Classic Italy by Train

“In Mussolini’s Italy the trains ran on time”. Thus was born the myth of Fascist efficiency with the train as its symbol. Today, however, the Italian railway system is truly efficient and modern with a network of high speed trains that has contributed vastly to the geographical unification of a country that was only politically united in 1866.

To travel by train is a relaxing alternative to road and Venice is the point of departure. Traversing the wide expanses of the Po plain where rice is the predominant crop; on a clear day the snow-capped Alps are visible on the horizon, pass Bologna, cross the Appenines and arrive at Florence at Santa Maria Novella. Continue from Florence through Tuscany and Lazio arriving at Roma Termini. The name suggests a terminus but it is in fact a reflection of the train station’s proximity to the Terme de Diocleziano, the largest and most sumptious baths of ancient Rome that could accommodate 3,000 bathers simultaneously, twice as many as the Baths of Caracalla.

In 1561, the Medici Pope called on Michelangelo to convert this monument to pagan hedonism into a Renaissance church and Santa Maria degli Angeli was the resultant masterpiece. Outside is the Piazza della Republica with the 19th-century Fountain of the Naiads. 2,000 years of history within a few steps of the train.