Italians, please help me! Are there any cheap train companies operating between Roma and the south of Italy?

Answer 1

that's true, but you can check at http://www.trenitalia.com/
in the box on the left under "nazionali" you find:

Da dove vuoi partire? --> from you leave

Dove vuoi arrivare? --> where you whant to go
Quando vuoi partire?--> when do you want to leave
( giorno= day) (mese= month) (anno=year)
*A che ora vuoi partire? --> what hour wanna leave
(ora=hour) (minuto =minute) *(not necessary)

results:
Partenza =leave
Arrivo=arrive
Stazione di Cambio = change station
Durata= length of time

ps: remember that in Italy the date is indicated :
DAY / MONTH / YEAR
and hour in 24 h: so.... 14.30 means 2.30 pm
2.30 means 2.30 am

ok?
buon viaggio

Answer 2

im not italian, but i live here in italy. first of all, there are no private trains, the entire train transportation is provided by the state. the good thing about it is that it goes to every single town and area you want to go so you dont have to worry about finding a train company that goes to a certain direction (like how it is in spain).

second, what they DO have is different types of trains, some that are regional, some that are direct and some that are only within the city and some that are fast and quick.
1. 'regionale' (truthfully i im not familiar with it, but i think its the trains that go long distances from region to region but stoping in every single stop, making it completely slow, but extremly cheap
2. 'diretti' - goes direct from main town to main town, a bit more expensive, but still considered economical.
3. 'intercity' - only goes in the city its located, doesnt go long distances. not expensive, but slow
4. 'eurostar' - goes fast from main town to main town: milan to florence to rome to napoli. elegant and expensive, but worth it if you dont want to loose your time.

i might be wrong in the ones of the regionale, and intercity, but im about 90% sure thats what they serve for. the reason why i dont know is because when you buy your ticket, you dont tell the teller, 'id like a intercity blabla..' no, you just tell them where you want to go and they tell your options by the time schedule, they dont tell you whether its an intercity or direct or whatever, the only way they differ is by the prices. whenever ive bought tickets, i just check the prices and get the cheapest routes i dont even care to see whether its a direct or iintercity or regional. plus when you get on them, they all look the same. the only different ones are the eurostars, those are nice and clean and elegant and the prices are about almsot twice the prices as the regular trains.

hope this helps!

oh yes and forgot to tell you, the train (which is the only one) is called, TrenItalia.

Answer 3

Trenitalia is going to be your best bet. I took the train from Villa San Giovani (Calabria) right off the Straight of Messina to Firenze (Florence) for only 47 Euro. It was a long trip but the scenery was beautiful!