Italian trains are excellent and I recommend anyone get the most out of them during their stay in Italy. The high speed lines will transport you from city to city throughout Italy and in complete comfort. The carriages run smoothly on the tracks and slice through its varied countryside giving you incredible and varied landscapes outside your window, they will really enhance your holiday and open so many more doors to different experiences and allow you to really get a complex and authentic taste of Italy.

I will explain in broad terms about the Italian rail network and the two companies that keep the country connected and the service comfortable with quality service. 

I will show you where you can buy you tickets and give you an overview of what level of service available to you.

Taking the night train will save you time because your travel time is taken while you sleep. This is no exception for getting the most out of your time in Italy! 

The Italian sleeper service is run by Intercity Notte and connects the northern cities of Milan, Turin and Genova with central and Southern cities such as Rome, Lecce and Messina. Travelling across the country you can get from Rome to Trieste; the doorstep of Slovenia and Croatia.

These sleeper routes can get you from one end of the country in just one night of sleep. The Intercity notte service is clean and modern and ideal for getting more experiences out of your holiday.

Below is a list of examples of the incredible distance you can cover in one night.

Milan – Lecce

Rome – Trieste

Rome – Siracuse

Turin – Naples

The Intercity notte trains bring the southern beaches of Puglia closer to Milan! You could even get al the way down to Sicily. Onboard this train reaches the island on the ferry! 

Connections into and out of Italy are also vearied and very convenient for long distance connections. 

Did you know you can find sleeper trains that will travel from Italy all the way into Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland! Long distance travel to Italy couldn’t be easier! We have tried the Rome to Munich OBB nightjet train. We travelled with our then 1 and 3 year old and found the expience relaxing and easy. Don;t get me wrong, as a booked our tickets I thought of every possible that  that could go wrong to be travelling with two such young children. In the end we had a great first experience and we looked forward to our next trip.

If you don’s know where to start, you will be happy to know it is made so much easier by using what you know. The trainline online booking service is helpfully with the interface written in English and your tickets can be stored within your app. 

If you use Trenitalia or Italo, buying your tickets through their apps and website, you will find that they regularly offer discounts on tickets.

Try to book your trains in advance where you can as you will save a lot on your journey. Upgrading to business will give you more comfortable and spacious seats and sometimes complimentary snacks

Trenitalia’s Frecce trains are engineered by Hitachi, these trains reach up to  350 km/h, they reduce the time it takes to travel between Italian cities.

Italo’s trains are engineered by Alstom, these trains are designed to travel at 360 km/h and similar to the Frecce, they provide convenient links between Italian cities.

These trains  have a low environmental impact. Their lightweight carriages allow for incredible acceleration and quiet and extremely smooth running.

In fact Trenitalia signed a contract worth €861 million for the supply of 30 new ETR1000. These trains are designed to travel on different power supplies and signalling system meaning that they can travel out of ITaly and into neightbouring country infrastructure – this will add to the europe rail network and make sustainable travel even more accessable. 

Regional trains are varied, some old stock can be a little bit rickety but the new Rock, jazz and swing trains are modern, double deckers that are easy to use. Offering space for luggage, onboard station and departure information and they can save you a fortune! 

Hitachi Rail Italy per Trenitalia. Si tratta di treni per pendolari con prestazioni simili a quelle di una metropolitana: possono, infatti, raggiungere i 160 km/h e ospitare fino a 1400 persone.

Rome to Viterbo for 5,60 euro

Padova to Venice Santa Lucia for 4,80 euro

Verona to Lake Garda (Desenzano) for 4,65 euro

Genova to Cinque Terre (Monterosse) for 8 euro

Perugia to Assisi for 3,60 euro

(all one way)

If you don’s know where to start, you will be happy to know it is made so much easier by using what you know. The trainline online booking service is helpfully with the interface written in English and your tickets can be stored within your app.  On my trip from Rome to Spoleto I bought my regaional train tickets viw the Train line and it was quick and easy. You can also buy regional train tickets in the ticket office of a station. 

The Italian sleeper service is run by Intercity Notte and connects the northern cities of Milan, Turin and Genova with central and Southern cities such as Rome, Lecce and Messina. Travelling across the country you can get from Rome to Trieste; the doorstep of Slovenia and Croatia.

Trenitalia offers tickets in Italy for the Frecce trains.

Tickets bought through the app can be managed and you can check in electronically which saves the time of printing tickets and finding the check-in machines in the station but recently (2024) there is no need to validate your electronic tickets. 

Trenitalia offer regular discounts and offers

Regional Trains tend to run multiple times throughout the day, covering shorter distances and offering much lower fares than high speed rail. Tickets can be brought via apps or from machines in the station. Tickets must me verified before train travel, read my article about how easy it can be to do this.

Paper tickets need to be validated before you board your train but this is straight forward – you just need to pay attention to find the little stamping machines. 

Follow the arrows on the ticket that indicate which end to insert into the machine. The paper enters the little black mouth area and then you need to slide the ticket to the left. Once you have moved the ticket, the crunching sound indicats that your ticket has successfully been validated.