in Italy in April - Easter time
 

Hi,
i will be in italy in April 2007, during the easter time. I plan to cover the country by train & have been adviced to buy tickets just before travelling, instead of getting them in advance (online)
Is that a good idea (given that April in Italy is a busy time). Or do I buy tckts online?
When i buy tickets online, will that include my reservation fare, or do I need to pay extra for reservation seperately before travelling?
please help. :)

We were in Italy at Easter time in 2005. We didn't buy our train tickets until we arrived in Italy, and had no problems.

You might need to buy tickets a day or two ahead if you are traveling on Good Friday or Easter Sunday, but a day or two should do fine. If you buy an ES ticket online, that will include your reserved seat and is good for only that train.

For IC trains a reservation is extra, and you can buy it at the smae time. (I think IC PLUS may have reservations included--the system is changing as new trains are added.)

You can buy all your tickets at once when you first arrive if you like. The only reason I can see to buy online is to try to get reduced special fares for some ES trips, which are only available online.

How was Italy on Easter? I am planning on going this year during the same time, but I am a little worried about it being too busy!

>>>If you buy an ES ticket online, that will include your reserved seat and is good for only that train.<<<

ellenem - I know that's true if you buy from Trenitalia. Is it also the case if you buy from a reseller or rail pass site? I know they sell tickets much further in advance than Trenitalia allows and don't know how they manage it since the tickets aren't available. AFAIK, tickets for AV,ES, ICPlus, IC are all sold reserved seat now with the seat included in the price on Trenitalia.

old post

Perhaps I should have said "If you buy an ES ticket online from the official Trenitalia site. . ."

I have no idea what resellers do, though I recall posts here from people who still needed to et the actual seat reservation when purchasing from a reseller. Your reserved seat was paid for but in essence you still had to go to the trouble of choosing it. Not sure these days . . .