i havent been to italy in dare i say, 20 years. i used to go to a train station and buy tickets roundtrip for my destination. cant i just do that? i have been reading alot of the questions and answers and they all talk about making a reservation? where besides the internet would i do that? cant i just wait until i am in italy. i am flying into rome and will stay a couple of days and then i will take a train to a villa that my sister is renting near perugia. i figured i could just go to the station and buy tickets. help!!

You can certainly buy tickets for a particular journey once you get to Italy. What thwe "issue" is sometimes is whether or not you should get a seat reservation. Having the ticket doesn't necessarily guarantee you a place to sit but this depends on the type of train and whether or not it is crowded...the Eurostar services require you to make a seat reservation...others do not.
..I can look up schedules if you like (depending on your detination out of Rome)or you can do so yourself using the www.trenitalia.com website.

Don't panic...no need to. And if you are in Rome acouple of days ahead and feel the need to make an advanced seat reservation I think most folks will tell you that doing so a couple of days ahead is plenty of time.

www.trenitalia.com.... great webb for trains' schedules and prices...

thanks for the info. are the eurostar trains a deluxe line? i just remember taking a train. we usually looked for the rapido or diretto for example. i did look up that website trenitalia- i typed in rome to perugia and they listed train times with a change or a stop in foligno. i was just getting worried because some of my plans are not set per se and i didnt want to be so rigid. thanks and any more comments would be appreciated.

Yes, Eurostar is the fanciest, fastest train. I don't think it goes to Perugia, so it will not be your concern. Yes, you must change at Foligno. Your old friends, the rapido and diretto still exist, as well as the IC ( intercity) which is faster with less stops. Yes, you can still go to the ticket seller window and buy your tickets. Many travelers find this a daunting situation in busy Roma Termini station and avoid it by buying tickets from a local travel agency. But you can buy your tickets at the station from an English machine as well, avoiding pushy lines and translation issues. On the less-popular route you are traveling, reservations may not be an issue.

One advantage to having reserved seats on a particular train is that you can be assured of sitting in a non-smoking carriage (or a smoking carriage, if that's your preference).

There are several DIRECT trains daily between Rome and Perugia, 2 of which are Eurostars (journey time 2 hours), - so you don't necessarily have to change at Foligno.

The trenitalia website has details.

Hope this helps ...

Steve