My husband, I, & out 11 year old will be in Italy in early July. I spent time on the Trenitalia website trying to plan our Rome to Bologna, Bologna to Santa Margherita Luguria, and SML to Rome trips - only to time out! Problem was, I could not seem to get E-tickets (and then lost my cart due to my dolt-fulness). Can you experienced travelers advise if E-tickets are not available to us non-Italians? If that is the case, is retrieving the tickets at the station a big deal? If that is not the case, please help as I am clearly missing something. Finally, it does not seem that a 3 day Eur-rail Italy pass makes sense for people who want/need to have seats together and to leave at reasonable times to be able to enjoy the planned destinations given the extra charges for certainty, but if I am missing something help me with a "head knock." Thanks, reliable friends.

You are probably trying to book routes that have R trains as part of your travel. Tickets for R trains don't need to be purchased in advance as there are no reserved seats. If you are trying to get some discounts, just book the legs of the trip that are for AV,ES,ESCity or IC trains. Were you select the family fares?

I faced your frustration a year ago. For some reason, the Trenitalia website does not accept non-EU Credit cards, so you will find the experience on line as frustating as Sissyfus (or whatever) trying to roll the boulder up the infinitely long slope. I eventually opted to pay retail for one leg and went with rental car for the other leg. Many posters on this site say that once in Italy, the ticket machines have English functions that are easy to follow. I cannot vouch for that. I tried to use the ticket machines, and bailed out early as the line in front of the human ticket agents was short, and DW was much more comfortable with me talking ot humans. One observation is that for all the deals on the Trenitalia website, there were still an awful lot of Italians buying tickets in the ticket office with humans!! Good news here is: my experience with Trenitalia personnel was v. positive - they had excellent English skills and were very patient and customer friendly. Trains were clean, quiet, and punctual. DW and DDaughters slept from Milan to Venice, missing Lago Guardia scenery, but I digress.
Other posters hopefully will have better suggestions than mine, but my suggestion is just to get to a Trenitalia ticket office as quickly as possible upon arrival in Rome and seek the best deal at that time. You may not get the absolute best deal as possible, but you will get _A_ deal and one that will be convienient. Agree with your assumtpion about the non-utility of the 3 day pass, but will defer to those who know more than I.

>>>For some reason, the Trenitalia website does not accept non-EU Credit cards,<<<

That's no longer true. When Trenitalia loaded their winter schedules Dec. 2010, they fixed the credit card problem. You just can't use AmEx.

Go to roninrome.com. He has a.step by step tutorial for buying online and it does work. Just bought all of our tickets last week. I called Visa beforehand as he suggested and had no problems. Just take the time to read thru his tutorial in its entirety. Good luck... You will feel so victorious when you finish!

Thanks All. Ron In Rome is amazing and breaks things down in a very step by step manner, which I hope to be able to navigate tomorrow morning. For anyone who has taken a multi-state bar exam, it feels like one of those logical problems after a long day of work.
Kybourbon (nice name) - are you saying that if I have a connection (such as from Bologna to Santa Margaherita Liguria) that involves an R train connection, I cannot get an E-ticket because of that? If I am forced, as a consequence, to select the "retrieve at a kiosk" (or some iteration of "you've got to pick it up at the station") what do I need to have/prove to get the ticket? However, if I can get an E-ticket and am missing a critical step that I need to accomplish to reveal that option on the Trenitalia website, please help me discern it.
Thank you.

R tickets can be booked online only 7 days in advance.By attmepting to reserve the full route, which includes an R leg, Trenitalia won't let you purchase at all.

You can get the e-ticket for the rest of of the route. Think of it as separate legs. Perhaps your route is two legs: Bologna to Pisa on an IC train; then Pisa to SML on an R train. (I just made these up, so don't assume this exists.) You can buy online now for Bologna to Pisa since it is IC. You will receive an email confirmation with a PNR code that is your confirmation for the train conductor. At the train station in Bologna when you depart for Pisa, buy an R ticket for Pisa to SML. Since R trains do not have reserved seats or discounts, waiting until you get to Italy to purchase makes sense.

Thank you ellenem. I think I will wait until I am 7 days out - or purchase after I arrive. Perhaps the Euro-Dollar conversion also will improve.

Some of the trains on this route require a change in Milan, others have changes in Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Piacenza. Some are a mixture of AV and IC trains while others also include an R train. Without knowing which trains you are trying to book, it's hard to advise you.

If you buy an R ticket, you need to validate it in one of the yellow machines at the station before boarding.

Kybourbon, the route that seems to be creating the hiccup is Bologna to Santa Margerhita Liguria, which has a train change. But, I am going to try to not sweat it (like a true Italian) and deal with it in the moment. Or, perhaps the moment I arrive in Bologna since I do want to reach the seashore as early as possible! Thanks again to all.

Having now returned from Italy I can report that buying train tickets there is best. We bought all of our tickets at the Termini in Rome for the balance of our journey (i.e. from Rome to Bologna then to Santa Margherita Liguria then back to Rome), as some of the smaller "outposts" like Santa Margerhita Liguria do not always have staff present. The trips thereafter were seamless. I wasted way too much time trying to prebook with Trenitalia when it was totally unnecessary. One tip for the less-traveled routes where you have to purchase an open ticket: print the schedule from the Trenitalia site before you leave so you know what your departure options are. That isn't always easy to decipher "on the ground."

>>>I wasted way too much time trying to prebook with Trenitalia when it was totally unnecessary.<<<

You can save as much as 60% on some tickets/routes by booking online in advance so it's not a waste for everyone. Your Rome/Bologna route would be easy to book online. It was SM Liguria that was your problem because of the R trains.

>>>>One tip for the less-traveled routes where you have to purchase an open ticket: print the schedule from the Trenitalia site before you leave so you know what your departure options are<<<<

It's good to print schedules if you are purchasing there. It also helps to print the list of stops for the slower trains (R and IC) as it can be difficult to determine when your stop is coming up and you are ready to jump off (sometimes a stop may only be 1-2 minutes). The fast AV trains only make a couple of stops so no need to print those as the stops tend to be a bit longer.

Kybourbon, very good point about the price. I did pay more for that trip from Rome to Bologna (although thankfully not a good deal more), which I could have avoided if I had not lost patience. So, I guess the "moral of the story" is to book what you can online and bring your itinerary for the routes that cannnot be booked online due to the local connecting trains.

Did you buy your tickets on the kiosks at Termini?

Do NOT NOT NOT purchase electronic tickets (via the Trenitalia website) for any "regionale" ("R") train, which has UNRESERVED seats, and is non-discountable (except for 50% fares for children between the ages of 4 and 12).

Why Not?

Because an electronic ticket for a "regionale" train has SIGNIFICANT RESTRICTIONS on use which you would not otherwise encounter if you purchased a traditional paper ticket in Italy at the train station!

A traditional paper ticket for a "regionale" train can be used up to TWO MONTHS after ticket issuance (as long as it's not "validated" in the punching machine at the track head).

By contrast, an electronic ticket for a "regionale" train must be used within FOUR (4) HOURS after the date/time of the train noted on the ticket itself. Furthermore, you can purchase an electronic ticket for a "regionale" train no more than seven days in advance of travel. There are no such limitations for traditional paper tickets for "regionale" trains.

All these restrictions are not present with the traditional, paper ticket for "regionale" trains.

Here is Trenitalia's own explanation:

"It is possible to buy single tickets, valid only on the regional trains, for journeys up to 600 km with departure in one region and destination in another. The validity of these tickets is 4 hours.

For regional tickets purchased on-line:

It is NOT possible to bring forward the departure date.

It is NOT allowed to change ticket or class.
Ticket refunds are NOT allowed."

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD


Electronic tickets for RESERVED trains (the national trains excluding "regionale" trains) make sense when purchased for sheer convenience, or to snare one of the fabulous "MINI" fares (up to 70% discounts).

Electronic tickets for "regionale" trains make virtually no sense, and are to be avoided.

FINAL WARNING: You MUST "validate" (stamp) the paper ticket for the "regionale" train in the little yellow machines at the train station PRIOR to boarding the train itself, or face the possibility of a fine.

You do NOT need to "validate" any other ticket (paper or electronic) for ANY of the national trains which have mandatory seat reservations. National trains are virtually all Trenitalia domestic trains except the "regionale" trains. These are the AV (Frecciarossa/Frecciargento), ES-Fast, ES, ES-City (Frecciabianca), IC, ICN and EXP trains.

Kybourbon: my husband stood in a relatively short line at Tremini while I tried the kiosks (and soon gave up as it was way too many connectIons - two!- for me to confidently purchase). So the very nice man at the Trenitalia office helped us and patiently pointed out how we would be taking trains with destinations that were other than where we were getting off because we were getting off at an earlier

GAC, You are always the resource for important advice - especially on public transport. The technicalities you identified are another reason to purchase those "interior" connections and their associated tickets online. Also, you were mostly right (in another post you wrote on the subject of the fast trains) about 1st class vs 2nd class tickets being pretty equivalent experiences - with one exception. The 1st class train from Rome to Venice (which stops in Bologna) was worth the extra money (prosecco offered by porters as part of the fare). That aside, for the Saturday train I actually found 2nd class less crowded than 1st on the Milan to Santa Marhgerita train (our connection from Bologna). Question, though. Is there a 3rd class on the fast trains? I took a walk and the farther I walked back on the train,the hotter and more crowded it grew. That would not be a desired ride for several hours!!

>>>and soon gave up as it was way too many connectIons - two!- for me to confidently purchase<<<

LOL! Next trip you will have more confidence and use the ticket machines.

No "official" third class on Trenitalia trains, at least not for the past 50 years! But you're right, at its very worst, sometimes it "feels" like third class, but fortunately not often!