I am looking to buy train tickets here in the US before I go to Italy, but all the companies I've seen online charge such high surcharge fees. Does anyone know where I can buy them without such high surcharges? The Trenitalia site is not working, do I have any other options?

David, unless you have an unusual travel situation that requires you to have the tickets in hand immediately upon arrival, there is really no need to buy tickets in advance. You can easily buy tickets on arrival, including Eurostar reservations for a couple of days in advance of your travel. Non Eurostar trains (locals) can generally be purchased at the time of travel. The train staions have either ticket windows, or easy to use automated ticket kiosks that take credit cards and "speak" a variety of languages. You can also buy tickets at American Express offices and assorted travel agents in Italy. This is an often discussed topic on this forum, and believe that a search will net you more info.

The above advice is good, however if you still want to buy before you leave, you should be able to buy them through Swiss Rail, charge them to your credit card and they will be mailed to you. I believe Swiss Rails lets you do this even if you don't have any portion of your journey in Switzerland, but you should check. Being Swiss, they are of course, very reliable.

The website is SBB.ch. Click on "Swiss Federal Railways" on the first page of the website to get to the English version. You generally need to put in the Italian names for the towns when choosing trains, such as Fiorenze for Florence, Roma for Rome, etc.

One reason to buy before you leave is if you are taking trains that require a reservation (some intercity trains do) and you are travelling in the summer which is a popular tourist month.

Hi David,

Jim has told you right. Although you might be able to get ES* reservations a couple of hours in advance, if the train is not full.

You can't buy tickets from Trenitalia on line from outside Italy.

David, we needed one train ticket prior to arrival on our last trip to Italy, and our local AAA travel office provided the service without heavy charges.

See references to www.euraide.de (originally provided by Ben Haines) which has an office in Florida on this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34407565

Best wishes,

Rex