What is the difference between the Inter Regional and Pendolino trains? Their arrival and departure times make it seem like one is not faster than the other. <BR> <BR>Also, how safe is it to leave luggage in the lockers in the stations? We will be traveling from Venice to Ancona and have to change trains in Bologna, so we thought we would spend a few hours there.

I used the train extensively in Italy in the distant past and never experienced any problems leaving luggage in lockers. <BR> <BR>The Pendolinos (and IC trains) travel faster than the InterRegional trains, is quite more expensive and seat reservations are (in theory) mandatory. Of course, once there's a mandatory change in Bologna, total travel times using Pendolino/IC train combination and InterRegional may be not that different because of the waiting time to get the connection in Bologna. <BR> <BR>Once you appear to be interested to spend some hours in Bologna, maybe your best option would be to take 11:07am InterRegional out of Venice, arriving at 1:07pm in Bologna. Then you take the Express train departing at 4:03pm, arriving at 6:26pm in Ancona. Though not mandatory, I would reserve seats (otherwise you risk having to travel standing). This would be muc cheaper than taking the Pendolino-IC combination (e.g., leaving Venezia at 8:28am, arriving at 10:15am and then leaving Bologna at 1:03pm, arriving in Ancona at 2:56pm). <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

Thanks for your advice! Where did you get the schedule? Can I buy the tickets at the station the day I plan to leave or should I get them a day before? <BR> <BR>Is it true trains in Italy do not run on time? Our ferry leaves Ancona at 10PM so I don't want to miss it! <BR> <BR>

Maria, have you tried the Italian rail site, www.fs-on-line.com ? They have schedules and pricing. Use the Italian names for cities, i.e. Venice is Venezia, Florence Firenze etc. We have used the left luggage departments in Rome and Florence with no problem. Try to keep up with possible "wildcat" strikes, we were stranded in Florence on our way from Rome to Venice, the strike only lasted a couple hours but of course messed up schedules for the rest of the day.

Regarding when to buy tickets, depending on the season you're travelling you could do it just before departing ... but going to the train station in Venice is a piece of cake, so why not do it the day before? <BR> <BR>You shouldn't worry too much about strikes ... they're always announced with a few days to spare. In other words, the hotel desk in Venice should be able to tell you a couple of days before if there's a strike programmed for the day you're planning to travel. If there's no strike and you plan to take the 4:03pm express train out of Bologna, there's just aboput no chance you're not going to make in time for your ferry ... Once this train starts in Bologna, it shouldn't start out late. In case there's a major problem, there would be at least 2 other trains from Bologna that should get you to Ancona in time (IC coming from Milan and leaving Bologna at 5:03pm; and IC starting in Bologna at 6:03pm). On the other hand, if there's a strike programmed, inform yourself on the details and play the game accordingly <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>PS. The address http://orario.fs-on-line.com/fsbinx/fsqueryx?lang=it should take you directly to the relevant schedulles page. <BR>