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It used to be possible to purchase regional train tickets for a given milage (e.g. 100km) from newspaper stands / tobacco vendors at the station. You would purchase such a ticket for e.g. Florence->Pisa and could use it within some 3 months I believe, by stamping it before the start of your journey. Of course you were also free to travel in the opposite direction with the same ticket.

Trenitalia has recently changed their rules for regional train tickets (in an effort to stop fare evasion) so that any paper-based ticket (no matter whether it was purchased at the machines, ticket counter or from a newspaper stand as mentioned above) is only valid for a certain date, until 23:59 on that day. (Online tickets and tickets purchased via the app are mentioned as an exception but in reality those already are implicitly stamped as they can only be used during a restricted period of time.)

My question is, can I still use a train ticket for the opposite direction of travel, e.g. Pisa->Florence when the ticket is for Florence->Pisa? With the old kilometer-style tickets that was not a problem (I could also have used those for a different journey of the same or shorter length) but how about the new date-fixed regional tickets? In my example the ticket would be stamped (convalidated) in Pisa and I'd be on a train from there to Florence, the cost of travelling either way being the same.

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    I can envisage many complaints about this new system. Many people buy several tickets because it's hard to get tickets in some places and at some times.
    – Berwyn
    Sep 1, 2016 at 9:05
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    The first complaint I heard about this new system was of the likes "how am I supposed to dodge the fair now by no longer stamping the ticket?!" @Berwyn, but I do completely side with you, I used to have a few extra tickets for the connections I travel a lot. I might now resort to the app whenever I can get it to work, or will loose time at train stations in line to get a ticket while the last train is leaving or pay the 5€ onboard surcharge. I mean, the last train of the day often even is past midnight. No brownie points for the Italians here.
    – mts
    Sep 1, 2016 at 9:11

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No, not without changing your ticket at the ticket office, at a cost.

I tweeted my question to the trenitalia account and their response was (rough translation of mine):

You have to modify the ticket at the ticket office, see info here.

The linked document ("modifications to the ticket", in Italian) basically says

  • you can once ask for a modification of an unused ticket
  • until 23:59 of the day preceding the validity day of the ticket
  • changing the date, fare class, itinerary, origin and/or destination, class, number of persons, train category
  • for a fee (unless when only changing the date) that is (roughly) 20% of the ticket price but max EUR 3.
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