a drop-down menu. From Milan to monterosso, there are numerous trains a day with change in Genoa, and at least one, departing around noon (12:10) that goes to Monterosso with no changes. Just choose "Milano Centrale" from the drop-down menu, and "monterosso" (don't try to find Monterosso al Mare. You don't really need reservations for these trains, but you will save money with the mini fares available for advance purchase. For example, Milan to Monterosso for 9 euro. Make sure you are on the Trenitalia website (you can use it in English), give it another try, and come back if you still have trouble.

Mostly likely you are looking at using Regional trains for some of those location which means that advance reservations or tickets are not available because Regional trains are show and go. If it is packed you stand or find a vacant seat. You can buy Regional tickets about a week ahead of time but there is no point since tickets are always available and not discounted. Buy them when you get to the station.

Thanks so much to you both. Very helpful!

Just wait until you get into Italy to purchase your tickets. You may have to make reservations when you purchase the tickets on the longer, high traffic faster trains. But, seldom are the trains full, and you'll have no problems getting where you're going.

As David suggests, you can wait until you get to Italy and buy your tickets at any station kiosk. If you know your routes, and you don't mind being locked to specific trains, dates, and times of day... then you can pre-buy and take advantage of available discounts like the Trenitalia MINI promotion or the Trenitalia Family Offer - both of which have "ticket allotments" per route. You can buy tickets on Trenitalia for the high-speed trains 120 days in advance - unless they are "updating" the schedules, which happens every June and December. Sometimes the complete schedules don't get loaded until mid-June or mid-December. So for example, if you're looking for a July ticket, chances are you'll have to wait until the first week of June. If you're are looking to ride the slower, less expensive Regionale trains, then you can only buy tickets online 7 DAYS IN ADVANCE for these trains. There's no real advantage to buying Regionale tickets online as they never sell out - there's no seat reservation so you may have to stand in a crowded train, but they don't sell out! If your routes are saying "NA", then you're probably looking at a Regionale route more than 7 days out. Here's some help if you'd like to buy your high-speed tickets online... and then once you get them, here's how to go Go "Ticketless" and Use PNR Codes on a Trenitalia train. It's really easy and Trenitalia is running some great MINI specials currently. Good Luck!

Janice, relax a little - Trenitalia can be helpful but not two months in advance regarding purchases, they usually don't have all the trains listed that far ahead. There's a difference between "local" and "regional" trains: what used to be local trains are now small commuter trains that stop everywhere. You can probably get from Genoa to La Spezia easily and then perhaps a bus to Monterosso would be better. Another suggestion: Post this question in the "To the Boot" forum where the most up to date information on Italian train travel is usually posted.

There is no point getting a bus from La Spezia to Monterosso instead of a train...