transportation in italy

[aem741]

I have figured out my itinerary, booked my hotels, and am now onto figuring out transportation within italy. My plan is to buy tickets to our next destination when we arrive in the city we will be depating from. Here is my itinerary:

fly into Naples--> stay in sorrento
sorrento-->rome
rome-->siena
siena-->florence
florence-->venice

will it be easy to buy our tickets the way i stated earlier or is it best to reserve before we even leave the states? i am also wondering how much money you would reccommend we reserve for transportation between cities (and in cities)? We will be taking this trip in the middle of August. Please help me figure out the train system before i even arrive in italy thanks for all of your help!!

[WillTravel]

August 15 is a huge holiday in Italy, so it's good to think about this ahead of time.
If you can get the trenitalia.com site to work with your credit cards (most people outside of Italy cannot), then you can prebook your train rides there, and you may be able to get an Amica discount if there are two of you. I think you can do this about 89-90 days in advance.

If you can't book online, or if you prefer not to, the train prices in Italy are still very reasonable. Because of the holiday, I would be inclined to buy all of your tickets in advance soon after arrival, which you can do at any train station in Italy, or at a travel agency. I know it's rare for trains in Italy to be full, but it happened to me on New Year's Eve (I just had to wait and then take a slower route with a connection instead of a direct train). Most likely, if you just buy them as you need them, you will have no problems, but you could end up with a delay like happened to me.

I wouldn't buy the tickets with RailEurope because they usually charge a significant markup.

I seem to remember, although I didn't do this myself, that the best way between Rome and Siena is by bus, so look into that. Same for Siena - Florence. I think the fare in each case is less than 10 Euros.

For Florence to Venice, I think the cost is around 30 Euros. I suspect Sorrento to Rome will be around the same, or possibly a little more.

I'm sure you can find many posts on this subject, but do take particular care when you are traveling through Naples (and train stations in general). Concealed moneybelts are a good idea. What I would suggest is having some money and a credit card handy so that you don't have to dip into your moneybelt in public, or if you do, go to the washroom to effect this maneuver. I'm not suggesting you be paranoid, but train stations are good pickings for pickpockets.