What trains in Italy are like

Train tracks in Cinque Terre

If you are traveling between cities in Italy, you will be traveling on the high speed trains run by TrenItalia. These trains are fast, modern, powerful and large. The biggest question I get about trains in Italy is, “Are they safe?”

We found them perfectly safe.

Before we went to Italy, a friend in New York actually warned us not to take our eyes off of our luggage because “you will be speaking English and that will be noted.”

Well, pretty much every other passenger on the train was also speaking English, and had no interest in our luggage. The train was full of families and couples enjoying their vacations, not hoodlums out to steal our roll aboards. There are racks for large bags on either side of each train car. The overhead compartments are large enough to hold any bag you could carry onto an airplane. Most people travel light, so there is lots of room in the overhead compartments.

The train stations were modern and full of shops and places to grab food to go. And - biggest surprise for us — the trains arrived and departed on time, especially at larger cities. All in all, traveling by train was a pleasure and I would highly recommend it.