For the Intercity (IC) or Regionale (R) trains, is it worth booking in advance online or are is it just as easy purchasing tickets at the train station in Italy? We would be taking one of these trains from Rome to Chiusi. Also, is there a big difference between first and second class on these types of trains?

Hi didi,

I took the IC second class Rome - Chiusi. No advance reservations, no problem. I don't see a big difference between first and second, I've done both. If I remember correctly, it was about 1 1/2 hours.

buon viaggio!

We were on that train from Rome to Orvieto and back. We sprung for first class since it was hot and we thought we'd prefer good air conditioning. As luck would have it, on the trip back the air conditioning wasn't working in first class so we moved to second class where it was working. Go figure.

Hi D,

I don't think that you can reserve in advance on an R train.

1cl fare is about 5E more than 2cl.

You can buy R train tickets in advance, but you can't get reserved seats on them. The IC trains are nicer and make less stops.

Last week we took a regional train from Rome to Chiusi. We purchased 1st class seats. You don't reserve seats for regional trains. We didn't find a first class car and, with all our luggage, just settled in for a fairly short (one hour and 47 minute) ride to Chiusi. On the return, it was an inter-city train (1 hour 22 minutes) and we reserved first class seats. The price difference was negligible but, most probably, so were seats.

I forgot to mention, we purchased our tickets at Pantheon travel the afternoon before as we passed by there anyway and it seemed easier than navigating 4 people, luggage, crowds at the train station - I would do that again!

Thank you everyone! We have had a bad experience booking online with Trenitalia for the Eurostar going from Florence to Venice. Never received a confirmation but did write down the reservation # and seat # so I'm hoping that's all we need.

Looks like we will book while in Italy since we are leaving tomorrow!!!!!