Trenitalia is Italy’s state-run train company that has a large fleet of high-speed, express trains that make stops in all the major cities, however they ALSO have Regional trains that make stops in smaller Italian cities (Pisa, Bologna, Lucca, etc.) and veryyyy local, rural areas.

There are several smaller trainline fleets that run under the TrenItalia umbrella, in a sense. They all serve a certain purpose – some are high-speed trains that only travel between big cities some are regional trains that travel between small towns and local stops, and some do a bit a both. To be honest, I don’t think you don’t need to pay much attention to them, since so if you need to get to a certain city, you’re more likely to take whatever train is quickest, fastest and cheapest that gets you there. However in the interest of being incredibly thorough so you feel super knowledgeable, lets break them all down:

Types of Trenitalia Trains:

“Le Frecce” (“The Arrows”) Fleet

The “Le Frecce” fleet are Trenitalias fastest fleet of trains (hence why they’re called “The Arrows”) and primarily serves the big and medium-sized cities within Italy. Within “Le Frecce”, there are three different types of trains: Frecciarossa, Frecciargento, and Frecciabianca.

“Intercity” Fleet

The Intercity fleet in Trenitalia were the fastest trains Trenitalia offered before the “Le Frecce” fleet came along. Operating as Regional trains instead of High-Speed, they run up to 200 km/h, and connect many cities within Italy together. They are typically cheaper than high-speed trains, but that’s because they make more stops at many stations along the train route and in some cases, you may have to change trains midway.

“Regionale” Fleet

And last but not least, we have the Regionale fleet of Trenitalia. These trains are the slowest and oldest of all the fleets and make stops to all the smaller and more local towns in Italy. As I mentioned, the trains are often very old, so there may or may not be air conditioning, seating is open no matter your destination, and there is only one tier of ticket. They’re often the least expensive but also the slowest – a 3-hour trip on a High-Speed train can take up to 9 hours on a Regionale Train.

Again, I don’t necessarily think this is something you need to pay much attention to, but we love thoroughness here so that’s why I’ve included it. When you search in the TrenItalia website, all the trains serving the destination you want to go will appear, and you can pick whatever time and price works best for you.

Navigating the Trenitalia Website

The Trenitalia website is incredibly handy for tourists as they offer translation of the site in 4 different languages: Italian, English, French, German, and Chinese. To change the language on website, head to the top right-hand corner of the screen:

Something specific to note about the Trenitalia website is that because the company is owned and operated by the Italian government, you will have to use the Italian pronunciation of cities when searching for trains as opposed to the English names, even if you change the language on the site. For example, here are some of the biggest Italian cities written in English with their Italian counterparts:

• Florence = Firenze
• Milan = Milano
• Rome = Rome
• Venice = Venezia
• Naples = Napoli

Different Ticket Classes on Trenitalia

Trenitalia offers 6 different ticket tier types and within those 6 different tier types, 5 SUB tier types: Base, Economy, and Super-Economy, Young, and Senior. Let’s start by differentiating each of the 6 main ticket types:

The 5 Sub-Categories on Each

As I mentioned above, when you choose your ticket tier type (Premium, Business, Standard, etc.), you’ll next be asked to choose between 5 different sub-tiers of each of those tickets. They are Base, Economy, Super Economy, Young, and Senior:

Honestly, I’ve always traveled on Trenitalia with a Standard ticket. If I know there might be a possibility I might need to change the ticket, I’ll purchase the Base or Economy level, otherwise, I’ll just pick whatever is available and cheapest. It is nice to have the peace of mind of being able to change your ticket though if need be, so in my opinion opting for a Base or Economy level ticket is the better option. As for the main ticket tier – again, in my opinion, if you’re just a regular tourist traveling for leisure purposes on a train less than 3 hours long, I personally don’t think it’s necessary to pay a higher price for a fairly quick trip. If you were, however, planning a long travel trip that will set you on the train for 6+ hours, it might be worth it to pay a bit more for a more comfortable seating arrangement. At the end of the day though, it’s totally up to you which class you decide to travel in.

Ticket Modifications on Trenitalia

As I mentioned above, with Base level or Economy level tickets it’s very easy and not super expensive to change your ticket on Trenitalia if you end up needing or wanting to take a different train. I’ve found myself more than once changing my Standard, Economy-level train ticket to an earlier train as soon as 10 minutes before the train is set to depart. It typically only costs me an extra 10 euro per ticket (the difference between the Economy and Base level ticket), which isn’t too bad in the grand scale of things. Of course, the actual possibility of changing your train time totally depends on whether or not the train you want to change to is sold out or not, but it’s good to know that it’s not super difficult to do.

There’s a couple of ways you can change your train time:

• if you’ve bought your ticket on the Trenitalia website, you can easily change it through your confirmation email containing your ticket. You can reach the “Manage Ticket” Section by heading to the top search bar on the main page and clicking “Purchases”.

• If you’re in a rush, purchased your tickets through a third party (such as Trainline App or ItaloRail), or have a physical ticket, you will need to go to any one of the physical ticket booths for Trenitalia in the train station.

Refunds, Cancellations, and Delays on Trenitalia

On high-speed express trains that are delayed, causing you to arrive between 30-59 minutes late to your destination, you are entitled to 25% credit essentially to use toward future purchases. If your train arrives more than 59 minutes late to your destination, you technically are entitled to a refund of 25%-50% of your ticket price.

If you purchased the ticket through the Trenitalia website directly, you have many more options when it comes to how to get your refund. If you’ve purchased a physical ticket, however, it gets a bit trickier, since really your only option is to go to a customer service desk at the train station – if I’m being honest though…sometimes the hassle of dealing with the customer service desks when everyone on the delayed train is ALSO trying to get partial refunds just isn’t worth it.

But to each his own! I’ve filed for a 25% credit when my train arrived late to my destination out of curiosity and received a credit code in my email inbox within the month

For full information on how to file and request refunds and credits, click Compensation for delays – Trenitalia

Click here for the Trenitalia Refund form: CRM WebForm – Refund Request For (trenitalia.com)

Strikes within Trenitalia

Ahh yes – let’s talk about strikes. Unfortunately, they happen, and it’s common – especially during high season – that they happen often. The good news though is that they only happen with Trenitalia since it’s the public, state-run train company operated by Italy. Since Italo is a privately owned and operated train company, strikes are highly, highly unlikely, if not non-existent.

The only thing you can do in a surprise strike situation is to be patient, stay calm, and be open to the fact that you will have to adjust your schedule. If there is a strike, they’re usually resolved within the day.

Here’s more information on strikes within Trenitalia: In case of a strike – Trenitalia

Pros of Trenitalia

Trenitalia is run by the state, meaning that they have more train fleets, both high-speed and regional, and more overall destinations than Italo. They offer more language translates on their website, which is great for a lot of tourists, and often have many deals or surprise sales on their website. I like the flexibility of being able to change my ticket if need be on a Base or Economy level ticket as well. They also offer many different rail pass options through their site, which is great if you’re planning on traveling throughout Italy using the train system frequently

Cons of Trenitalia

I’ve found in general, the prices of Trenitalia can be slightly higher than Italo in some cases. The regional trains aren’t the most beautiful, but then again who really cares when you’ve got a beautiful sight happening outside your window. You can only purchase up to 7 tickets at a time, so if you are buying tickets for a large group of travelers you may fare better using Italo.

In addition, because Trenitalia is a public, state-run company, strikes happen more than you’d think, so much so that they’ve included an entire section on their website about what to do in case of a strike. Luckily, however, they’re usually resolved within the day, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t any less stressful.

When I use Trenitalia

If I’m looking to buy a ticket for travel on an express train between large cities, I’ll typically price compare on both Trenitalia and Italo to see which one is cheaper and an overall better price. If I want to travel to any city that is smaller and more local, it’s Trenitalia all the way because there’s no other option 😉

Up until 2012, Trenitalia was the only player in the Italian Train Game – then Italo came along. Italo is the first (and obviously only), private train company operating within Italy and only offers high-speed express trains between the biggest Italian cities. Those cities are Turin, Milan, Venice, Padua, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples, and Salerno. They also offer travel to some smaller destinations in between, but those stops are mainly all in Northern Italy. Case in point: If you want to travel to any smaller destinations outside Northern Italy, Italo isn’t an option.

Navigating the Italo website

Opposite from Trenitalia, Italo recognizes the Italian cities when you search in both Italian AND English, which is helpful for those who may not know the spelling of their destination in Italian. Italo only offers two language translations of their website though, Italian and English.

You can change the language on the top header bar of the screen, where it says either “IT” (Italian) or “EN” (English):

Different Class Types on Italo

Italo offers 4 different types of ticket tiers: Smart, Prima, Club Executive and Salotto. Similar to Trenitalia, within those 4 tiers, 3 SUB tiers of tickets: Flex, Economy, and Low-Cost. Let’s start by breaking down the different types of ticket tiers on Italo:

The 3 Sub-Categories:

Personally for me, if it’s a short train ride less than two hours I’ll purchase either the “Smart” or “Prima” ticket Tier depending on price, but if it’s a 3+ hour train ride I’ll opt for the Comfort or Club Executive tier since like I mentioned, Smart can feel a bit too cramped. I base which sub-ticket tier I use off if I see myself possibly needing to change train times, but oftentimes that’s not the case, so I’ll just go with the cheapest option.

Train changes on Italo

As you can tell, Italo overall doesn’t offer as much flexibility on ticket modifications that Trenitalia does. With mostly all the ticket types that Italo offers, you will have not only paid the price difference (if any) of the new ticket, you will also have to pay a percentage fee of the price of your original ticket. Those costs can add up QUICK. However, even so they still make it easy to change your ticket if you need to, right on the website.

To modify your ticket, head to the top of the main home page screen and click “Manage Journey”

Refunds, Cancellations, and Delays on Italo

For trains delayed causing you to arrive between 60 and 119 minutes late to your destination, you’re entitled to a 25% partial refund. For trains delayed over 120 minutes, you are entitled to a 50% partial refund. In any case, the best part about Italo’s refund policy when it comes to train delays and cancellations if that there’s no added work necessary on your part to get your refund – Italo will reach out to you first, between 7-30 days after your trip with your refund options.

One time my train arrival was delayed 60 minutes, and I didn’t think anything of it until I received an email from Italo unexpectedly with a voucher code for my next trip. For partial refunds over 4 euro, they also give you the option to ask for monetization instead of a voucher, which is great if you’re a tourist and don’t plan to be in Italy for much longer.

More info on train delays and cancellations through Italo here: Find answers to the most frequently asked questions on Italo Treno

Pros of Italo

Overall, I find Italo offers cheaper prices than Trenitalia when purchased in advance and so therefore, most of the time if I’m traveling between bigger cities in Italy, you’ll catch me on a Italo train. They also offer tons of discounts and random sales on their websites, which is worth looking into if you’re planning on traveling often or if you will be living in Italy for more than 2 months and want to start building loyalty. Receiving a refund in case of a delay or cancellation is much easier with Italo as they credit you automatically with no added work to be done on your part. Italo also offers the ability to purchase up to 29 tickets at one time, so if you’re buying tickets for a large group of people it’s fantastic.  

Cons of Italo

Italo only operates high-speed trains, so naturally they have fewer overall destinations in Italy than Trenitalia. If you need to reach a smaller town within Italy, Italo most likely won’t be an option. As I mentioned above, while it’s often less expensive, the basic seat ticket “Smart” on Italo trains are often very cramped, especially when the train is sold-out. Lastly, for the most part, Trenitalia wins at  ticket modification and refund policies over Italo. You have a lot more overall flexibility on a Trenitalia ticket than an Italo ticket.

When I use Italo

Because Italo is solely an express, high-speed train, it’s mostly only possible to use Italo when traveling to a bigger city within Italy. Like I mentioned above, Italo is usually cheaper than Trenitalia, meaning that traveling in a higher ticket class cabin on Italo could very likely cost the same amount as a lower class ticket cabin on Trenitalia. Therefore, if I’m traveling between bigger cities and the journey is below 3 hours, you’ll likely catch me on an Italo train. However, if the train ride is 5+ hours long, I’ll opt to pay extra for the Trenitalia Club Executive car since overall the seats are more comfortable and the amenities are better. 

To Summarize:

If you are only planning on visiting big cities in Italy, you can take either train company.

If you are planning on visiting smaller cities within Italy, you will probably need to take Trenitalia.