Hey eri0o!
Passenger trains in Italy have different categories. The big ones are:
- Long-distance trains (treni a lunga percorrenza)
- International trains (treni internazionali)
- Regional trains (treni regionali)
Each train is identified by a 2-3 letters acronym and a number (e.g. REG 18492 or FR 8311).
Long-distance trains
Trains that travel through different regions, usually on longer journeys, skipping most of the small stations and only stopping at big city ones. These often need booking in advance, but not always, and have different classes with different features. They're more expensive than regular regional trains and booking is recommended.
They're good if you want to go from a big city in one region to another (e.g. from Florence to Rome). Which one you choose, probably depends on availability (day/time and how long it takes to reach the destination), cost, and which stations it connects.
- Freccia: these are high-speed trains and come with different names. As far as I know, is better to book them in advance, as they might be full. Frecce are:
- Frecciarossa Alta Velocità (FR AV): painted in red (rosso = red). Fast, expensive trains.
- Frecciargento (FA AV): painted in grey (argento = silver). Slightly slower than the previous one.
- Frecciabianca (FB): painted in white (bianco = white). More of the same, slightly slower than the previous one.
- Italo (NTV): a competitor to Freccia, probably a good alternative to travel quickly between big cities. Never took it myself, but I heard good things about it.
- InterCity (IC): something in between a regional train and a Freccia. Slower than a Freccia (but cheaper), faster than a regional train, with fewer stops.
- InterCity Notte (ICN): same as the Intercity, but during the night (notte), with beds you can sleep in.
Regional trains
Regional trains are the ones I'm more familiar with since I used to commute with them every day some years ago. They're the least expensive ones, do most of the stops, they come in different shapes and forms, but they mostly travel locally, in a specific region.
They're good if you want to move between cities/towns in the same region (e.g. from Florence to Pisa), although a bit messy (they can be very full, especially during peak season).
- Regionale (REG): the regular one, does most of the stops (including smaller stations).
- Regionale veloce (RV): similar to the one above but does fewer stops, so it's a bit faster.
There might be different names for other regional trains, depending on the region.
International trains
They connect with cities outside of Italy. I don't know much about them (I believe I only took one years ago to France and don't remember a lot), but the most important seem to be:
- EuroCity (EC): this one seems to connect to Basel too.
- EuroNight (EN): same as the one above, but works at night.
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If you have an Android phone or tablet, one thing I've found extremely useful in my days as a commuter is this program, Orario Treni: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.paoloconte.treni_lite
I don't know if it can be set in English, but it's really easy to use. With it, you can look up trains, the platform they're going to stop at, book them and buy the tickets online (through the official sites they send you a QR code to your email, no registration required). It also shows you which trains are late in real-time, warns you about strikes (they can happen often, but they usually don't affect long-distance trains like Frecce), shows you the journey, and so on. Very useful and better than the official Trenitalia program.
You can also drop me a line and I can help you with it if you have any trouble. As I said, I'm not sure if it's only available in Italian or if it can be set to English too.
Your travels seem to be between big cities, so it shouldn't be too hard to find trains for them. Probably the quickest way is by using Frecce/Italo, but it can get more expensive. I've never used a train pass, but there is some information in English here: https://www.trenitalia.com/en/offers/trenitalia-pass.html
They seem to be valid for Frecce/Intercity trains.
Also, I hope you'll enjoy your visit to Florence: one of the most beautiful cities in the world, despite my living in it
I hope my information is correct/useful, I have mostly used regional trains and sometimes Intercity, taking very rarely the high-speed ones. They weren't even called Frecce at the time!
Passenger trains in Italy have different categories. The big ones are:
- Long-distance trains (treni a lunga percorrenza)
- International trains (treni internazionali)
- Regional trains (treni regionali)
Each train is identified by a 2-3 letters acronym and a number (e.g. REG 18492 or FR 8311).
Long-distance trains
Trains that travel through different regions, usually on longer journeys, skipping most of the small stations and only stopping at big city ones. These often need booking in advance, but not always, and have different classes with different features. They're more expensive than regular regional trains and booking is recommended.
They're good if you want to go from a big city in one region to another (e.g. from Florence to Rome). Which one you choose, probably depends on availability (day/time and how long it takes to reach the destination), cost, and which stations it connects.
- Freccia: these are high-speed trains and come with different names. As far as I know, is better to book them in advance, as they might be full. Frecce are:
- Frecciarossa Alta Velocità (FR AV): painted in red (rosso = red). Fast, expensive trains.
- Frecciargento (FA AV): painted in grey (argento = silver). Slightly slower than the previous one.
- Frecciabianca (FB): painted in white (bianco = white). More of the same, slightly slower than the previous one.
- Italo (NTV): a competitor to Freccia, probably a good alternative to travel quickly between big cities. Never took it myself, but I heard good things about it.
- InterCity (IC): something in between a regional train and a Freccia. Slower than a Freccia (but cheaper), faster than a regional train, with fewer stops.
- InterCity Notte (ICN): same as the Intercity, but during the night (notte), with beds you can sleep in.
Regional trains
Regional trains are the ones I'm more familiar with since I used to commute with them every day some years ago. They're the least expensive ones, do most of the stops, they come in different shapes and forms, but they mostly travel locally, in a specific region.
They're good if you want to move between cities/towns in the same region (e.g. from Florence to Pisa), although a bit messy (they can be very full, especially during peak season).
- Regionale (REG): the regular one, does most of the stops (including smaller stations).
- Regionale veloce (RV): similar to the one above but does fewer stops, so it's a bit faster.
There might be different names for other regional trains, depending on the region.
International trains
They connect with cities outside of Italy. I don't know much about them (I believe I only took one years ago to France and don't remember a lot), but the most important seem to be:
- EuroCity (EC): this one seems to connect to Basel too.
- EuroNight (EN): same as the one above, but works at night.
---
If you have an Android phone or tablet, one thing I've found extremely useful in my days as a commuter is this program, Orario Treni: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.paoloconte.treni_lite
I don't know if it can be set in English, but it's really easy to use. With it, you can look up trains, the platform they're going to stop at, book them and buy the tickets online (through the official sites they send you a QR code to your email, no registration required). It also shows you which trains are late in real-time, warns you about strikes (they can happen often, but they usually don't affect long-distance trains like Frecce), shows you the journey, and so on. Very useful and better than the official Trenitalia program.
You can also drop me a line and I can help you with it if you have any trouble. As I said, I'm not sure if it's only available in Italian or if it can be set to English too.
Your travels seem to be between big cities, so it shouldn't be too hard to find trains for them. Probably the quickest way is by using Frecce/Italo, but it can get more expensive. I've never used a train pass, but there is some information in English here: https://www.trenitalia.com/en/offers/trenitalia-pass.html
They seem to be valid for Frecce/Intercity trains.
Also, I hope you'll enjoy your visit to Florence: one of the most beautiful cities in the world, despite my living in it
I hope my information is correct/useful, I have mostly used regional trains and sometimes Intercity, taking very rarely the high-speed ones. They weren't even called Frecce at the time!