Italy Perfect’s tips to make train travel in Italy a fun and relaxing experience.

Reserving train tickets

Consider purchasing your train tickets in advance from RailEurope. It will save you from waiting in long lines and will assure you that you get the train you want. If you don’t purchase tickets in advance you may find that peak travel days and times which includes weekends, holidays and throughout the summer, for the popular routes are sold out when you arrive at the station. While there may be trains leaving to your desired destination every 30 minutes, you might have to wait a few hours before there is availability. Or your party may find themselves spread out across random seats in multiple cars, particularly difficult for families. Or you may have to take the slower train which makes numerous stops, increasing your travel time by several hours.

Seat selection

When you reserve your tickets, you can’t put in seating preferences because the automated system defaults to putting your party together. If you do select window/aisle preferences things can end up badly. For example if you request two window seats and the only available are in separate carriages, that is where you will end up. Better to be seated together and then to negotiate your desired seat.

You cannot reserve forward facing seats only. It doesn’t make sense, actually, because trains pull into the main stations going in one direction and then leave the station by reversing direction. So you may be facing forward when you arrive but backwards when leaving.

Rail protection insurance

We recommend NOT purchasing the rail protection insurance offered by some of the rail booking sites; it’s pretty useless, only covers the tickets and only if you cancel before you travel for a partial refund. A general purpose travel insurance policy such as those offered by Travelex gives better coverage and covers a broader spectrum of issues.

Changing reservations

Officially, you may change your reservations up to three days before travel and if you wish to go on a different train, you may have to repurchase tickets. You might be able travel on another train to the same destination on the same day. However, this is not guaranteed and the conductor may deny you passage. If you miss your train ask at the train station what your options are.

Should you buy a Eurailpass?

It depends on the amount of train travel you plan to do. A rule of thumb is that for four or fewer train trips, point-to-point is usually less expensive than a Eurailpass. Keep in mind that the Eurailpass does not include the seat reservation fee, so factor that expense and advance effort to reserve seats. When you book point-to-point tickets you are simultaneously reserving seats. Use the RailEurope site to check the costs and with some careful planning you can calculate which option works best for you. They will provide telephone assistance but usually the hold times are long.

Is it cheaper to rent a car?

For four or more people, renting a car might be a less expensive option and provides more schedule flexibility and spontaneity. Factor in the extra time and hassle factor required to pick up and drop off the car which includes potentially slow, inefficient lines at the car rental counter, navigating and getting lost, the cost of parking, gas, tolls. Car rentals, gas and parking in Italy can be pricey and many historic cities have limited traffic zones to discourage private vehicles in city centers. But for visits to many of the ancient hills towns a car is often the best option since some are not accessible by train. You can obtain a car rental quote from AutoEurope.

First class or second class?

First class has nicer, roomier seats, more luggage storage space and fewer students on cell phones. We like second class just fine for the relatively short trips between Venice-Florence-Rome. In either class luggage storage will be at the ends of each car in a communal area, like on an airport shuttle. You are responsible for getting your luggage on and off the train. As the train approaches the station people will crowd the exits. We tend to be among those pushy people in order to keep a close eye on our luggage as the train pulls into the station. People get off quickly to snag a luggage cart on the platform.

Food onboard

First or second class, don’t expect anything in the way of food service in either class; a snacks and drinks trolley will pass through with a very limited selection of food for purchase. Best to buy something before you board the train. There's a nice buffet for take out in the Rome station.

At the train station

Arrive at the train station 20 minutes before your train so you have time to find the track. Look for large electronic boards with destinations. The tracks are usually not posted until 5 or 10 minutes before train time. Pazienza (patience). The word for track is BINARIO, which you may see abbreviated BIN.

Get on the right train. Match the train # on your ticket to the train # on the big board. There may be several trains to the same ultimate destination, fast and slow.

The train destination may be the major city beyond your station, so if you are traveling from Rome to Florence, the schedule board may show Milano because that is the ultimate destination of the train. Match departure times and train numbers to find your train. This is one of the most counterintuitive things to deal with. You’re at Rome’s Termini station and are taking the train to Florence. You see the track posted for the train to Florence, hurry over to the track, get on the train, settle in and discover you are on the “milk run” train which takes nearly 4 hours not the express 1 hour, 35 minute train which was leaving at almost the same time but had a posted final destination of Milan. The only way to know this is to match the train numbers posted on the board to the train numbers on your ticket.

Validate your tickets

At the start of each track there is a yellow parking meter sized validation machine. Slip your ticket into the slot and it will be time stamped. Take it with you. You will be very sad if you leave it in the machine. If you fail to validate your tickets, you are subject to a €200 fine. A couple of methods to avoid a legal fine may work or not, better to validate.

If you forget to validate the ticket before you board the train you should write the date and time on the back of your ticket in pen, self-validating it to show that you do not intend to reuse the ticket, before the conductor comes around. Be sure you write the date as Day/ Month/Year otherwise the conductor will be confused. This will typically pass the conductor’s inspection with less reproach then no validation at all.

Another approach is to be sorry, flustered, stupid, and not speak Italian and the conductor may give up in frustration. If available, pretty girls and women should be put in charge of the interchange, smile and charm. Sorry, while not politically correct, it is true, this is Italy, and beauty is appreciated in many ways.

Boarding the train

Match your seat reservations to both car/carriage and seat. The word for car/carriage is CARROZZA. There are first and second class cars. First class have a big 1 on the doors, second have a 2.

If you have a second class ticket, don’t try to occupy a first class seat. The embarrassment of your banishment is not worth it.

Changing seats

Consider negotiating a seat change an opportunity in international relations. You may certainly try to explain in English but pantomime works well in Italy. Remember, also, that your fellow travelers may be foreigners themselves, making communication more interesting. Courtesy and smiles are your best tools; speaking loudly doesn’t improve understanding. We have heard that picking up the air sick bag from the airplane and using that as a prop when you are negotiating seat changes is very helpful. You don’t have to do or say anything about it, just its evidence may help convince someone that they would prefer to not sit next to or across from you in deference to your companion.

Call your vacation rental greeter

Call the greeter before you board the train to reconfirm your check in appointment. If you wait to call from your mobile phone until you're on the train the entire train car will get to hear your loud English conversation since it is hard to be subtle when shouting over the train noise. The one consolation is that you’ll find that most of your fellow Italian passengers are carrying on lengthy, dramatic phone conversations as well.

Landing in Rome or Milan + Same Day Train to Florence