Milano Centrale to Varenna
 

We - 2 couples in our 60s - have 25 mins to buy a ticket from Milano Centrale to Varenna, after our train arrives from La Spezia - and find the platform!
Any suggestions on how quickly we can find the ticket office, buy the ticket and get to the platform without missing the train?

If you can use a vending machine, you can probably do it in time. You look for the train on digital display using the departure time and the train number or the departure time and the final destination (which is NOT Varenna). Manned counters can be bogged down by a long line of people.

However, if you are coming from La Spezia, why do you have to wait until you arrive in Milano Centrale to buy the ticket for the next leg? There are vending machines and manned booth at the La Spezia station also, and you can buy exactly the same tickets, Milano-Varenna, before you hop onto the train at La Spezia. With tickets already in hand as you get off at Milano Centrale, all you have to do it to validate the ticket by feeding the ticket into a validating machine at Milano Centrale before you hop onto the train to Varenna.

I agree with Greg. Buy your tickets in La Spezia before you depart. The Milan/Varenna trains are regional trains (no discounts, no reserved seating) so if you buy a ticket in Italy for that route, it will be good for several months on any regional train on that route.

You can also buy this ticket online from Trenord (six months in advance or through end of winter or summer schedules), but you will have a four hour window of time (starting at the time you select during booking and only on that date)you need to board a train to Varenna.

http://www.trenord.it/EN/

You can buy tix ahead. But why stress over it? There are trains to Varenna every hour (unless you're catching a very late train).

No reservations required or even possible on Milan-varenna-esino trains - just hop on any train and don't forget to validate your ticket before boarding.

There are NO Milano - Varenna trains at 11.20, 15.20, 17.20, 18.20, however

Thank you everyone I will buy the tickets at La Spezia!