Train Misadventures In Italy

Next day we visited Turin, the capital of Piedmont, about 130km from Milan. We took the train from the Central Station (the ticket costs about 9euros one way per person and it takes 2 hours to get to the destination). However, we made it in 3. I don't like a bumpy start, I don't like obstacles in my way and I don't like when things don't go by the plan. It makes me nervous and sad and it ruins my day. I'm a bit of a control freak, but I can't help it.  

About 2 minutes after departing Milan, the ticket inspector came. We showed him the tickets we just bought from the ticket office in the train  station but that was far from satisfactory to him. He said we didn't validate the tickets before getting on the train and we shall pay a 50euro fine each. That came as a shock. We convinced him we didn't know about any of these, because in Spain you buy the ticket and that's it, you don't have to validate it. We spoke Spanish all the time and pretended we knew no English as he showed us the back of the ticket where it stated in plain English that you have to validate the ticket. But we were in a hurry and it was still very early in the morning and we were still sleepy and the thought never crossed our minds that we should read the "bla-bla" on the ticket as we explicitly asked for a ticket for that particular train and in no other country before we had to do anything extra with the tickets after buying them. I think we played well our part because in the end  he said that we shall pay only 50euro or get off the train in Rho, the next stop. Of course getting off the train sounded like the smartest option. So we did and he gave us the tickets back. That was a weird negotiation. Aparently he could bend the rules at his wish. Then wasn't he able to tear the ticket in two or sign it or anything to make sure we never use it again and let us be and continue our journey? 

In Rho we asked the station's personal about the next train to Turin and the guy said we had two options - validate the ticket, take the train to Navara, and from there another one to Turin or take a train till Rho Fiera and take the next Milan-Turin direct train from there. He also said we should get on the train to Rho Fiera without a ticket because that was only about 2 minutes away and no ticket inspector is usually on the train. That was highly misleading and we didn't do it, especially after our previous experience. We stuck with the first option, Rho - Navara, Navara - Turin, and so we made it to Turin one hour later than supposed but without paying anything extra as we could validate our tickets bought in Milan in Rho. 

Tip: In Italy, tickets not including seat reservation must always be validated. Lack of validation can result in fines. You can validate your ticket at the yellow machines on the platforms. The date and time of the validation will be printed on your ticket. From that time your ticket will have a validity of a few hours depending on the length of your trajectory. Also, when you buy such a ticket in Italy it usually can be validated in the next 2 months from the date of its purchase.

The Italian trains are pretty far from the ones I described in my article about the European Rail Passes. It was my first time traveling by train in Italy and I was surprised to find them dirty, decorated with graffiti and untidy. It was also the first time I was grateful for traveling at second class. The first class seats were dirtier than the second class ones and the air con didn't work. After all, the T-shirt from Lake Como was right.