In busy stations like
Termini in Rome or Santa Lucia in Venice, it's often quicker to buy railroad
tickets from Trenitalia vending machines than at crowded Biglietteria
counters. The machines are multilingual, they're fairly easy to use, and you can
pay for your ticket with banknotes, coins, or a credit card.
On
page 2 of this article, we'll take you through the steps of buying a ticket from a
touch-screen Biglietto Veloce or "Fast Ticket" machine. The process
is simpler than it looks, so don't be intimidated by the number of
screens involved.
Note:
In larger stations, you may see two different types of Biglietto Veloce
machines: two-tone green machines like the one in the photo above, and boxier
white machines with red stripes (shown at left).
The two devices work in the same way once you get past the
opening screen, which offers a choice of six languages on the green machines but
only two languages (Italian and English) on the boxier white-and-red machines.