Yes i was only using them and playing around with them to see how easy they worked in stations like Rome Termini, Florence SMN and Venice SL - i am not that familiar with the older machines so thanks for that uptake.

If going to the ticket window always have the train info written down - dep time, destination, 1`st or 2nd class, train number, etc - get that from the trenitalia.com site easily enough

Thank you all so much for your advice.

I am going to do as you all suggest and buy the tickets when we get to Rome. We are arriving at FCO airport at 12.20pm on Wednesday 10th December and are staying in an apartment on Piazza del Fico. We thought of getting a limo service to take us to the apartment. We have told the owner we're likely to get to the apartment by about 2pm.

After handover, would you suggest we take the bus to Termini to book our train tickets using the self-service machines? The first set of tickets we need are for our journey down to Naples and back on 11th December.

You should be able to catch a bus on Corso Vittorio Emmanuele. I'm not sure if there are any stops closer. Here's a link on how to use the bus in Rome.
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/rome_t...tation/bus.htm

Buy some bus tickets at a tabacchi (buy several). That way you will have tickets for your trip to Termini the next morning and not have to find a place early in the morning to buy them. Bus tickets are 1€ and good for 70 minutes and a day ticket is 4€. If you are going to be there multiple days, you might consider buying the Roma Pass (20€) which lets you use all the transportation for 3 days plus gets you into two museums free and discounts after the free entrances are used. I would not plan to use/buy a pass if one of your days is a Monday since many museums are closed that day.
http://www.romapass.it/?l=en

Thanks so much Kybourbon for all the wonderful advice and very helpful info.

Just one more question - if the Familia fare (decribed as Familia 20%) through Trenitalia is available for a certain train journey, am I right in assuming that it will be available right up until the train departs, unlike the Amica fare which is only available up to 24 hours before departure or until all sold out?

I've been given the family discount even though there were no kids (we were a group of 6 adults)minutes before we hopped on the train. This was a couple of years ago and purchased at a ticket window (no machines were available at the location)and the ticket agent decided we were family (or a group). I don't think you would have any problem getting it right before travel. You could probably book the family discount for Rome/Naples and depending on what time you get to Termini, you might still be outside the 24 hours to book the Amica for your Naples/Rome return. I'm not sure the price will be any different though. I think the family discount will work out to be the exact same as Amica. Remember it will take you about 30-40 minutes to train back from Pompeii to Naples to catch your Rome train. The CV train runs every 30 minutes so factor that in if you prepurchase your return tickets to Rome. I would be tempted not to book my return and just leave when you are ready to leave.

Hi Ozz,

>Ira, thank you so much for telling me that the 12 year old is an adult.<

From Trenitalia
"FAMILIA Discount

Family: 50% for children of up to 12 years, ....<

I wasn't quite correct:
There are =>12 to <15, and =>15 to <26 youth fares.

You can find Tariff information by choosing a fare type. There will be a box that says "Tariff Information".

> We are arriving at FCO airport at 12.20pm on Wednesday ...<

There is a train station at FCO.

You can buy all of the train tickets that you need there - usually.

The express train from Aeroporto Fiumicino to Rome TE is 11.5E for adults. This is cheaper than a shuttle van - about 18E pp.

There is cab service, but I think that you will pay about 60-70E for 5 people with luggage.

The Familia fare is always available.

Enjoy Italy.

((I))

The Familia fare, i would assume, would also be valid on the Leonardo Express airport train that you say in 11.5 euros? Or is this a special train with a flat fare?

Ira - While you may have found a description on Trenitalia for youths (perhaps for Italian passes or international trains) you can not select that when trying to buy your tickets (as least not online). Trenitalia family fare description is for 4-12 with no mention of an older youth group:

Trains allowed
TBiz, AV, ES*, ES*city, IC plus, IC, ICN, Expresses, couchettes cars and WL.

Discount
Family: 50% for children of up to 12 years, 20% for the other persons for groups from 3 to 5 persons, among whom at least one is a aged less than 12 and an adult. They can be bought only if the amount payable, net of the discount, is at least 10 Euro for each travelling person older than 12 years.In any case, subject to the minimum fares for each tariff.

On board the train, Family tickets must be shown together with an identification document or, for children younger than 12, a birth certificate or similar document, together with serf-certification of the parent/guardian.

Training in from the airport (11€ x 5 = 55€) won't save money over a booked service (Rome Shuttle Limousine is 50€ for 5 people) since they would still have to get a taxi(s) from Termini.

Unless they take the cheaper (5 euro?) local train from airport to several other stations besides Termini?

PQ - Is that hassle worth any tiny savings? 5 people x 5€ = 25€. The closest stations would be either Trastevere or S. Pietro (Pietro would involve changing trains). Then they would still have to get probably two taxis from the station on to their apartment. EVen if they managed to get that for 10€ each taxi(it would cost more than that from Trastevere), would it be worth all that hassle to save 5€?

No unless it were fewer people and those are local trains that can get mobbed and i believe the U.S. State Dept has issued warnings about bag thefts on those trains. But for many would be the cheapest option - changing for a S Pietro train for instance is a simple cross platform transfer at Trastevere.