Adesso!
The FIERI Boston Newsletter
Edizione Giugno 2001

Italia Per Treno - Andiamo!
By Bob Yantosca

Part II. Italian State Railways (TrenItalia)

By now you've seen just about every piazza, basilica, and palazzo in Rome; it's time to move on to another city. One of the best ways of traveling in Italy is by train. TrenItalia (formerly Ferrovie dello Stato) runs several daily trains from Rome to just about everywhere else in the Italian peninsula.

Rome's major railway station is Stazione Termini, and is accessible by Metro as described in Part I. Termini is a huge complex with the train tracks ("binari", in Italian) on the ground level, and many little shops, boutiques, and eateries on the lower level. One gets the feeling that you could spend your entire vacation (or at least your entire vacation money) just in Termini itself.

Before boarding your train at Termini, be sure to stop at the Dunkin' Donuts store on the lower level. This is probably the only DD franchise in all of Italy, and it does a very brisk business. You can purchase a good old-fashioned donut with either American-style coffee or Italian-style espresso. (Having sampled the merchandise for myself, I am glad to report that their coffee and donuts are every bit as scrumptious as they are back in the US!) If, on the other hand, you are looking for a more substantial meal, I would recommend the Autogrill cafeteria, located one level above the ground floor. They have a wide selection of reasonably priced salads, risotto, pasta, and meat dishes. It may even be cheaper to buy food at the station than in the restaurant car of the train - and a nice leisurely meal is a good way to pass the time while waiting for your train to arrive.

TrenItalia offers several different levels of train service. A train marked "locale" or "diretto" will usually stop at just about every paese along the way (although the "diretto" will make fewer stops than the "locale"). The "rapido" and "IC" (Inter-City) services make express stops, skipping the one-horse towns and stopping at larger cities. The fastest and most elite trains on TrenItalia's roster are the "EuroStar" expresses, which can travel up to 150 mph when they get up to speed. From Rome, there are hourly "EuroStar" departures; however, these only stop at Italy's major cities, including Florence, Bologna, Venice, Genova, Torino, and Napoli. If your Italian sojourn takes you between any of these cities, you should consider taking the "EuroStar", since its speed, convenience, and comfort surpasses that of any of the other types of train. If your destination is not served by "EuroStar", try to see if you can get on a "rapido" or "IC". Otherwise, if you get stuck on a "locale" even a short trip may take several hours.

Purchasing tickets is pretty easy in general, but there are three things you should know. First, while some tickets may only be valid on the day of travel, others can be valid for up to 30 days. If you obtain a multi-day ticket, it's important to make sure that you validate it before boarding the train. To validate, find the box marked "convalida" on or near the platform, and stick the edge of the ticket into the slot. A timestamp will be printed on the ticket. The conductor will read this to make sure you are not trying get a free ride by using a "recycled" ticket.

Second, you should ask the ticket agent if there is a supplement price ("C'e un supplemento?") for your train. Express trains such as "EuroStar", "IC", or "rapido" typically cost a little bit more than local trains. If you are caught on an express train with a ticket that does not show a supplemented price, then you will be assessed a steep fine.

Third, you should find out if your train has reserved seats ("posti prenotati").
This is the norm for most trains (except perhaps the "locale" or "diretto" service). If so, you will not be guaranteed a seat just by purchasing a ticket; you must also make a reservation for a particular timed departure. This can be done by phone (if your Italian is up to it), or in person at the station. In the peak travel season, it is highly recommended to make reservations ahead of time, otherwise you might not find an available train on the day you want to travel.

Very often, you can take care of all three things (ticket purchase, supplement, and reservation) at the ticket window ("biglietteria"). Fellow FIERI Boston member Andy Brughera and I were able to purchase two one-way tickets on the Rome-Milan "EuroStar", including supplement and reservations, for L170,000 (about $50). This is a great bargain, much cheaper than flying, and it took us directly from downtown Rome to downtown Milan in 3.5 hours. We were fortunate enough to be able to travel on the same day as we purchased our tickets, although it meant departing at 2PM instead of our preferred noontime departure.

It is possible to purchase monthly passes or kilometric passes (i.e. a ticket good for up to 3000 km). Unless you have a large group traveling together, or will be taking the train just about every day, I would just recommend purchasing tickets as you need them. Fares are very reasonable, and with the current favorable exchange rates, train travel is one of the cheapest ways to get around Italy.

The "EuroStar" trains are ATR Pendolino's, usually consisting of 8-10 coaches ("carrozi"), with an locomotive car at both ends. Unlike the US, Italy has electrified all of its major train routes, so the trains can quietly zip along without emitting noxious diesel fumes. The interiors of the coaches are similar to commercial aircraft: rows of 2 side-by-side seats, separated by a central aisle. There are racks for overhead luggage storage running down each side of the train. In addition, there is storage for oversized bags at one end of the coach. However, if you are squeamish about leaving your bag far away from your seat, just jam it into the overhead rack above your seat. The racks are large enough to store even a large 29" pullman bag (as I found out for myself)! At the end of the coach opposite to the oversize luggage storage rack are the restrooms. These are also similar to what you would find on an aircraft, perhaps a bit cramped, but on the whole functional and clean.

The view from the Rome-Milan "Eurostar" as it speeds through the lush Italian countryside is just magnificent. You zip past small villages, rolling hills, green fields with sticks for the tomato plants, and a million houses, cars, and trucks. An hour after leaving Rome, the train pulls into its first stop, Stazione Santa Maria Novella in Florence. After a short layover there, the train once again resumes its northward journey under the Tuscan sun. Shortly after crossing the border into Emiglia-Romagna, the train arrives in Bologna, for another quick station stop. The rest of the trip to Milan is punctuated by the plains of Lombardy (most of Lombardy south of the alps is remarkably flat!) and the small satellite communities of Milan. As the train pulls into its final destination, Stazione Centrale in Milan, you get the feeling that you are also arriving into yesteryear. The station is an impressive Mussolini-era ediface, perhaps Milan's last remaining monument to fascism (as "Let's Go Italy 2001" describes it). With its large platforms and long, arched glass canopies covering the tracks, Stazione Centrale evokes images of 1901 rather than 2001, the days when railroads were king and airlines didn't exist.

From Stazione Centrale you can connect with the Milan subway lines to take you into the city. A short subway ride away is Stazione Nord Cadorna, the principal terminus of Ferrovie Nord, a regional rail system which runs north from Milan to Lago Maggiore, Lago di Lugano, and Lago di Como. Ferrovie Nord will be the focus of Part III of this series.