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If you haven’t travelled to Italy before and you choose to fly directly to Italy, chances are that you will have your first
experience of going by train from the train station adjacent to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. Travelling in a foreign country
for the first time can be stressful, so the pictures and text below will attempt to explain the process of getting from the
airport to the train station in Arezzo in a way that should cut down on confusion and stress once you get to Italy.
After you pick up your luggage at Rome Fiumicino airport, follow the signs to the “Trains” or “Treni/Ferrovie.” You’ll do
a bit of walking to get there, but if your luggage isn’t terribly heavy it’s not too far. Below is a picture of what the train
station at Rome Fiumicino airport looks like once you’re at the entrance [click here for larger image].
First thing to do is get your ticket to Arezzo. This can be done either by using the automatic ticket machines directly in
front of you in the middle of thestation, or by going seeing a live person at the ticket sales counter to your right [click here for larger image]. In either
case, don’t worry about language issues: The automatic ticket machines have an  English language option and the ticket
sales representatives all speak passable English.
You will purchase two tickets, one going from Rome Fiumicino airport to the
central train station in Rome, Roma Termini, and a ticket from Roma Termini to
Arezzo. The ticket from the airport to Roma Termini is automatically a first class
ticket, which is the reason for why it costs almost as much as the ticket from Rome
to Arezzo. It is uncertain whether you will actually need a seat reservation [click here for larger image] from
Rome to Arezzo (they are mandatory on the fastest trains, but there are only about
two of those per day), but if you are arriving on a weekend, it is probably safest to
get a seat reservation just in case since they ren’t very expensive at 3 Euros. Once
you’ve completed your purchase, you will have the following tickets (if you purchase
tickets from the self-service machine, the ticket from the airport to Roma
Termini will look similar to the one from Rome to Arezzo; the smaller tickets are
only sold manually) [click here for larger image].
 Now that you have your tickets, you can proceed to the train. On the way, check what time the train leaves [click here for larger image] (in case you
have time to grab a cappucino at the cafe on train station side opposite the ticket counter). There is a bulletin board
between where you enter the tracks. You’ll be looking for a train that says DIR (Diritto - direct) - you can take any train
that has this marking, since all of them go directly to Roma Termini without making any stops underway.
Before you proceed along the tracks, however, do not forget to validate your ticket in one of the numerous yellow ticket
stamping boxes along either side of the access ramp. You must validate ALL your tickets in Italy, whether on a train or a
bus, since puts a time stamp on the ticket and renders it effective for your trip. If you don’t stamp your ticket, you can either re-use it or get a reimbursement as it will be considered unused. For this reason, train personnel view unstamped
tickets the same as travelling without a valid ticket, and you risk a fine of anywhere up to 500 Euros. Think of the “Click
it or ticket” seat bealt campain in the US - in Italy this applies to all your tickets: “Stamp it or ticket” is the catch phrase here.
Once you’ve completed these formalities, you’re ready to get on
the train (all Leonardo Express trains are painted as in the picture,
so they’re easy to find going from the airport) and relax for
the approx. 30 minutes that it takes  to get to Roma Termini train
station. Here, you will arrive at track 22, which is the very last
track in the station. Actually, this is a good thing, since it will
make it easy for you to remember going back to the airport. Just
get on a train similar to the one you got off of on track 22 when
you’re travelling home.
Roma Termini is a very busy station, and you will now need to get yourself oriented so you can find the platform from
which your train to Arezzo departs. There are two ways to get this information (don’t think about asking unless you’re
fluent in Italian - there are way too many tourists running around with exactly the same problem you have:
1) you can look at the electronic overhead billboard which is situated some 30 feet to the right of you as you exit the
platform you arrived at [click here for larger image]. Be aware, however, that this billboard generally posts departures only about 20-30 minutes
before they are supposed to occur, so if you have more time than that at hand, you might want to consider option 2.
 2) Find an old-fashioned non-electronic billboard like the one in the picture to your left. These billboards can be found
at the beginning of each platform and in many other locations throughout the train station. They list all the departures
from Roma Termini by the hour. Similar billboards can be found at all train stations in Italy and, with minor variations (in
terms of lay-out - the languages will be different, of
course), throughout train stations in Europe, so once
you know how to read one, you’ll never be confused
taking the train in Italy, or indeed anywhere in Europe.
Below is a guide to how you can read the information
on the billboard. [click here for larger image] Remember that Arezzo is not a main
train station, unlike Florence (Firenze), so look under
the Principal Stops to find your train. Many of the
trains going from Rome have either Milan or  Venice as
their ultimate stops, so this may be the what the ultimate
destination of your train will be, as Florence will
be yet another stop underways. Don’t despair, however:
The departure time and train number of your
train to Arezzo will be printed on your ticket, so this is
really the best way to look for your departure platform.
Simply look up the hour of your departure, and then
look for the train number!
Once you’ve identified which track your train leavesfrom, you can confirm the departure on the overhead departure sign
like the one to the right [click here for larger image], located at intervals on each track. Again, there may be other trains leaving before yours, so don’t besurprised if the information isn’t posted sooner than15-20 minutes before departure.
OK, you have your tickets and reservations and you can read them. You have located your correct train. But how do you
find the right seats on the train?
 All cars of the train are marked with a 1 or 2 on the wall of the car. This means that the car is first or second class. First
thing you have to do is to check which class you have booked and locate the first or second class cars. On most trains,
first and second class cars are separated by the restaurant car.
The car number is written on the door or right beside it. Eurostar trains have modern looking electronic boards stating the
number of the car, beside the destination of the train and the class of the car. Older Intercity cars will have a plain scrap of
paper with the car number stuck in the middle of the door's glass.
Once you have located the right car, you can start looking for your seat. On newer trains, seats are arranged in rows, like
on a bus. Older cars have 6 seat cabins that you enter from the hallway. The first part of the seat's number will tell you the
cabin or row of seats where yours seat is, the last digit is the number of the seat itself. For example seat 36 is seat number
6 in the third cabin.
Remember, if you are on a Eurostar train, you already have a seat reservation (you cannot buy a Eurostar train ticket
without getting a seat reservation).
 A common habit on Italian trains is to switch places in the same compartment or row of seats. Sometimes, two people
traveling together with reservations happened to be seated not together, though they are usually in the same row or cabin.
In this case they ask to switch places with some other traveler. In such a case, you can agree or disagree (for instance
because you are traveling with a companion too and the switch will cause you to travel separately).
Since 2005, all Intercity trains have some seats that are not reserved. These seats are available for the travelers without a
reservation. In any car, seats numbered 71 to 88 (second class) or 71 to 86 (first class) are available for travelers without
seat reservations. These seats are occupied quite fast, so if you don't have a reservation make sure to be among the first to
board the train so you can grab one of these seats.
All other seats in the car should be considered reserved. If the unreserved section is full, you can sit in any vacant seat,
but you will have to give up the seat if someone who has reserved it arrives. They may get on at any station on your route.
Sitting in the empty seat first, does not mean that seat is yours.
Seats may be only reserved for part of the train's itinerary. You may be traveling from Rome to Arezzo and find a seat
that's vacant from Rome to Orvieto alone, and is reserved from Orvieto until Arezzo. In this case, you can use the seat
until Orvieto, after which you will have to give up the seat to the owner of the reservation. After Orvieto you will have to
either look for another seat or just stand in the corridor for the rest of the trip.
Since reservations are not marked in any way, though, you cannot know whether a vacant seat not included in the nonreserved
rows or cabins is not reserved, partially not reserved or fully vacant. This makes it hard for a traveler to determine
which seats are not reserved, so you might want to purchase a seat reservation to make things easier. Or, when a seat
in the non-reserved section becomes available, take it so you are sure of a seat for the rest of your trip.
For further reading on train travel, see the Slow Travel in Italy website.
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