Planning your train travel is not difficult. Taking some time in advance of your trip will pay off many times over when it comes to the actual travel day. You don’t want to miss connections, and you don’t want to miss your ship.

Start at the end of the day – not the beginning. What time do you need to be back on the ship? In most cases this is 30 minutes before scheduled sailing time but may vary with the ship and cruise line. If the ship sails at 19:00 (7PM) and your on-board time is 18:30 (6:30PM), subtract one hour to allow you plenty of time to get from the train station to the port. This is your ‘target’ time.

If you are traveling from Florence to Livorno, and you do not have to change trains, pick a train that arrives prior to your target time. Referring to the Firenze SMN to Livorno Centrale schedule, we find a train that departs Firenze at 15:27 and arrives at 16:49 (giving us an additional 41 minute buffer.) Now, back up one train departure. It departs at 14:37 and arrives at 16:18. This is the train that you should plan your activities for the day around. The later train is your safety net should you miss the earlier one.

In this particular case, I would opt to shoot for the train that leaves at 15:27 since it arrival in Livorno at 16:49 gives me an hour and 41 minutes to get back to the ship. I would do this because (1) I’ve ridden trains on this route many, many times and (2) I know Livorno and the probability of being able to get a bus/cab to get me back to the ship. The safety net is the train that departs at 16:27 and arrives at 17:49, giving me a 41 minute time span to get back to the ship. Never, ever, plan on taking the last available train to get you back.

If your train travel requires a change of trains at one or more stations, allow at least 15 minutes between trains. You’ll use this time to figure out which track (binario) that your next train is departing from. You might have to go inside the station to find this out. If you have time to spare, relax and people watch.

Once you have determined the end of the day, you can go back and pick schedules that fit your plans for the entire day.

Tickets! Buy your tickets for both trips (to/from) when you get to the first train station. Tickets for the Regional trains (usually only 2 classe) are good for weeks from the date of purchase. Once validated, the are good until midnight of the day that is on the validation time-stamp. Another plus, they are good for any train on that route of the same type and class. You do not have that flexibility with 1 classe tickets.

Schedules! Verify your schedules! Once you get to the first departing station, verify your train number and its departure time. When you get to your destination (say, Firenze,) verify the train number and departure time for your intended return train (a well as your safety net train.) Schedules may change (albeit very infrequently.)

Regional train (2 classe) travel. Your ticket on this train gives you the ‘right of passage’ and there is no guarantee of seat availability. If the car that you are in has no available seats, try moving forward or backwards a car or two. There may be seats. Full trains are not common, but do occur on some busy routes at certain times of the day. You may find what appears to be an available seat, only to be told that it is ‘riserva’. What you are not told is that the person that it is reserved for does not get on the train until the next to the last stop on the trip. It happens; welcome to Italy. Many trains in this category have ‘Italian air conditioning’ – open windows. Relax and enjoy it.

Strikes! Oh yes, that dreaded word. They do happen and they are really quite infrequent. In many cases, they are over almost as soon as they start. As a rule, the strikes target a particular train number on a particular route. By law, a notice of a strike must be posted well in advance. If you are concerned, ask the agent when you buy your ticket (I never have.) In over 150 train trips in Italy, I have only encountered strikes three times. This is why you build a safety net into your plans.

Train travel is a way of life to most Italians. If you don’t think so, look at the number and frequency of trains that run between Pisa and Florence (about a sixty mile drive.) Gas and auto insurance in Italy is extremely expensive. On top of that, parking within a city is at a premium. Many, many people do not even own cars. During summer months it is not uncommon to see several generations of the same family traveling together on a train.

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