Rome to the Po
Five days, five towns, one fifty-nine euro pass. Regional trains only.
This route exists for one reason: to make the Italia in Tour 5 pass do exactly what it was designed for. It begins at Rome Fiumicino airport, using the Leonardo Express which the pass covers, and ends in Verona on the international rail corridor north. In between it stops at five places that high-speed trains do not serve well, in three regions, across roughly seven hundred and fifty kilometres of rail.
Every leg is on Regionale or Regionale Veloce trains operated by Trenitalia or Trenitalia Tper. No Frecciarossa. No Italo. No Lombardy. No bookings beyond the pass itself: you walk on, you find a seat. The pass is fifty-nine euro for five consecutive days. Equivalent point-to-point regional tickets would run around eighty-four. The real value is the freedom to add a side trip without thinking about the cost.
The companion analysis of the pass is at /journal/italia-in-tour.
- 1OrvietoUmbria · Italy1 night2.6 / 10
Land at FCO. The Leonardo Express to Termini is covered by the pass. Regional train to Orvieto in about an hour and three-quarters. Cliff-top town above the Paglia valley.
- 2SpoletoUmbria · Italy1 night2.3 / 10
Morning train south to Foligno, change, continue to Spoleto. About two hours. Roman aqueduct on a single arched span.
- 3ArezzoTuscany · Italy1 night2.4 / 10
Spoleto to Arezzo via Foligno, Assisi and Perugia on the Foligno to Terontola line. Drop off in Assisi or Perugia if you want. Arezzo at night: Piero della Francesca in San Francesco.
- 4ModenaEmilia-Romagna · Italy1 night2.5 / 10
Arezzo to Florence SMN (transit), then Bologna Centrale on the Apennine regional in another two and a quarter hours. Modena is fifteen minutes further. Bologna deserves the afternoon. Modena for the night.
- 5VeronaVeneto · Italy1 night3.2 / 10
Short hop west to Parma for the morning. Back through Bologna, then north on the Bologna to Verona line. End in Verona Porta Nuova for international departure. The OeBB Nightjet to Munich and Vienna runs from here.