Train routes in Italy
85 routes · high-speed 14 · classic 39 · night train 3 · scenic 19 · heritage 5 · mountain 4 · luxury 1
85 routes cross Italy in the World Train Map atlas. The longest is the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express at 1,270 km; the fastest is the Frecciarossa, running up to 300 km/h; the oldest line dates to 1844. Every route links to its facts, photo and story, and to the interactive world map.
Open the world railway map →Part of the Europe train map: every route on the continent, one map.
High-speed (14)
- Frecciarossa
Italy’s flagship corridor: since 2009 the airlines’ share has collapsed, and the ETR 1000 is engineered for 360 km/h.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa
Italy’s first true alta velocità line. Vesuvius on the horizon barely an hour after leaving Rome.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa Milan–Venice
300 km/h out of Milan, then Verona, Vicenza and Padua: finishing with the causeway glide across the lagoon to Santa Lucia’s doorstep on the Grand Canal.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa
A Frecciarossa 1000 hit 393.8 km/h on this Turin–Milan high-speed line in a 2016 test, an Italian rail speed record.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa
The 300 km/h spine of Italy. Milan–Bologna–Florence–Rome–Naples runs almost entirely on dedicated high-speed track finished in 2009.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa
South of Caserta the Freccia climbs through the Apennines to Foggia, then races across the Tavoliere plain to the Adriatic port of Bari.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciargento
One of Italy’s longest Freccia runs: some 671 km down the Tyrrhenian coast, the tilting ETR 485 leaning through curves toward the Strait of Messina.
Wikipedia ↗ - Italo
Italo was Europe’s first private open-access high-speed operator; its Alstom AGV 575 links Milan and Rome in under three hours.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa
A tilting ETR 600 Frecciarossa crosses the Po plain and Veneto from Milan to Trieste on the Adriatic, a run it took over in June 2023.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa
Frecciarossa 1000 sets cross from Rome over the Apennines and the Po plain via Florence and Bologna to reach Venice in under four hours.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciargento
A tilting ETR 485 runs Rome to the heel of Italy’s boot via Foggia, Bari and Brindisi, reaching baroque Lecce in the Salento.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa Adriatica
Frecciarossas run the whole Adriatic seaboard: high-speed to Bologna, then the classic 1872 Adriatica within sight of the sea past Rimini, Ancona and Pescara to Bari.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Frecciarossa Paris–Milan
Italy’s 300 km/h flagship on French rails, using the 13.7 km Fréjus tunnel of 1871: back since April 2025 after a 19-month landslide closure.
Wikipedia ↗ - Frecciarossa Milan–Reggio Calabria
The red arrow’s longest domestic run: the length of Italy from Milan down the Tyrrhenian coast to the Strait of Messina at Reggio Calabria.
Wikipedia ↗
Classic (39)
- Gotthard Express
Threads the 57.1 km Gotthard Base Tunnel: the longest and deepest railway tunnel on the planet.
- Mantova–Monselice Line
Straight across the Po plain from Lombardy into the Veneto, Mantova to Monselice by Nogara, Legnago and Montagnana, on a secondary line whose first stretch opened with a special train on 16 May 1885.
- Bergamo–Treviglio Line
The line Bergamo had to fight for, because the Milan to Venice railway was first planned to miss the city altogether. A convention of November 1856 settled it and the trains ran from 12 October 1857.
Wikipedia ↗ - Malpensa Express
Terminal 2 to Milano Cadorna in three quarters of an hour, the airport link the Ferrovie Nord opened in May 1999 and the reason Malpensa has a railway station under it at all.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bergamo–Brescia Line
Milan to Venice once ran this way. Forty nine kilometres from Bergamo to Brescia, opened on 12 October 1857 and left a local line in 1878 when the direct cut from Treviglio to Rovato took the traffic.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bolzano–Merano Railway
Half-hourly FLIRTs climb the Etsch valley between South Tyrol’s capital and the spa town of Merano, the 1881 line that feeds the Vinschgau reopening.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Riviera Line
The Riviera on rails: Nice, Villefranche, Monaco’s covered station, Menton lemon groves and over the border to Ventimiglia. Forty minutes of Mediterranean out the right-hand window.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Cagliari–Sassari
The Sardinian main line: three hours up the island’s spine through Oristano and the Campidano plain. Most visitors never know Sardinia has a main line.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Intercity Riviera
Down the Po plain to Genoa, then the full Italian Riviera westward: tunnel after tunnel between the mountains and the sea to San Remo and the French border at Ventimiglia.
- Brenner Railway
Munich to Verona over the first railway across the main Alpine crest (1867), still topping the open pass at 1,371 m: no summit tunnel, just a border station.
Wikipedia ↗ - Rome–Sulmona–Pescara railway
Rome to the Adriatic the hard way, over the Apennines by Tivoli, the drained Fucino basin at Avezzano and Sulmona, where the Transiberiana d’Italia branches into the Abruzzo highlands.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ionian Railway
Six hours down the instep and toe of Italy, from Taranto by Metaponto, Sibari and Crotone to the Strait of Messina; the sections were joined into one railway in 1875.
Wikipedia ↗ - Turin–Genoa railway
Five years of tunnelling under the Apennines opened this line in December 1853, and the 3.3 km Giovi tunnel at its summit was then the longest in the world.
Wikipedia ↗ - Domodossola–Milan railway
The Simplon’s Italian approach, down the Toce and along the western shore of Lake Maggiore by Stresa and Arona; the rails reached Domodossola in 1888.
Wikipedia ↗ - Verona–Bologna railway
Thirty seven years to cross the Po plain: begun at Bologna in 1887, over the river at Ostiglia in 1911 and finished into Verona on 1 February 1924. Fifty two minutes now.
Wikipedia ↗ - Milan–Bologna classic line
The old road through Emilia by Lodi, Piacenza, Parma, Reggio and Modena, single track when it opened in 1861 and doubled by 1894; the Frecce take the high speed line beside it.
Wikipedia ↗ - Udine–Trieste railway
Friuli to the Adriatic through Gorizia and out along the Carso above Miramare; the last two sections opened three days apart in October 1860.
Wikipedia ↗ - Prato–Bologna Direttissima
The 1934 Direttissima under the Apennines: an 18.5 km base tunnel, then the second longest in the world, and 180 km/h where the old line over the pass managed 75.
Wikipedia ↗ - Civitanova Marche–Fabriano railway
Off the Adriatic at Civitanova and up the Chienti and Potenza valleys by Macerata and Matelica; begun in 1884 at the far end and joined up in 1888.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Avezzano–Roccasecca railway
Up the Liri from Roccasecca by Arce, Sora and Balsorano into the Fucino basin; eighteen years from the first section in 1884 to the last on 20 August 1902.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Intercity Tirreno
The Tyrrhenian artery the high-speed network bypasses: Maremma’s coast, Pisa, the marble Apuans and the whole Riviera di Levante into Genoa.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bari–Matera
The only railway to the Sassi: a 950 mm oddity climbing the Murgia plateau from Bari to cave-city Matera, every visitor’s first sight of Basilicata.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Rome–Ancona railway
Crosses the Apennines sea to sea, from the Adriatic at Ancona through Foligno, Spoleto and Terni to Orte on the Rome main line.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bari–Taranto railway
104 km across the Murge plateau from Bari through Gioia del Colle to Taranto, now covered end to end by Frecciarossa in a little over an hour.
Wikipedia ↗ - Livorno–Florence railway
The Ferrovia Leopolda of the 1840s, still carrying Tuscany's busiest regional run from Livorno and Pisa through Pontedera and Empoli into Florence.
Wikipedia ↗ - Vercelli–Pavia railway
Opened in 1882–83 across the rice paddies between Piedmont and Lombardy, linking Vercelli to Pavia and the Po.
Wikipedia ↗ - Brig–Domodossola railway
The Swiss–Italian side of the Simplon: 41 km from Brig to Domodossola, almost half of it inside the 19.8 km Simplon Tunnel of 1906.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Monza–Molteno railway
Brianza branch of 1911 climbing gently from Monza into the Lecco hills, twelve stops in twenty-nine kilometres.
Wikipedia ↗ - Fidenza–Fornovo railway
A 1907 cut-off across the Emilian plain that lets Parma-bound freight and regional trains reach the Pontremolese line at Fornovo.
Wikipedia ↗ - Railjet Wien–Venezia
One seat Vienna to Venice: over the Semmering, through the new Koralm tunnel to Klagenfurt and Villach, then the 1879 Pontebbana across the Julian Alps.
- Fossano–San Giuseppe di Cairo railway
The 1874 road to Savona ran the long way round through Bra; this double track shortcut by way of Mondovì and Ceva replaced it in 1933.
Wikipedia ↗ - Biella–Novara railway
Mussolini opened it on 18 May 1939 and no train ran for fourteen months, because the rolling stock was not ready; promised electric in 1925, it never was, and the state took it over in 1961.
Wikipedia ↗ - Chivasso–Casale Monferrato railway
A third class line under the Baccarini law of 1879, built to reach the Monferrato from the main line at Chivasso: the stretch from Castelrosso to Casale Popolo opened on 30 April 1887.
Wikipedia ↗ - Catania–Caltagirone railway
Valsavoia to Scordia opened in November 1889 and the whole climb to Caltagirone on 31 October 1892; the 1979 extension to Gela has been shut since a viaduct collapsed, reopening promised for 2026.
Wikipedia ↗ - Palermo–Trapani railway
The long way round the west of Sicily, by Castelvetrano, Mazara and Marsala: the through line was finished on 5 June 1881, and since the short route by Milo closed in 2013 it is the only one.
Wikipedia ↗ - Santhià–Biella railway
Inaugurated on 8 September 1856 with the public works minister aboard the special from Turin: 27 km down from the Biellese wool towns to the Turin–Milan main line at Santhià.
- Macomer–Nuoro railway
Nuoro’s only railway: the narrow-gauge line reached the town in February 1889, and ARST railcars still run down it to the main line at Macomer several times each weekday.
Wikipedia ↗ - Palermo–Catania railway
Across the middle of Sicily from Catania, up by Enna and the old sulphur country of Caltanissetta and down to the Tyrrhenian coast at Palermo; the line was complete only when the Marianopoli tunnel opened in 1885.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Padua–Belluno railway
From Padua across the Venetian plain by Castelfranco and Montebelluna into the Piave valley at Feltre and on to Belluno beneath the Dolomites; the line that gave Belluno its railway opened on 10 November 1886.
Wikipedia ↗
Night train (3)
- Nightjet Munich–Rome
Board after dinner in Bavaria, wake to Tuscan hills: mini-cabins and wireless charging on ÖBB’s newest sleepers, crossing the Tauern by night. From Villach south it runs coupled with the Vienna portion as one train into Rome.
Wikipedia ↗ - Intercity Notte Rome–Palermo
Europe’s last train on a ship: the sleeper is split at Villa San Giovanni and floated across the Strait of Messina before breakfast.
- Nightjet Vienna–Rome
Board in Vienna after dinner, cross the Carinthian Alps and the Venetian plain by night, and wake rolling into Rome, a sleeper between two imperial capitals. From Villach south it runs coupled with the Munich portion as one train.
Wikipedia ↗
Scenic (19)
- Bernina Express
A UNESCO World Heritage railway: 7 % grades with no rack, the Brusio spiral, and the highest rail crossing of the Alps at 2,253 m.
Wikipedia ↗ - Centovalli Railway
Fifty-two km, 83 bridges and 31 tunnels between Piedmont and Ticino: chestnut forests, waterfalls and stone villages a hundred valleys deep.
Wikipedia ↗ - Cinque Terre Express
Village-hopping between tunnels where Liguria’s cliffs meet the sea. Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore in half an hour.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Valsugana Line
Out of Trento past the vineyards, along Lake Caldonazzo and down the gorge of the Brenta to the foot of Monte Grappa, twenty three stops in a bit over two hours on a line begun in 1896.
- Ferrovia Circumetnea
A 950 mm narrow-gauge line almost encircling Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, crossing black lava fields around Bronte and Randazzo.
Wikipedia ↗ - Trenino Verde
At 159 km the longest tourist railway in Italy, this narrow-gauge line climbs to 868 m through the wild Ogliastra mountains to the sea at Arbatax.
Wikipedia ↗ - Rittner Bahn
A metre-gauge survivor of a 1907 rack railway, its vintage tramcars glide across the sunny Renon plateau above Bolzano, the Dolomites on the horizon.
Wikipedia ↗ - Circumvesuviana
The narrow-gauge line to Sorrento, opened in 1948, carries travellers past the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum under the shadow of Vesuvius.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ferrovia delle Meraviglie
The “Railway of Wonders” spirals up the Alps through helical tunnels and viaducts into France; wrecked in WWII, it reopened only in 1979.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Vinschgau Railway
Closed to passengers in 1990, this South Tyrol branch reopened in 2005 as a rural-rail success story and went fully electric in 2026.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ionian Coast Line
Sicily’s east coast end to end: out of Messina along the Ionian shore below Taormina, past Etna at Giarre and Acireale into Catania, then the salt flats and Augusta’s bay to Siracusa. Complete.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Genoa–Casella Railway
A metre-gauge mountain tram that climbs straight out of central Genoa over three Apennine valleys to the village of Casella, sea views at its back.
Wikipedia ↗ - Pustertalbahn
Follows the Puster Valley below the Dolomites from the Brenner line at Fortezza past Bruneck and the Three Peaks, crossing into Austria at Innichen to run on to Lienz in East Tyrol.
Wikipedia ↗ - Milano–Tirano
Lake Como’s eastern shore from the train window: Varenna, then the vineyard terraces of the Valtellina to Tirano, where the Bernina Express waits.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Treno di Dante
Vintage Centoporte coaches link Dante’s Florence with his tomb in Ravenna over the Apennine Faentina line, joined by new direct Sunday trains since July 2026.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ferrovia Trento–Malè–Mezzana
A metre-gauge electric line out of Trento: through the Rocchetta gorge into apple-carpeted Val di Non and Val di Sole, ending at Mezzana beneath the Brenta Dolomites.
Wikipedia ↗ - Brescia–Iseo–Edolo railway
Runs the length of Lake Iseo and up the Valcamonica to Edolo under the Adamello: standard gauge, single track, unelectrified, built in stages from 1885.
Wikipedia ↗ - Cadenazzo–Luino railway
Hugs the north-eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, crossing from Ticino into Italy on the way to Luino.
Wikipedia ↗ - Siena–Grosseto railway
Southern Tuscany at walking pace: 100 km through the Crete Senesi and the Maremma from Siena down to Grosseto, open since 1864.
Wikipedia ↗
Heritage (5)
- Transiberiana d’Italia
Italy’s “Trans-Siberian”: a heritage train over snowbound Apennine plateaus to Rivisondoli-Pescocostanzo, at 1,268 m among the country’s highest stations.
Wikipedia ↗ - Treno Natura
Steam excursions across the UNESCO Val d’Orcia: 51 km of cypress avenues, clay badlands and Brunello vineyards on an 1865 branch kept alive purely for the Treno Natura.
Wikipedia ↗ - Porrettana Express
The 1864 Porrettana was Italy’s first railway across the Apennines: E.626-hauled Centoporte coaches now relive its 26 ‰ climb from Pistoia to the spa town of Porretta.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Trenino Verde
The Trenino Verde’s second living branch: 46 km of 950 mm track twisting off Macomer’s basalt plateau down to the palm-lined seafront at Bosa Marina.
Wikipedia ↗ - Irpinia Express
Closed in 2010, revived for excursions: the 1895 Ofanto-valley line threads 119 km of viaducts, vineyards and hill villages from Avellino to lonely Rocchetta junction.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗
Mountain (4)
- Mendelbahn
Europe’s longest and steepest funicular at its 1903 opening, still climbing 854 m at up to 64% from South Tyrol’s wine country to the Mendel Pass.
Wikipedia ↗ - Como–Brunate Funicular
Since 1894 the link between Como’s lakefront and hilltop Brunate, ’the balcony of the Alps’, climbing at up to 55% above Lake Como.
Wikipedia ↗ - Funicolare Centrale
One of the world’s busiest funiculars: around 10 million passengers a year between Via Toledo and the Vomero hill.
Wikipedia ↗ - Capri Funicular
Capri’s main street since 1907: hoists ferry arrivals from Marina Grande harbour 138 m up to the island’s famous Piazzetta in four minutes.
Wikipedia ↗
Luxury (1)
- Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
Belmond’s restored Art Deco sleepers of the 1920s–30s: black tie encouraged as the Alps slide past the champagne bar.
Wikipedia ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons; each route page credits the author & licence
What is the fastest train in Italy?
The Frecciarossa, running Milan to Rome at up to 300 km/h. It is one of 85 routes in Italy in this atlas.
Are there night trains in Italy?
Yes, 3 sleeper services in this atlas serve Italy: Nightjet Munich–Rome (Munich – Rome), Intercity Notte Rome–Palermo (Rome – Palermo), Nightjet Vienna–Rome (Vienna – Rome).
Can you cross the border by train from Italy?
Yes, 14 of its 85 routes continue into another country: Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (Paris – Venice), Bernina Express (Chur – Tirano), Gotthard Express (Zurich – Milan), Centovalli Railway (Domodossola – Locarno), among others.
Which is the most scenic railway in Italy?
Italy has 23 scenic or mountain lines in this atlas. The longest is the Ionian Coast Line, 175 km.
Cross-border lines continue into
Train routes in Austria 64 routes
Train routes in France 114 routes
Train routes in Germany 144 routes
Train routes in Liechtenstein 4 routes
Train routes in Switzerland 71 routes