Paying for your train ticket

Italian Railways no longer accept foreign Visa cards. This was a big shock and meant we had to eat at more expensive restaurants which took Visa, to eke out our cash in train fares. There has been a 50% increase in train fares since the 1993 guide was published. We found it impossible to use credit cards in phones anywhere. However, toll-free reverse-charge calls are simple to make from anywhere and we were impressed by the sheer number of public phones. Our cell phones were not set up for global roaming, because we were afraid of the high cost.