Comments on: New Alta Velocità Trains in Italy Make Milan-Rome a 3.5-hour Trip

By: Mr. N

Mr. N — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:09:49 +0000

Just a little note. A new high-speed rail network was needed since the old one, dating back to early 1900, was overcrowded and could not be upgraded due to mountain passes and tunnels. Moreover, mixing fast traffic and slow traffic is always a bad idea, worsening performances for both.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:44:59 +0000

Hi, Kristy:

Trenitalia is the name of the Italian rail system, and Rail Europe is a company that sells rail passes. With the former, you’d be buying individual tickets. With the latter, you’d be buying a rail pass that acts as your ticket.

I don’t know if you’ve seen my general Italy train travel page:
http://www.italylogue.com/train

Or the article I wrote about when to buy an Italy rail pass:
http://www.italylogue.com/planning-a-trip/when-to-buy-an-italy-rail-pass.html

The latter especially will be helpful to you, although I’d say that since you’re planning to visit two different countries during your trip then it’s even more of a good idea to look at a rail pass. I’d highly recommend that you call or email the Eurail expert in my office, Dave – he can tell you which pass would be best for you based on your specific itinerary, or tell you whether buying individual tickets is cheaper:
http://www.bootsnall.com/eurail/

Ciao,
Jessica

By: Kristy

Kristy — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:17:54 +0000

Hi Jessica,

I’ve read so much on the site, but I am still confused! I am traveling with a group of 4 to Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan in June. From Milan, we plan to head to Paris. What is the difference between the Trenitalia site and the Rail Europe site? Would we better off buying a pass from Rail Europe which would get us all over Italy and into France? Or buying train tickets from Trenitalia?

Thanks for your help!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:33:33 +0000

Hi, Sergey:

There are some sites where you can do that, but it’s really not necessary to do in almost every case. When you arrive in your first Italian city, just bring your railpass (and your passport) to the train station and you can buy reservations for every train journey you’re going to take all at once. Or you can do it one trip at a time (which is recommended, in case you change your plans by taking an earlier or later train). It’s very easy to buy reservations once you get to Italy – and in fact it’s much easier to do it there than it is to do it before you arrive.

Ciao,
Jessica

By: Sergey Petrov

Sergey Petrov — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:31:38 +0000

Is there a way to buy reservation online if you already hold Italy railpass?

By: kulandairaj

kulandairaj — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:59:01 +0000

I was in Italy last year.I travelled in all the three types of trains. compania . trainitalia and the euro star apart from the famous Tallys. I am very happy that Italy which is very popular and with intellgent people created history by running a train with 350 km speed fastest train . Kudos to the technicians and the govt.In scince spititualiasm industriousness Italy surpsses all other countries Travelling from nice to roma by the sea coast is a wondrful experience. I will make it this year. too Happy christmas and new year 2010

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:02:01 +0000

Hi, Joyce:

Yes, you can use a rail pass – either a Eurail Pass or an Italy Railpass – on the Alta Velocita trains. But, like all high-speed trains in Italy, the rail pass only covers your ticket – and these trains require reservations, so you’ll still need to buy a reservation. It’s easy to do; just bring your rail pass to the ticket counter so they see you already have the ticket price covered, and then ask for reservations on whatever AV train you want.

Ciao,
Jessica

By: Joyce Burnett

Joyce Burnett — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:18:18 +0000

Can you use Europass tickets on these trains.