A golden-age-of-rail theme is permeates the experience. Carriages feature posters and images of Italian rail history, and staff are dressed in vintage-looking maroon uniforms.
I’m on a route from the capital to Alba, in the Piedmont region. It’s a leisurely way for tourists to visit the town and the surrounding countryside, famed for its white truffles.
Other sleeper trips TTI has run this year have included Rome to Calalzo, in the Dolomites, and Rome to Lecce in Puglia. Over the summer, day trains ran between Milan and Nice, on the French Riviera.
At dinner, I share a table with an Italian couple in their sixties. On the table opposite are Anna and Franco, a couple in their thirties, from Rome. Behind me is an Italian family of four, including two children under 10. Some passengers are dressed up for the occasion, others are in jeans and T-shirts.
Staff wear vintage-looking uniforms (Photo: Daniel Puddicombe)
Anna and Franco say that the allure of a restaurant carriage and comfortable sleeper cabins prompted them to book this route. They saw it as a fun way to visit the International White Truffle Fair in Alba.
After dinner, I amble back to my cabin. It is roomier than those of the 10 other sleeper trains I’ve tried around Europe. There’s a touch of luxury to the decor, too. The carpet is soft, and there is dark wood panelling. There are plug sockets in the cabins and the restaurant carriage. Wi-Fi isn’t available, but mobile data coverage is decent throughout the journey. Toilets are located at either end of each carriage, but there aren’t any showers.
The eye-catching livery of the train
I am travelling alone, and I have plenty of room to store my laptop bag and backpack in my cabin. For larger items, there’s a dedicated luggage carriage. By the luck of the draw, I have been allocated a cabin in the middle of the carriage, away from the wheels.
Following a good night’s sleep, around 7am I head to the restaurant carriage for a breakfast of fresh pastries and bread. I perk up as the train rumbles through the hills towards its destination – it is dark outside. In fact, there’s only about 20 minutes of daylight the entire time I am onboard.
Read Next
All in all, it’s one of my most enjoyable sleeper train journeys. Given the route is aimed at tourists, one would think TTI would be advertising departures well into the future, but that is not the case. First listed in mid-September, four services were due to run from Rome to Alba, this was then reduced to two due to low bookings. My questions to the division about future routes and dates have been met with silence.
“These trains often appear at a few weeks’ notice. I’ve struggled to get on them, and I live near Naples,” Chris Oglive, 59, a Briton and a regular passenger on TTI’s services, tells me.
“They cancelled my sleeper Lecce–Rome at four days’ notice after I’d booked hotels and had family over for it. Very frustrating.”
Late-notice adverts do seem to be a theme for Italian heritage journeys when I regularly check the website of Fondazione FS, another arm of Trenitalia that sells steam, diesel and electric charter rail trips. It’s a complete contrast to the UK model: Network Rail requires 12 weeks’ notice for any special trains to run.
A bar area on board the train
At Alba – where we arrive a few minutes early – the train is met by a delegation from the town, including the mayor.
These routes are celebrated. However, given the last-minute advertisement of, and changes to, schedules, tourists interested in trying them must be flexible.
Those who secure a ticket will see their patience rewarded with a novel, good-value rail trip that reflects an era in which journeys were savoured.
Getting there
The writer flew to Rome with easyJet, which offers direct flights from UK airports to destinations across Italy, easyjet.com/en/
He also travelled with Treni Turistici Italiani. Tickets from €124 for solo occupancy in a sleeper berth, including dinner and breakfast. fstrenituristici.it
Staying there
Le Stanze della Musica, a family-run B&B, is a few miles outside Alba. Doubles from £102 per night, lestanzedellamusica.com/
More information
visitlmr.it/en
visitlazio.com/en/
visitpiemonte.com/en
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=67220a7edc7449e69cf6c5389b8bad12&url=https%3A%2F%2Finews.co.uk%2Finews-lifestyle%2Ftravel%2Fvintage-italian-sleeper-train-favourite-3351365&c=8325388918818086074&mkt=de-de
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-30 01:30:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
