Rome to Sicily by train: Ten hours of beautiful scenery but didn’t Mussolini make the trains run on time?

(Director’s note: I met Englishman Gabor Kovacs in Florence, Italy, during my solo trip around the world in 1978-79. We met up later in Munich where we attended the 1978 Oktoberfest and we both wound up in various drunken stages of disgrace. We’ve been friends ever since. With Gabor, now a successful lawyer, and his wife Caroline empty nesters, they are traveling again. They recently took a train from Rome to Sicily and Gabor wanted to share his thoughts. This is a guest blog that I hope will inspire others to see the lovely Southern Italy countryside through big picture windows on rails.)

Caroline’s Italian colleagues thought we were crazy. Why would anyone start a two-week holiday in Sicily by flying to Rome, and then taking a 10-hour train ride to Taormina?

It all started a few years ago when we watched a travel show on TV and saw that if you take a train from the Italian mainland to Sicily, the train carriages go onto the ferry for the short crossing of the Strait of Messina. We decided that we had to do that. Therefore we planned our return visit to Sicily around making that train journey. The other crazy part was spending only one night in Rome – but don’t worry John. We will be back in March!

And so we flew into Rome (I will try to avoid Vueling in future) and then took the 45-minute train ride from Fiumicino Airport to Rome’s Termini central station. It was then a 10-minute walk to Hotel Canada on Via Vicenza. The next morning, the hotel staff kindly let us take food from the breakfast buffet for the train journey – they also thought we were bonkers to be doing this.

Rome departure

Returning to Termini, we had time to do a little shopping in the large concourse before boarding the 11:26 train to Syracuse. We had bought the tickets online some three months earlier: first-class tickets for €58 each, which is a bargain compared with United Kingdom ticket prices.

The first-class compartment was spacious, comfortable and clean. Throughout the journey we had a four-seat area with a table to ourselves. I was able to read, finally managing to finish Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee, an English classic that I had been struggling with for weeks, and also to write notes about the trip.

The intercity train headed south along Italy’s west coast, making several stops including Naples and Salerno. On the left, to the east, the landscape was often mountainous, while on the right the view was often of fields and, further south, the sea. 

Railway lines usually go into city centers through less picturesque areas, and so the train entered Naples past endless blocks of flats, ugly concrete blocks often of five or six stories above a street level parade of shops. Approaching the city center we could see large high rise buildings, typical of a modern central business district. I don’t remember those buildings being there when we were last in Naples, in 1990.

Leaving Naples, we passed the unmistakable volcanic shape of Vesuvius, having a fairly clear view across fields and orchards.

At each stop, passengers embarked on the train or alighted, particularly at the larger towns. It became clear that many of our fellow passengers were using the train for shorter journeys, rather than our approximately 500 km/300 miles.

South of Salerno, the mountain scenery to the left became more spectacular. Unfortunately with all the trees and various structures along the side of the railway line, I was not able to take many good photographs. But it was good to remember that Italy is a mountainous country, with many dramatic views. The railway line began passing frequently through tunnels cut into the mountains. Occasionally there would be a larger flat coastal plain, filled with polytunnels.

Random notes

A few extracts from my notebook:

*         Olive groves; a plantation of oleander in full bloom.

*         Hilltop towns in the distance.

*         Shimmering Mediterranean in the afternoon sun.

*         Flat plain, dry fields, no crop.

*         Rivers with green ribbons of reeds and trees.

*         Incomplete shells of partly constructed houses, overgrown, looking abandoned and derelict

*         Wooded hills; signs of forest fires.

*         A light shower of rain, followed by a rainbow-

I hope these give a flavor.

At this point, a note about catering: Basically, there is none. I had been hoping that there would be a restaurant car on the train, but research online made it clear that there is not. This is why we took food from the breakfast buffet – and again thanks to the generous staff at the Hotel Canada. There are vending machines on board selling basic snacks and hot and cold drinks, but that is all.

Italian train delays

I began this blog by saying that Caroline’s Italian colleagues thought we were crazy. One of their reasons was that Italian trains are always delayed. And so it turned out. At 3:10 pm the train stopped at a town called Ascea, about an hour south of Salerno.  The stop became longer than usual, eventually an announcement that there had been a breakdown further down the line and there would be an expected delay of 40 minutes.  

The train moved on, and for about three hours progress was very slow, very stop-start, until at about 6:15 p.m. the line had been cleared and the train could pick up speed again. By this time the train was running 106 minutes late. At one point a Trenitalia employee boarded the train and handed out bags containing snacks and bottles of water, I think only to the first-class passengers.

Unfortunately this meant that when the train reached the ferry port at Villa San Giovanni in Calabria, it was dark. Nevertheless, sitting on the train as the carriages were shunted onto the ferry was an experience. My colleagues at work were enjoying the videos I took on my phone and shared via WhatsApp. At this point we had quite an active group discussion going. We were able to disembark from the train and go up on deck to enjoy the short crossing to Messina.

Back in our carriage, the train was reassembled in Messina, and we then covered the final leg to Taormina/Giardini station, arriving at 10:26pm, 1 hour 40 minutes late.

We had been on the train 11 hours. I very much enjoyed the journey. We were in no hurry, and able to relax in comfort and enjoy the view as the train made its way down the west side of Italy.  I am glad that we made this trip. But next time we go to Sicily – and there will be a next time – we will fly direct.