We are planning to backpack around Italy in May. We have an idea of a few places we want to visit but we prefer not to be too planned about it.
Train travel looks good as there are lots of train routes. We will be there for 4 weeks and the longest rail pass is for 10 days which we understand do not have to be used consecutively. However, we are not sure if we really need to buy passes unless they save us lots of money.
The first leg of the journey will be from Rome to Milan - alarmingly,having looked at the InterRail site, the economy seats seem to be booked out already! Not sure what to do in that case.
Most of our journeys will be on regional lines which I understand you do not need to book seats on?
It is all very scary - we have backpacked around other countries and just winged it with no difficulty but it seems to be harder in Italy - or am I mistaken?
Train travel in Italy
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No, not mistaken, and from what you're saying I can't believe a rail pass will do you much good or save you any money.
Hard to believe that Rome to Milan leg is sold out. What site(s) are you using to look at bookings?
Forget InterRail. This is the official Italian railroad site:
http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.html
(Economy seats have a limited number, like frequent flyer seats on airplanes.)
Regional lines don't have reserved seats (therefore they can't sell out) nor do they have discounts. The tickets are good on any R train between the two cities, so you must validate (date/time stamp) the ticket in the yellow machine on the train platform just before boarding the train. R trains will not be shown on the schedules until 7 days before the date of travel. Use dates this week to get an idea of the schedule and prices. Then buy the tickets just before you want to travel. If you are traveling mostly on R trains, a pass probably won't save you any money.
Seniors moment!!!!!! We are travelling from Rome to Florence,not to Milan!
Doesn't matter, Ptros, same advice applies.
For tickets between major cities on the fast trains, you can save money by booking on Trenitalia in advance (ellen's link above). You can find dicounted tickets as cheap as 9€ (including seat). A rail pass doesn't include the mandatory seat reservations on these trains. You would have to pay 10€ for a seat reservation with a pass.
Often buses are a better option if you are traveling to smaller towns.