A trip of a lifetime on the luxurious Orient Express or, more simply, the comfort of a high-speed train: train travel across Italy is the true protagonist of this new spring. If, in the first case, it is the unquestionable charm of the historic train that conditions your choice (the most recent example being the Arsenale-Trenitalia and Accor La Dolce Vita Orient Express) as well as being a way to indulge in eco-sustainable and slow travel, on the other hand, for short and medium distances it is comfort and speed that win out.
And so what was once a gold mine for airlines - first and foremost Alitalia, followed Ryanair and easyJet, with alternating modalities and fortunes - the Milan Linate-Rome Fiumicino route has had to yield to a competitor...without wings. The train. Suffice it to say that between 2005 and 2018 passengers flying between the two cities fell by 80%. And while the overall travel time is quite similar (around three hours for both the train and the plane), the central location of Rome's Termini station compared to Fiumicino airport makes a huge difference, so passengers go for the train.
The result is surprising with 85% of all travellers opting for high-speed trains over flights, for a total of over 3.5 million passengers. In short, the train beats the plane, at least on the Milan-Rome route, which has long since ceded the crown of Italy's busiest air route...
Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist
