In Italy you need besides the Eurail Pass a reservation for the Highspeed services

The reservation cost 10€ per train/seat. You can obtain these online from Eurail or directly from the ticket offices in Italy.

Besides that you need a “Green Pass” a proof you have been vaccinated to travel on Italian trains

It looks like there's a problem with Italian reservations on the Eurail reservation website, since all trains show up with a grey "!”, whereas they are open for booking on the Trenitalia website, including the 7:20 train from Venice to Florence on 8 April. I suppose that's a temporary problem. Long distance trains in Italy require a reservation but pass reservations are not quota-controlled so they don't sell out before the train is full.

You can also book Italian reservations via ItaliaRail:

It's even a bit cheaper, since Eurail want a 2€ booking fee per seat and ItaliaRail only 1€ per order.

For ItaliaRail you do need a pass cover number, which is on the pass cover of the paper pass or which you can request here if you have a mobile pass.

I can’t seem to figure out how to book a reservation directly on Trenitalia or ItaliaRail and select that I have a Eurail pass.

The Eurail/Rail Planner app reservation application is now allowing it (it didn’t last week) although when I go to select the Florence-Venice route, it won’t provide me with the 7:20 am train. 

I am wondering if I am allowed to book my Florence-Venice return reservations via the OBB website even though they are Austria. OBB seems to allow me to select Italy only destinations as well as the option of noting Eurail pass and only charging the reservation fee. Eurail seems to charge the res fee plus a booking fee.


 

It's not possible anymore on the Trenitalia website. They discontinued it about 2 years ago claiming high levels of fraud.

ItaliaRail did something that broke the link I gave previously (it now seems to show the normal fares) but their old one is working again. Click on "Add ticket(s)” and then you can select 1st or 2nd class rail pass. You still need a pass cover number, which is on the pass cover of the paper pass or which you can request here if you have a mobile pass.

That is correct. The rail planner app only gets an update every few weeks and it seems Italian railways currently make a lot of late changes to the timetable. But don't worry; check for app updates shortly before you travel and if your train still doesn't show up, you can add it manually: scroll down to the bottom of the planner results and tap on "Add it manually”.

Interesting thought and a good idea. I hadn't expected ÖBB to offer Italian pass reservations, but I tested just to be sure and they do! They just charge the nominal fee (10€ for high speed trains), so this seems to be the best option.

Oh thank you for responding. I’m still having no luck getting my paper pass cover number from the links above but I’ll keep asking.

So to clarify -  if I reserve seats with OBB and don’t have to enter my Eurail pass number at all, that’s still considered an official rail reservation?

Sure it is. I suppose it is just an attempt to prevent people without a pass to be able to buy them but the pass cover number is often not even printed on the reservation.

as long as you get a mail with car+seat nr on the day and time you wanted, and you sit on that seat, its OK. Usually noone ever checks these-its the TICKET=your proof that you have paid for the trip you then make and your pass is that proof. On local/regional trains without any need to reserve that s all you need.

An exemption may be when the REServ. is much more costly because it also includes some kind of supplement.

BTW-that It-rail is just a guy near BOS/Mass who does some pocket money in arranging trips to IT. Just read his site-it says it will only do REServ for those who have bought a pass before from them. You could just try if that is checked. It also still has the old style details for EUrail that were stopped some 3 years ago, so does not appear to be much uptodate. Same for his now antique explanation on how ticketing/REServations work.

If you mean ItaliaRail: anyone with a pass cover number can buy a supplement. I can get to the payment page with a number of one my Interrail passes from last year.

But now that ÖBB sell Italian reservations without extra fees, that seems the place to go.

Well I’m glad I stumbled upon the OBB site - I guess I’ll go ahead and book the rest of my Italian train excursions that require reservations through them.

I made a mistake last week in booking my Firenze-Venice return fares (even though I was extra careful booking) - for some reason I booked 4 seats for the wrong day (Saturday not Friday) - I’m guessing I made this because my eye is used to seeing a North American calendar) but in any case, I now have 4 non-refundable reservations for the next morning and have no idea how to cancel them because they are printed pdf tickets. 

Update: we looked into it and it indeed seemed to be a temporary issue; now the trains just return prices. We'll keep an eye on TrenItalia's system as there were several different issues recently.