Night Trains in Italy (specifically Naples - Milan/Turin)
 

Anyone have the scoop on night trains in Italy?
Internet says they exist but info is hard to find.
I'm specifically looking to get from Naples to Milan or Torino in April 2023
According to this website, you can!
https://www.italiarail.com/night-trains
But I can't find the actual train through dummy booking (April schedules not available)
Does anyone remember that german website with all the trains?

https://www.italotreno.it/en Operate nighttrains on the route you want.

Hard to find? Of course not! ;0)

To find any Trenitalia train, do what you'd normally do, and go to the official Trenitalia website - www.trenitalia.com.

Whack in Naples to Torino, and a date next week or next month and an evening departure time, bingo, there it is! Whack in Rome and Palermo, bingo, up comes the InterCityNotte there too! Easy!

But April 2023? It's still only September 2022! Look for tomorrow, for next week or next month. But next year? Booking opens 4 months ahead tops, often less than that. People buy train tickets days or weeks ahead, not months, just like you buying milk when you need it, not to put in your coffee in 6 months' time!

There's more info & photos at https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-italy.htm

So.....trying to buy night train tickets for April 18. It's December 18 (four months). Too early? The Italo train website seems to be booking only up to March. So, I'm guessing I need to look in late January for April?

Too early. For my October trip from Naples to Milano, I could only book a month before. That’s Italy for you!

By the way, the trip from Naples to Milano is “quick” and quite nice. For a few Euros more, we upgraded our tickets to first class and enjoyed the trip immensely.

Wait until the end of the year. The overnight trains 798 (Naples dp 21.35 - Turin ar 9.20) and 796 (Naples dp 21.46 - Turin ar 10.40) can actually be booked for departure dates until March 31st.
Discounted fares for 2 pax in a sleeping car start at 150 EUR
The last evening train from Trenitalia (Naples dp 17.25 - Turin ar 23.10) can already be booked. Fares start at 34 EUR/pax
The last evening train from Italotreno (Naples dp 17.30 - Turin ar 23.30) is not yet bookable. Fares will start at 28 EUR/pax

Overnight trains Naples - Milan don't make sense, as the journey time is less than 4 1/2 hrs

OK, so I found the train I need - 798, for April 18. And there are seats!
It seems like I can book on Trenitalia or Italiarail?
Trenitalia seems non refundable or changeable?
Italiarail costs a bit more but is 90% refundable within 48 hours of travel?
I book Italiarail right?
This is all a bit confusing

The conditions for changes and cancellations depends on which ticket you buy - class (e.g. 1st/2nd class, bed, seat) and applicable discount (e.g. base, super economy, etc). I would buy directly with Trenitalia or Italotreno, who run the trains. If you buy from a third party like Italiarail I suspect you just complicate things.

Did you particularly want an overnight journey? As mentioned already, this isn't a super long journey during the day.

First: ItaliRail is a Chicago based REPUTABLE reseller, unlike other companies like RailEurope that can't be trusted.

Anyway, You'd better Follow the above advice, Italiarail does not run any train and you won't find their staff in train stations all over the European Union.

They can't have better prices than the companies that run the trains and set the fares, otherwise they would have an Italian version of their site and Italians would stop using the official sites.

Of course there are, it's January 6 and you are getting tickets on a train running in April.

I have just checked, there are seats on the train #798 departing tonight at 20:38 from Salerno. And it's 9:10 AM in Europe!

Americaans... always worried about something nobody else cares... it must be something in the apple-pie :D

Why do you want to take that night train?

The normal day train from Naples to Milan is something like five hours of comfort. You can easily arrive in Milan by lunch.

The night train won't be cheaper. Good chance you'll arrive without much sleep.

By "And there are seats!" I hope you mean berths/beds.

We love night trains. Trying to book a sleeper but Trenitalia says we can't book yet.

https://www.raileurope.com/de/selections/12956778/edit
Of course you can! But it costs 315 EUR/2pax

I found it on Italia Rail for $326/4 pax. But I am a little worried to book with them as they never answer the phone.
Trenitalia says I cannot book the sleeper through them.
Not so easy.

I'd be more worried because ItaliaRail pretends to be able to sell a ticket before the company that actually runs the train! You'd buy an IOU in your name, not a real ticket.

Why don't you just wait? Train travel is simple as long as you are not desperate to grab the few discounted fares; there is no need to make it complicate.Bear in mind that there are available couchettes on the night train #798 from Naples to Milano P.G. that's departing tonight

I can link a screenshot to help you relax, for God's sake!
Edit, Here it is a screenshot of Trenitalia.com

Attachment 7948

Thanks Falcio. We are a family with kids. We used to take night trains and wanted our kids to have the experience. But when you are travelling with kids you need to be more organized (and it helps, usually, to book in advance).

The train we are looking at is InterCity Notte 798 on April 18. We are thinking Naples - Torino that night. We were thinking maybe to try the sleeper rather than the couchette if it is not super expensive. But Trenitalia says we cannot book the sleeper through their site. So we thought maybe we need to book through their agents? I will keep trying. I guess we can also just stay another night in Naples and take the morning train but that's no fun.

I’m not sure if you’re not overly romanticizing sleeping cars. Because there are fast trains now and the view is quite nice at times, I personally would reevaluate the need for an overnight ride.