I did use my AOL address ... checked the SPAM folder, too, but nothing from trenitalia. I will try again later today with a Yahoo address. I'll also give the sncf site another try. I have no problem finding the schedule and fares on that site - just not the "saver" fares. What I am able to find is very expensive for two fares.

My point was: AOL never lets the e-mail make it to your spam folder.

Thanks ... I will use another ISP and try again. Another option is to use the other site and have the tickets mailed to an address in Italy. Still trying to work that one out, too.

Thanks to everyone for so much help and information.

Follow-up: I purchased tickets through SNCF! I have a confirmation number! (...and a new email address that is NOT on AOL)

With the new email address (Yahoo) I was able to get a password for Trenitalia and wended my way through their reservation system, only to be told at the final purchase window that the "system is unavailable." Three times. Enough.

Hopefully the SNCF tickets will arrive by post at the address we used in Venice of friends-of-friends, and we will be able to get them when we arrive in late October.

Thank you to everyone who offered assistance. Can't adequately express how helpful the travelers who post on Fodor's are ... amazing.

Did you really need to have tickets mailed? Wouldn't a printout of your confirmation be enough to pick up your tickets or is it because you are buying from the French web site and need to pick up tickets in Italy? Sometimes you need to have the same credit card used online in hand when picking up tickets.

Yes, the tickets had to be mailed, because they were for an international trip (Venice to Paris). But I think if I had been able to get them on the Trenitalia website, I might have been able to pick them up at the station with a confirmation number. The problem was ... the Trenitalia payment site seemed to be down every time I tried to purchase the tickets ... and navigating the whole reservation process over and over again with the same result was getting to be pretty tedious. SNCF seemed to be a more reliable site - but maybe the trade-off is in having to have the tickets mailed.

Hooray for you, SC.

((I))