Taking trains in Italy

While staying in the charming little town of Orte, Viterbo, Lazio, last month, 83 km by car north of Rome, we visited the eternal city three days by train. We had originally intended to get two hotel rooms in the city, but our rental house’s caretaker told us she uses that train for her daily commute, so that wasn’t necessary.

Taking trains in Italy means selecting an operator and buying tickets. We chose Trenitalia, which appeared to have the best connections between Orte and Rome, both in the form of a regional and an intercity service. I bought the tickets online using my phone, which required me to fill out the full names of myself, my wife and my children. There is no anonymous train travelling at Trenitalia, apparently.

Orte station platform 5, with very little room to sit down

After filling out my email address as well, I could select our seats. I found that in the first class there were four seats facing eachother available with a table in between and a fifth seat directly opposite of the aisle.

Children under 18 travel for free, and the total amount of two adult first class seats for a 45-minute connection was €57, so we paid €28.50 per adult. In the Netherlands I would pay around €62 for the same duration in first class, paying €7.50 for each kid, making the adult tickets only €19.75. Dutch Railways (NS) does not ask for full names. Once, on our way back, I didn't pay attention so I bought a five person ticket for the regional train, which, for the same distance, speed and number of stops but a whole lot less leg room, cost me just €18.

The next morning, with the tickets as QR codes in a single PDF on my phone, we drove the fifteen minutes from our temporary home to the train station in Orte. There, we did not have to pass a check-in point. Some screens in the station hall told us we needed platform 5 and the train was late 5 minutes. The following days we would find it would consistently be late between 5 and 10 minutes on the way to Rome Termini, but leave there on time on the way back.

I seem to remember a quote from the thirties of the last century, from Italy, that stated that when trains consistently run on time, it is time to start worrying about the state of your democracy. Back then, one of the first popular things facist dictator Mussolini fixed for his people, was having trains run on time. Apparently, Meloni must know this quote too, then.

Low platforms seducing people to skip the walking tunnels

One thing that we observed was how low the platforms were. In fact, there were notices everywhere telling travellers not to cross the rails. As a consequence, boarding trains required us to climb three stairs, which was a challenge specifically for our 6-year-old daughter. Equal level boarding is easier for travellers and personnel, and prevents people from crossing rails on stations, apparently.

Another thing that I hadn’t expected was that most notices were in English. Even the station announcer repeated her messages consistently in English, but the audio quality was too bad to even understand what was being said. We did hear the word strike and decided to see if we could find an English newspaper.

No smoking in Italian and English

First class in a Trenitalia intercity is non-smoking and not very crowded, at least not in the second half of July, peak tourist season, on nine in the morning going into Rome. I could take a picture of the cabin without including anything more than someone’s arm. Italians are very fond of their cars. Indeed, when we had dinner on a terrace at a very quiet piazza in Orte itself, we saw Italians arrive, always in cars, parking right at the edges of the piazza and then double parking when they were full, fully destroying the atmosphere in our view, but of course not in theirs.

Charging my phone while enjoying the view

The train had one stop between Orte and Rome Termini and did catch up on its original timetable, but otherwise the ride was comfortable and uninterrupted. Ticket checking by the conductor meant that I had to show him the tickets in my mail. Termini is a massive station, which is to be expected of the primary station of a city the size of Rome, even if these Italians are so fond of their cars.

On the way back, we had to buy tickets at a ticket machine, which offered the same interface as my phone had earlier, but with a somewhat less responsive virtual keyboard and without offering to select our seats.