I am trying to reserve seats on 1st class Eurostar train for 2 of us from Venice to Florence. I can either choose: (1) side by side seating (with strangers across from us) or (2) seating facing each other (across from each other) on a single aisle seats.

What is better for a couple??

There are seats side by side without strangers across also.

I would recommend "attempting" to get across from each other on single aisle seats. Italians talk ALOT on cell phones on the train.

As I have written elsewhere, even though you specify certain seat configurations, Trenitalia site does not always give you what you asked. If you have access to seating chart, you can verify what the reservation actually gave you, but without that you don't know which seat numbers are next to each other. We requested two side by side at two occations, the reservations gave us two diagonally facing seats with strangers at our sides.

I agree that everybody in Italy and their dog has a cell phone or seems to. But, realistically, if you were seated across form "strangers" aas you put it and they weren't engaged in cell phone conversation you might actually have an opportunity to exchange pleasantries, if nothing else, with some of "the locals" which IMO beats staring out the window almost any time. However, this may not be your style.

"everybody in Italy and their dog has a cell phone"
lol

I always like to get those two seats facing each other alone. That also allows one of you to switch if you don't like riding backwards, something you can never control on picking seats. In addition, it's much nicer if you've taken food and you feel awkward sitting there eating in front of strangers.

I'm sorry if this seems rude,but do you really need to have strangers tell you whether to sit across from each other or next to each other?

Good grief!!!!

Larry J

massagediva: I'm not asking for fodorites to "tell" me where to sit. I was just asking for their opinion as I am not too familiar with Italian train travel, crowds, etc. I'm sorry if you don't think it's a valid question. Maybe you should take a nice long massage and relax a little.

It never struck me as a thought, and while massagediva's answer does seem rude, let's be honest here. A little bit of thought and you could answer your own question, and it would match what you've been told here.

If you like sitting and conversing with strangers then sit opposite some. If you prefer a bit of privacy then get the two seats opposite.
I guess the answer is pretty obvious.

I prefer the two singles as I'd rather be private than taking my chances with the strangers seated opposite.
Others prefer the four seats because they enjoy meeting strangers.
The real question here is not us, but you. Which do YOU prefer?

I'm not sure it matters what you pick. When I booked our tickets on the Trenitalia web site, I reserved the two single aisle seats across from one another. But, when we got on the train, for all three trips, we had side by side seats on the side with four seats. There was plenty of room though. Other than seat assignments going slightly awry, I found the web site easy to use and all you need is your confirmation email on board the train. Have a wonderful trip!!

Yoonny, we just got back from Italy and had the same question. We got the face to face seats and were glad we did. Leg room can be an issue on the face to face seats. We are fairly short and didn't have a problem. But if we sat side by side and had tall people across from us, that might have been a little awkward.

Dave