Dysfunctional Tren Italia – Sempre Ritardo

by Dave Seminara on

If I were tasked with creating a slogan for Tren Italia, it would be Sempre Ritardo – Always Late. Perhaps it wouldn’t help sell tickets but it would be a rare occasion of truth in advertising. I have a battered wife-syndrome love affair with train travel in Italy. Tren Italia (TI) has been a mess for decades, but I keep riding because I love trains, hate buses and can’t afford to rent cars in Italy. I’m generally supportive of unions, but anyone looking for evidence to support union-busting laws could find plenty of ammunition by studying TI’s inefficiencies.

Dysfunctional Website – I tried to buy TI tickets online using every credit card in my wallet and none worked. I contacted the New York office of the Italian Tourism Board to see what I was doing wrong and they confirmed that American credit cards generally do not work on TI’s website. I recently purchased train tickets in Germany and Switzerland online from the U.S. with an American credit card without a hitch, but as everyone knows, Italy is a different beast.

Aside from the credit card hitch, the site’s search functions leave a lot to be desired. For example, I was looking to find a cheap, regional train from Parma to Modena last week and checked the box “Find the best price.” Oddly enough, when you check that box, it only displays the more expensive 11-euro trains to Modena. Uncheck the “Find the best price” box and it also shows the regional lines that cost just 5 euros. Go figure.You also need to figure out exactly how they refer to a given city in order to buy a ticket to that destination or even search the schedule. For example, I tried in vain to find the town Santa Margherita del Ligure until an Italian instructed me to type S. Margherita del Ligure.

Disinterested workers – There are some diligent, friendly, helpful TI workers, but I’ve been traveling on trains in the country for years and have encountered numerous employees who seemed to stop caring years ago.

Once, several years ago, I was sitting comfortably in a compartment in Rome, waiting for my early morning train to depart for Venice, when I heard an announcement in Italian. At first, I didn’t think it applied to me, but moments later, I noticed people fleeing the train.

In a panic, I followed them, ascertaining on the fly that TI had decided to switch platforms for the departure. Just for fun, the new platform was clear across the station and I arrived just in time to watch our train pulling out of the station. As I walked back towards the station, I noticed a group of 3-4 uniformed TI employees enjoying some laughs. I gave them a hard time for not coming on the train to inform us of the new platform but they just shrugged their shoulders. I waited a few hours for the next departure and had to stand the entire way to Venice because I couldn’t get seat reservations on the next train.

At the train station in Parma just last week, I came across an astonishingly unhelpful clerk after standing in line to buy tickets to Lucca. The TI clerk didn’t speak English but I know just enough Italian to get me through most simple transactions. But he seemed not to understand me when I said, “Orario- domani- Lucca per favore” (Schedule-Lucca-tomorrow-please). A kind man who was standing behind me in line stepped forward to translate.

“He says you have to buy a book to get the timetables,” the man said. He then added, “It’s Tren Italia, you have to understand, they are very difficult.”
The man advised me to use the machine in the station and he was right, it was more informative and friendly than the human being I had just met.

Broken or non-existent elevators – Before I had kids, I always traveled light and never noticed how many Italian train stations have broken or non-existent elevators. With two small children, it’s almost impossible to travel light and lugging kids, strollers and suitcases up and down long flights of stairs isn’t pleasant, especially when you’re making multiple connections.

Platform madness – In many, if not most, Western European countries, you can find a train diagram somewhere on the platform detailing where you should stand to board the train based on your seating assignment. But not in most Italian train stations. Again, if you’re traveling light, you can always board wherever and then make your way to the right carriage.

But many trains are extremely long and if you’re standing in the wrong spot, you might have to walk the length of the train, pushing your way through the crowds. If the train is crowded and you have kids, a stroller and lots of baggage, this is about as much fun as a undergoing a root canal without anesthesia.

Sempre Ritardo – Obviously the worst thing about TI is that the trains often run late. If you’re traveling from one major city to another and don’t have connections to make, ritardos aren’t a big deal because you’re only losing time. The real headache is when you miss connections and then have to take subsequent trains without a seat assignment. Standing in between cars with no seat for hours at a time, especially with children, can be a real hassle.

We missed a connection from Milan to Parma last week by one minute due to a ritardo and had to take the next train, which was packed beyond capacity. We walked through the entire train, struggling to get from car to car through the crowds with our kids and all the baggage and there wasn’t a single free seat anywhere until we got all the way to the first class compartment.

On this train, the only way to distinguish first class from second is that first class was almost empty. The seats weren’t larger or more salubrious and there’s no free meal. Exhausted, we plopped down and hoped for the best. But a TI conductor immediately accosted us and said we needed to pay 86 more euros to sit in first class, this on top of the more than $200 we’d already paid for our Zurich-Parma tickets. A young man came over to help us explain to the conductor that we’d missed our connection due to a delay and now had no assigned seats on the full train.

We’re traveling with two little boys, 2 and 4, and for a moment, I thought he was going to take pity on us, especially since the first class carriage was 90 percent unoccupied, but he wouldn’t relent. Suddenly, our hero, who later introduced himself as Giorgio, began arguing with him on our behalf. I didn’t follow much of their conversation, but I heard Giorgio call him a stronzo, which means a small piece of excrement in Italian, and that caused the conductor to lose it.

But as he started to shout and threaten Giorgio, a few other passengers sitting behind us began to heckle the conductor, urging him to leave us alone. He was outnumbered, but insisted on getting another 86 euros out of us – a big number for a 1.5-hour train ride. I didn’t want to pay so I got up and started gathering all of our things, but Giorgio was having none of it.

“I want to pay for you,” he said.

I declined but he was insistent. Now I had to argue with him not to pay for us. Eventually, I prevailed upon him not to pay and my kids and wife eventually found seats in second class a couple stops down the line. I stood, but the debacle gave me the chance to make a new friend. It also underscored the fact that Italy’s dysfunctional train service brings people together in a kind of shared misery.

Hire the Kids or Go Italo – Italy is filled with highly educated, friendly, multilingual young people who are unemployed. If I were the king of Italy for a day, I’d dismantle the train workers union, fire everyone and hire some of these terrific young people to fix TI, because a great country like Italy deserves a first class train system.

That’s not going to happen, but changes are afoot. TI has a new boss, who recently slashed service to Puglia and Sicily, firing numerous employees in the process. TI employees have been “occupying” track 23 at the Milan train station in protest but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to get their colleagues reinstated.

Meanwhile, a new private train service called Italo just recently launched and could give TI some competition with a Milan-Florence-Rome-Naples line that passes right through most of the country’s biggest tourist destinations. Perhaps a little bit of competition will help shake things up at TI. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

[flickr image via Hunter-Desportes]

Parma – Where You Can Drop A Grand On A Wheel Of Cheese

by Dave Seminara on

The moment you walk through the doors of Parma’s Salumeria Verdi, one of the world’s great delis, the aromas of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Prosciutto di Parma and other local delicacies arrest the senses. You want to place your order and string up a hammock so you can luxuriate in the sweet, smoky smell of the room.

You can find packets or little jars of the stuff in the humblest pizzerias and Italian restaurant all over the planet. That Parmesan cheese is practically flavorless, but if you visit the impeccably preserved Italian city of Parma, and other towns in the surrounding region of Emilia Romagna, you’ll discover that the cheese named after Parma and the nearby city of Reggiano-Emilia is an awful lot better than you realized.

Inside the Salumeria Verdi, my eyes are drawn to a collection of colossal wheels of the stuff sitting on shelves in the corner. “NOV 09” is engraved on the wheels on my right, meaning they’ve been aging for nearly 30 months. There is no chance I can fit one of these hulking goliaths of dairy goodness in my suitcase, but I want to own one. Not to eat, but to place on my mantle like a fine work of art. They look that good.

But the manager of the salumeria quickly disabuses my fantasy informing me that one of the 30-month aged wheels goes for about 800 euros, or $1,040. And these wheels aren’t even the most expensive ones – if the word “export” or “extra” is engraved on the cheese, it’s even pricier. For a moment, I ponder how my wife would react if I turned up back at the hotel with a $1,000 wheel of cheese the size of our suitcases. Someday, maybe.%Gallery-153199%
I settle for a panini with prosciutto crudo and Parmesano-Reggiano on fresh focaccia bread. The sandwich is wrapped elaborately, like a present, but I unwrap it immediately and conclude it’s the best sandwich I’ve ever had in my life before I even make it to the cash register.

%Gallery-153211%
Travelers can eat well anywhere in Italy, but the Emilia-Romagna region is to gastronomy what Lambeau Field is to football – sacred ground. Parma, Modena and Bologna are all well worth a visit, and if you can’t find something good to eat in these places, you aren’t trying very hard. They’re also great cities for pedestrians and cyclists, so you can burn the calories off while joining the stylish multitudes.

So why is the real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese so much better than the stuff that comes in those little packets you find inside your pizza box? For starters, the milk that’s used is from cows fed according to strict regulations and it has to be brought into the cheese making process within two hours of being milked. Then the cheese is allowed to age for at least 12 months and then every wheel is inspected and those that don’t pass mustard aren’t certified and branded with the Parmigiano-Reggiano Consorzio Tutela seal. They’ve been making this stuff in the region since at least 1200, so it’s not something they take lightly.

Serious foodies can visit a host of food museums in the vicinity of Parma – including ones devoted to Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, tomatoes, prosciutto and salami. I didn’t visit any of them, though, because I’d rather spend my time eating than studying. But the thing about food in Italy is that, often times, your most recent meal/snack/sandwich/cappuccino/gelato is the best one you’ve ever had. It gets very difficult to differentiate between one outstanding treat and another.

For example, on Thursday night, I had some nocciola gelato at a place called K2 Gelateria in Parma that seemed just about perfect. At the moment I was eating it, I deemed it the best gelato in the world. But then on Friday, in Lucca, I had one that seemed even better at a place called Le Bonta, a few minutes walk outside the city gates. Was it better or just more recent? In Italy, you’re always waiting for the next dish.

[Photos by Dave Seminara]

Miracle In Milan 2012: Italy’s Muscular Metropolis Goes Global

by David Downie on

Rome stands for romance, history, art, architecture and fab food. Florence is for culture; Venice is for moody beauty and atmosphere.

What about Milan?

Milan is where the technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti comes from, the little gray man whose job is to save Italy from bankruptcy. Bankruptcy seems unlikely: in the midst of this unending “recession,” Italy prospers and Milan is booming.

Muscular Milan is Italy’s biggest city, the source of a third of this fabulously rich nation’s income, the location of most of Italy’s high tech and heavy industries, the capital of the country’s fashion, business, finance and banking.

Milan is also an experiment in globalization, Italian style. It is pioneering a new brand of tourism-friendly Dolce Vita. This may be bittersweet but it looks like a way forward for aging, debt-plagued Italy.

Kaleidoscopic armies of immigrants are pouring in, opening shops and providing services, cooking, cleaning, doctoring and melding with the locals. Colorful disorder – homelessness and shantytowns included – is repainting a dour town that used to be nicknamed “the moral capital of Switzerland.”

Compared to the joyless workaholic city I lived in nearly 30 years ago, Milan is unrecognizable –except for the perennial streetcars, outsized cathedral and other hulking old buildings. It’s not only multi-ethnic, but also animistic and chaotically alive. Much of the city center is closed to traffic now and has been re-landscaped and groomed. Café terraces spill where trucks and buses once thundered along. The prospect of frivolous enjoyment of the kind reserved for Romans now energizes the streets – especially those nearest to the center of the spider web cityscape.Does anyone remember the classic neo-Realist movie “Miracle in Milan” by Vittorio de Sica, an uplifting postwar fable about survival, generosity and abject materialism, complete with the dove symbol of the Holy Ghost and the comic Totò cast as a slum-dwelling Christ figure?

Today’s Milanese miracle is profane, messy and not always comical. Most surprising for the Milanese, this may well be a post-Catholic miracle. The capital of the Roman Empire when Christianity was declared the official religion, the fountainhead of saints Ambrose and Carlo Borromeo, the historic home of Italian bigotry and site of the Duomo – possibly the world’s most astonishing, cavernous cathedral – appears to have officially relegated religion to the B List.

Business always came first. Now pious religiosity comes after shopping, wining, dining and soccer.

Global millions cheer for Milan AC and Inter, the city’s two A-Series soccer teams. Who cheers for Saint Ambrose or Carlo Borromeo? San Siro is the hero!

On a recent visit I helped a group of Indonesian soccer fans find their way to the San Siro stadium, then picked my way between passing street cars, through herds of wannabe fashion models to the cathedral, known locally as the Duomo.

The Duomo rises from the center of the spider web of Milan’s ancient streets. It bristles with spires. Topping the porcupine roof on a pinnacle is a statue of the Madonna called “La Madonnina.” She’s visible for miles, the tallest thing around, though currently her spire is under restoration – and is about to be relegated to second-tallest by Milan’s pointy new skyscraper. Maybe that’s why the Madonnina’s magic is ebbing.

Hundreds of feet underneath her in the cathedral’s crypt the embalmed body of Saint Carlo Borromeo lies in a crystal casket wearing fancy dress. At ground level an eerily realistic statue shows Saint Bartholomew flayed, holding his skin. The Madonnina, crypt and flayed saint have been pilgrimage sites for centuries. Today 99 in 100 visitors see them through a camera lens and don’t know what or who they are. Visitors wear sinfully casual clothes, babel in tongues and seem indifferent to symbols of religion and authority.

After a frothy cappuccino under the glass canopy of the Galleria – one of the world’s first shopping malls – I did the rounds of my favorite churches. Milan has dozens of gorgeous Romanesque and Baroque places of worship. Was I surprised to find them empty? Not really.
San Babila was closed for restoration, wrapped in scaffolding and flanked by an unusual Fashion Madonna.

A single Italian voice echoed in the 1,000-year-old apse of the Basilica of Sant’Eustorgio as a group of baffled Chinese sought the bones of the Magi.

In the exquisite smallness of San Satiro, American art historians lectured loudly about the cleverness of Bramante in creating his false architectural perspective.

But it was the lonely priest in the abandoned pews of San Bernardino alle Ossa, the city’s repository of age-mottled skeletons, who spoke volumes with his silence. In the church’s secret ossuary, once packed by the pious, I had the skulls and crossbones to myself. It was chilling, a memento moriout of sync with the times, a message not of hope but of resignation.

Walking from church to dark, incense-scented church, I glanced up and saw the underfed fashion models staring down from giant advertising posters. Their bones looked oddly like clothed horses. Had any of them visited San Bernardino alle Ossa or seen Saint Bartholomew at the Duomo?

But these pre-modern thoughts were drummed out by the joyous ringing of streetcar bells and the voices of merrymakers partying everywhere, enjoying the unpredictable, unexpected miracle of life in Milan 2012.

Author and guide David Downie’s latest books are the critically acclaimed “Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light” and “Quiet Corners of Rome.” His websites are www.davidddownie.com, www.parisparistours.com, http://wanderingfrance.com/blog/parisand http://wanderingliguria.com, dedicated to the Italian Riviera.

Italy’s Famous Monuments Hit By Austerity Measures

by Sean McLachlan on

Hard economic times in Italy are threatening that country’s priceless cultural heritage.

The Times of Oman reports that billionaire Diego Della Valle said he’s thinking of withdrawing the 25 million euros ($33 million) he promised last year to restore the Colosseum, which has been crumbling due to lack of maintenance. An even more serious problem is Pompeii, which suffered a couple of spectacular collapses in 2010.

The Times reports that the government is increasingly looking to private investors to save the day, and is also promising to release 105 million euros ($138 million) from the European Union for a four-year maintenance plan for Pompeii.

Italy only spends 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) annually on culture, just 0.21 percent of the gross domestic product and barely enough for basic maintenance. With tourism being a major portion of the Italian economy, it seems shortsighted not to preserve and restore the very sites that tourists come to see.

Not all news coming from Italy is bad. The government has finally cracked down on the fake Roman centurions and gladiators who prowl around the Colosseum, bullying tourists into taking pictures with them for exorbitant prices. The government says they are all ex-cons and are operating without a license. Some of the fake gladiators climbed onto the Colosseum to protest, showing that they care more about money than preserving their national heritage.

[Photo courtesy Adam Kahtava]

Six Of The Most Scenic Train Trips In Europe

by Libby Zay on

Forget flying around Europe. At 30,000 feet it’s impossible to truly experience the continent’s remarkable landscapes. Rather than being shuttled around in a plane that only allows a birds-eye view, train trips immerse travelers in the terrain. There’s a reason why trains are often thought of as the most romantic mode of transportation: riding the rails makes you feel more connected and in tune than air travel ever could. Instead of feeling like a chore, as flying often does, train travel can be an experience in itself. In fact, there are plenty of scenic train rides in Europe that are worth the trip just for the view. The following are top rated train trips, and from the rolling hills of England to the craggy Alps of Switzerland, each one offers travelers something different.

6. United Kingdom
London to Edinburgh
The rolling, green hills and moors that are often associated with Yorkshire make this one of the most scenic train trips in Europe. When entering the northern parts of England, travelers will catch glimpses of the rugged coastline along the North Sea. During the 4 1/2-hour train ride, English speakers will notice a distinct difference in passenger accents as the train gets closer to Scotland. Although the common language is English, it can be hard to decipher as the Scottish brogue gets thicker and thicker.

[Flickr photo via boutmuet]

5. Holland
Amsterdam to Groningen (best in April)
In Holland, the most scenic train trip isn’t necessarily about being on the right track; it’s actually all about timing. Travelers will want to hop onboard in spring – particularly in April – to see the blanket of colors that results when the famous Dutch tulips are in full bloom. On the two-hour route between Amsterdam and Groningen, travelers will also be able to spot plenty of windmills, another quintessential part of the Dutch landscape.


[Flickr photo by Amy Bonner]

4. Italy
Rome to Verona to Venice
Train trips don’t get much more romantic than the ride from Rome to Venice, especially if you make a stopover in Verona. The train ride starts in Rome, the enchanting “Eternal City,” and then makes its way through the Tuscan farmlands to Verona, a pleasant city famous as the setting for Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Make a day of wandering around the city’s lovely corridors (pictured above) and passing some time in a local cafe or bar. Then head to Venice, Italy’s famed “Floating City,” that is by far one of the most romantic destinations in the world. The train approaches through Venice’s lagoon in the Adriatic Sea, and upon arrival you can hop on a gondola ride for two – what could be more romantic than that? Another scenic train trip in Italy is the route from Venice to Trieste. On this trip, the train hugs the coast of the Adriatic Sea until reaching Trieste, a charming destination with beautiful sea views and several cafes and pubs for you to spend your days and nights in.

Balconies in Verona, Italy [Photo by Libby Zay]

3. France
Montpellier to Nice
The train ride through southern France from Montpellier to Nice is another visually stunning trip. From Montpellier to Marseille, travelers will see the typical Provençal landscape of red-colored soil, tall cypress trees and expansive fields of lavender and olives. As the train gets closer to Nice, the coastal scenery along the Mediterranean Sea comes in to view. Note that if you have a France Rail Pass, it’s possible to break the ride up to spend some time exploring small Provençal towns, such as Aix-en-Provence, the famous home of Paul Cézanne, or Nimes, with its stunning Roman amphitheater that is second only to Rome’s Colosseum.

[Flickr photo by paularps]


2. Germany

Black Forest Railway
The Roman’s gave this thickly wooded and mountainous region in Germany the name Silva Nigra (i.e. “Black Forest“) because the dense growth of trees blocked out most of the light inside the forest. Experience the spectacular scenery on the Black Forest Railway, part of the German National Railway that connects Offenburg and Singen. The 93-mile-long route ascends (or descends, depending on which way you travel) more than 2,000 feet as it passes through 39 tunnels and over two viaducts. The section between Hornberg, Triberg, and St. Georgen is particularly pretty. The stretch is also popular with locals, who use it as part of their regular commute between the towns they live in and larger cities. Tourists, however, will probably think it looks straight out of a storybook – so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Black Forest is the setting for the Brothers Grimm tale “Hansel and Gretel.” But don’t worry, you won’t need to follow a trail of breadcrumbs to get back home.

Look closely for one of the viaducts trains along the Black Forest Railway pass over in Hornberg [Wikimedia photo by Prolineserver]



1. Switzerland
Wilhelm Tell Express (May to October only)
Switzerland is known for some of the most stunning scenery in all of Europe. This trip from Lucerne to Locarno connects two of the prettiest parts of the country, central Switzerland and the Italian-speaking Ticino region. While in Lucerne, travelers can opt to take a boat ride on a vintage paddle steamer where they can enjoy lunch or dinner. When the boat reaches Flüelen, step onto a panoramic train that will whisk you past lone cottages on pine-covered hills, glistening streams, cerulean lakes, vast valleys covered in green, and craggy, snow-covered peaks, as it makes its way to Ticino. If you get a chance, make a stop in the tiny town of Bellinzona, an easily walk-able place that is well worth a day trip in order to explore one of their three medieval castles. Switzerland has some of the most fantastic scenic train trips in Europe with the Golden Pass and Glacier-Express also offering awe-inspiring views through panoramic train windows.

[Photo by Libby Zay]