Our question today for Francesco....Hi Francesco! Italian trains stress me out....I was wondering if you had any advice for taking the train while in Italy. How early do I need to arrive for the train? What's the easiest way to buy a ticket? And what is the whole deal between first and second class? Would appreciate any advice you could give on how Italians take the train.
You're not the only one stressed out by Italian trains. Here we say that when you take a train, you know when you leave, but you don't know when you arrive! Just think, I personally had the worst experiences while travelling to Calabria (sometimes it was 5 or 6 hours late arriving) as it is a "long" trip through our peninsula (and I say "long" being sorry for the American railway, which, in comparison, is dramatically LONGER!)
The only advice I can give you is to get ready for everything, so pack hotdogs and bottles of water along with you to survive, just in case... There's no need to arrive early: get ready to wait, at most!
I usually buy tickets online, as it seems, at least on this side, the Italian railway company's website got updated with the rest of the world, even if the service is really crummy. As for the deal between first and second class... it is just an illusion. In the first class you will only find nicer seats and some cookies to make you feel luckier than the other people (who paid half than what you did).
The train is still the most used means of transportation here in Italy, but that is just because the government doesn't want to improve the airways. Just look at what happened to Alitalia...
Links:
Trenitalia
Rail Map of Italy
How timely -- thanks for the info. I'll be taking Italian trains very soon, and based on Francesco's comments, I'll go ahead & book the tickets on the website from here. Thanks for the tip!
Hello, just wanted to mention that the TrenItalia website will not accept credit cards from the US to purchase tickets. Believe me, I've spoken with them on the phone several times, as I live in Rome, but still use my US credit card. Not sure about other countries, but if you are not able to purchase things, that is why.
jvs2003: That's really strange, we definitely have used US credit card on TrenItalia website in the past. Wonder if it's a recent development or if it's just certain cards....
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