Tips for traveling in Italy by train...
You don't need to go to the window (or sportello) to purchase tickets (especially if there's a line). We found that using the automated ticket machines (touch the British flag for English) to be very straight forward (but usually we researched what we wanted beforehand using the Trenitalia website). Either way, you need to know what day you want to travel, the approx. time you'd like to leave, the departure station, and the arrival station (use the Italian name like Firenze not Florence). From there, you can usually choose from a number of alternatives based on the type of train and trip duration. (Here's where we found the automated ticket machines to be more useful because the attendant at the window may not be interested in presenting alternatives.) The most common train types are:
(Eurostar)—high speed trains that stop at major cities and some larger towns,
(Intercity) or 
(basically Intercity with newer trains)—trains that stop at major cities and most larger towns, and
(Regional)—trains that stop at every station.
- When the ticket collector (in the green jacket) asks for your ticket, smile and say something complimentary in English, like "Italy is very beautiful" when you hand your ticket.
- If this person says something to you about the missing stamp (many times they won't say anything at all), smile and reply "I'm sorry... I don't understand" (if they speak in Italian or broken English). If their English is pretty good, smile and say "I'm sorry... I didn't know... I will do this next time."
Comments