Are we required, or wise, to reserve in advance for a train from Rome to Florence?

Thank you!

Nope - just buy tickets once in Rome - with 2 trains an hour you will always get tickets - put angst to rest.

Really IME of decades of traveling on Italian trains you will always be fine just showing up and buying tickets.

Thank you!

If landing at Rome's Leonard da Vinci (main) airport then you can easily buy tickets there upon arrival - a bit easier than in hectic Termini station IME - and the Leonardo Express train is the fastest way into town at about 20 mins to Termini - buy tickets for that train and have the time and date you want to go to Florence ready and book that train in the airport train station as well.

True - no need to book in advance, but realize that once you do buy a ticket for the fast train it will come with the mandatory seat reservation.

You can't just sit anywhere (not like you can in Switzerland or Germany), you have to find the carriage number and seat number printed on your ticket.

And before boarding the train, you need to stick the ticket into the slot on the yellow validation box near the platform access (datestamp), don't forget or you may get a lively language lesson from the conductor, or worse.

>>>And before boarding the train, you need to stick the ticket into the slot on the yellow validation box near the platform access (datestamp<<<

Not so. Train tickets that have reserved seats (most trains in Italy these days require reserved seats)do not need to be stamped as you have purchased a specific seat on a specific train. The only tickets that you stamp these days are for the very slow R trains that don't require seat reservations. AV, ES,ESCity, ICPlus, IC trains are sold with seats and don't need to be validated.

I want my money back - all the wasted effort and calories spent sticking tickets into a yellow box when there was no need to do so! Been doing it since the late '50s, and NOW you're telling me I didn't have to? Trenitalia owes me the equivalent of a medium-sized pizza, at least!

Trenitalia changed this about two years ago so you didn't waste all your years of effort. Still need to do the R trains and the Leonardo Express from the airport in Rome which is an R train.

So - only a small pizza is what you're saying? Old habits die hard...

Not so. Train tickets that have reserved seats (most trains in Italy these days require reserved seats)do not need to be stamped as you have purchased a specific seat on a specific train.>

so bourbon what you seem to be saying that full-fare tickets that come with a seat reservation cannot be changed nor refunded. That seems strange for a full fare ticket. And if you do not have to cancel the ticket yourself and no conductor appears to cancel it on the train what is to prevent you from refunding that ticket.

I guess from what you say there are NO full fare fully flexible (except for minor charge to change seat reservations) tickets anymore in Italy on anything other than Regional trains.

Please - i always strive to be fully informed. Thanks for your response - that they are no fully flexible full fare tickets in Italy?

PQ - No one is discussing changing tickets so your comment is odd. We are discussing the need to validate a ticket by sticking it in the little yellow machines to be time stamped. Validating is only for R tickets these days. No other tickets.

Some tickets (not all) can be changed for full refund ONLY BEFORE the scheduled departure time. Even a fully flexible ticket holder will not get all their money back after the scheduled departure time. If you purchase their most expensive flexi ticket you can get a a full refund BEFORE departure, but once the train has departed, you only get 50% of the cost, but only within 24 hours of departure (and only can get it at the issuing/original departure station). After that you get nothing on the fully flexible ticket (which really only means you can change your ticket with no charge multiple times in advance of departure). Other "basic" tickets can only be changed once before departure without incurring an extra fee.

Some tickets are not refundable at all (same day return tickets). Even regional tickets can be for a set limited time these days. If you purchase a ticket for the Leonardo Express at the train station from a machine you have to make a time choice. You will be given a range of times such as 7:05-8:05 or 8:05-9:05, etc. (each lasting about an hour that would give you the choice of two different trains since they depart every 30 minutes). These tickets still must be stamped because it's not specific train/specific seat. If you purchase a Leonardo Express ticket at a tobacco store, it will not have the time limit. Once my ticket printed it did not have the actual time I selected on it, but instead had a 90 minute validation and was stamped with time of purchase. It is still necessary to validate this ticket in the machine. On the back it states tickets not including seat reservation must be validated.

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...3f16f90aRCRD#3

In my experience riding Italian trains (as recently as this week), someone usually checks your ticket on the trains and puts a little punch in it.

bourbon - thanks for all that edification - there are apparently no fully flexible tickets in Italy except regional and airport trains - in the sense that if you buy a full fare ticket in France par example for a TGV if you do not want to use it on the train you have reserved you simply lose the seat reservaton fee - 3 euros and can use that ticket on another TGV, subsequent to making a new reservation for 3 euros

But in Italy i see this is not so. Again thanks for sharing your immense wealth of knowledge on the nitty-gritty of Italian trains and the rather Byzantine to me fare structure and conditions, etc.