Italy - Trenitalia Trains 1st vs. 2nd. Class
 

Hi,
I will be purchasing city to city tickets on Trenitalia website. Specifically, I will be going from Rome to Florence to Venice to Milan.
I will be buying the fastest trains to save time but it is worth while to purchase 1st class seats? Their website do not provide much detail as to differences between the two.
Do you get drinks onboard or utilization of Eurostar Club at the stations, etc.?
Any input will be greatly appreciated.

There is a buffet car available to both first and second class. We have always been comfortable in second class, travelling on the same route as you intend.

My preference would be to wait until I get to Italy before I start buying train tickets. Unless you are travelling on an Italian holiday, there's no seat availability concern on these routes.

You can spend the extra money on 1st class, but I probably wouldn't on these journeys (none of which is even 3 hours long). You'd get a drink, a newspaper (probably Italian) and access to the Eurostar lounge which is really only useful if the train is delayed. The seats in 1st class are a little larger and more spread out. Overall, it's not like comparing 1st class and economy on a commercial domestic flight but more like comparing 1st class and business.

Thank you Jean,
I guess I fear that if I wait until I arrive in Italy (July 8), I will miss out on their promo fares on their website (15% off or amica fare). Any thoughts?
I guess 2nd class is good enough for travel even for our longest jouney of 2.5 hours from Venice to Milan).

If you buy tickets once you arrive, it may cost you more. However it does give you more flexibility if you buy tickets in Italy. The 15% discount would save you about 15 Euro on Venice to Rome, and that's not such a huge deal.

Many posters have had hassles booking on line with Trenitalia - a search would find them.

I agree with Peter_S_Aus. It's not enough savings to forfeit flexibility. If I wanted to save money, I'd just go in 2nd class.

You are already late for the worthy discounts -- 30 days advance purchase. I just came back and use Trenitalia quite a bit, including moving to/from all the cirties you listed. The 2nd class is comfortable and max time is 4 hours anyway; anybody should be able to handle 2nd class for that long :-D Seriously, it is somehwat foolish to go for the 1st class when travel time is not that considerable.

I've gotten the Amica discount buying tickets in Italy just a few days ahead.

Can seats be reserved is second class or is it only on a first come first served basis? I would hate to stand for a 3 hour trip from Milan to venice.

We've booked reserved seats for second class and just used the machines at the station. It seems to be a much faster option than standing in a queue to be served by the staff at the station. Choose the English language option and away you go!!

We decided on a rule that if the trip was going to be 3 hours or longer then we booked 1st class, otherwise we booked 2nd class. This seemed to work well, we appreciated the extra space for the longer journeys.

We tried to stick to purchasing food at the station before boarding the train. On the trains food was expensive and not that good.

Keep in mind that trains in Italy leave the platform with absolutely no fanfare. No loud speaker announcements re departure, no loud whistle etc. Just a tiny little 'toot' and off they go. So make sure you are on board well before departure time.

>>Can seats be reserved is second class or is it only on a first come first served basis?<<<

Depends on the type of train. Assuming you are booking the faster trains (AV,ES, ICPlus) then yes because these trains are reserved seat only. Some slower trains let you reserve seats and others don't. Some slower trains only have 2nd class - no 1st class.