Italy has 24,179 kilometres (15,024 miles) of track. Services are operated by Trenitalia, a state owned company. There are few private railways. The country has good high speed train services, but only for those unencumbered by naked bicycles: cyclists can only use local, regional and a few international services. Bikes are only allowed on some high speed trains if they are partially dismantled and wrapped. Map
Trains
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Long distance express trains (Pleasant but mainly bikeless):
Eurostar (ES or Treni Eurostar Italia)
Italy’s premier trains, not to be confused with the Eurostar from London to Paris and Brussels. (BTW the Italians used the name first.) Seat reservations on Eurostar Italia are mandatory. Eurostar zips about between the major Italian cities.
Intercity and the newer Intercity Plus trains
Relatively fast trains that run the length of Italy, stopping in large cities. According to the Trenitalia Internet site: “On some Intercity trains – these too marked in the Timetable by an appropriate pictogram, you can take your bicycle with you by paying a 5.00 Euro supplement.”
Cisalpino
If you check the Internet you may well find older links to the Cisalpino service between Switzerland and Italy. This was a joint holding between SBB/CFF/FSS (Swiss Railways) and Trenitalia (Italian Railways), that ran Pendelino (high speed tilting) trains between Stuttgart, major Swiss and Italian cities and later, in addition, conventional EC trains. There were a number of operating problems with the Pendelinos and the Cisalpino services were discontinued in the autumn of 2009. These services are now run by SBB and Trenitalia using in part the same rolling stock that caused all the problems, but probably or hopefully with better maintenance. The first generation Pendelinos had a very restrictive luggage policy – folding bikes were forbidden, check here paydayloandiva.com for more details.. We once smuggled a pair of Bromptons on board a Pendelino from Stuttgart to Bellinzona and hid them under the seats. It was a bit awkward persuading our fellow travellers to stand up in a mixture of English, poor French and German when we came to get off. These trains are still in service!
Regional and Local Trains (taking bicycles)
Regionale
Regional trains covering quite long distances. They are cheap and usually reliable.
Suburbano
Local suburban trains. These too are cheap and usually reliable. However both these services are slow in comparison to the more expensive Eurostar and Intercity.
Getting there and more importantly getting back!
There are international trains connecting Italy with Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Serbia and Switzerland. Some of these even take unwrapped bicycles, e.g. the City Night Line trains from Munich to Venice or Rome. However you need to buy your international bike ticket in Italy. It is slightly more expensive at €12.50. One of the major problems about returning on daytimeinternational trains is that Trenitalia refuses or is unable to reserve bicycle places on these trains. You need to reserve your return bike spaces either before you go to Italy or contact Deutsche Bahn in Italy: Since 2008 it has been possible to reserve bicycle spaces at the DB offices in Milan and Rome for German, Swiss, and Austrian trains. DB Office in Rome, P.zza dell’Esquilino 28/29 (MM Termini) Roma Tel. 6/4827532 Mo-Fr 9-13 u. 14-17:30, Sa 8:30-12 eMail: agenzia@derviaggi.it. DB office in Milan, Via Napo Torriani, 29 (MM Centrale), Milano, Tel. 02/67479578 Mo-Fr 9-13 u. 14-17
Getting to Italy with a bike from Britain
London For insomniacs relatively easy. The costs are for people. With a bikes the cost will be about ?40 more. Bicycle reservations are needed on all these trains.
| From | To | Train | Cheapest (Euros) |
|---|---|---|---|
| London 06:53 07:22 | Paris Nord 10:17 10:47 | Eurostar | 76-95 |
| Paris Est 11:24 | Stuttgart/Munich 18:14 | TGV/EC | 49 |
| Munich 21:02 | Florence 06:18 09:15 or Venice 06:58 | CNL | 59 |
Return
| From | To | Train | Cheapest (Euros) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rome 19:05 Venice 22:51 | Munich 06:30 | CNL | 76 |
| Munich 08:03 | Stuttgart/Paris Est 16:34 | IC/TGV | 39 |
| Paris Nord 17:13 | London 18:29 | Eurostar | 76 |
The rest of Britain
The connections to Rome via Amsterdam and Rotterdam involve multiple changes of train and unless de Jong coaches take bicycles on their service from Europoort to Rotterdam, you need to spend a day in Rotterdam. It does not look too bright. The de Jong company has not bothered to reply to our request for information on this question.
Tickets
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There are the usual number of special offer tickets, but these are only applicable to those trains that take partially dismantled and wrapped bikes. For more details check www.trenitalia.com and click on the Union Jack icon to get reasonable English. However one special offer ticket that caught our eye is for the South Tyrol semi-autonomous region, tucked up under the Austrian border in the north of Italy: The bikemobil card gives full use of the South Tyrol Public Transport network on one, three or seven consecutive days, i.e.:
- Regional train services
- Local bus services (urban, overland and city services)
- Various cable cars
- Ritten/Renon tram and Mendola funicular
- A return trip from Mals/Malles to Zernez on the PostAuto Schweiz bus service.
In addition, on one day during the validity period of the card you can rent a bike in one of the railway or bus stations or in various other bike rental points throughout the territory carrying the “Bici AltoAdige/Südtirol Rad” logo. However you cannot put a hire bike on a train.
Prices:
- bikemobilcard 1 day: 24 Euros
- bikemobilcard 3 days: 30 Euros
- bikemobilcard 7 days: 34 Euros
E-Bikes are available for 6 Euros extra.
Children under 14 half-price. Children under 6 do not pay for using public transport in the South Tyrol.
Buying a ticket
In Italy itself you can buy tickets from station ticket offices, travel agents or from ticket machines or online from www.trenitalia.com, but the latter site is not easy to use and it probably better to use the RailEurope link on this page.
However in any case if you have a ticket, rather than an authorisation you have printed out at home you will need to validate or invalidate the ticket by pushing in the slit of the “composteur” machines at the entrance to the platforms.
The website www.trenitalia.com
It is written in understandable English, but we found it difficult to use. Click on the Union Flag at the top of the page. To find the information about transport of bicycles you need to click on Customers Area/Travel Conditions/Traveller’s Guide/Bicycle on board. You use the website to find trains that carry bicycles, but it is difficult. You specify where you are going and when. You are then presented with a list of possible trains or sequences of trains. You can then analyse each sequence to find if the individual trains take bicycles. It takes time. It is easier to check out the Über-website and specify that you require bicycle transport. You can see how you can travel much more quickly.
Putting bikes on trains, buses and ships in Italy
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Trains
- Buying a bike ticket.
On regional trains you need to buy another second class ticket for the journey you are making or a day bicycle ticket for 3.50 Euros. The bike cannot be longer than 2m. If you partially dismantle and pop your bike in a bag you don’t have to pay at all for the bicycle.
On those national trains marked in the timetable with a bike logo you can take your bicycle with you after buying a 5 Euros ticket. In addition you can take your bicycle for free if it is partially dismantled and packed on any train except Pendelinos and Eurostar-Italia trains, where to quote the Trenitalia regulations from the English version of their website:
“they can only be carried if left in the spaces in the carriage vestibules. If there are no places available, the bicycles can be placed elsewhere provided they do not block the way or cause problems to other travellers or to the on board train crew. “
- Putting the bike on the train
It’s your job to put the bike on the train in the carriage marked with a bike logo. According to the ADFC there are some trains that have lockable compartments for bicycles. In this case you need to find the train conductor and get him to open the compartment.
Buses
Again according to the ADFC: “Depending on the agreement of the driver it is easy to place a bicycle on regional buses.” (Our translation of the ADFC’s German.) This is not our experience on buses operated in the Swiss-Italian border region. The bus drivers appear to have an almost pathological hatred of bicycles, even lovable, little, bagged, folded Bromptons.
Ship
The ships on Lago Maggiore including those in Switzerland are run by an Italian organisation and they do take bikes, but the ticket office staff need to radio the ship to ask the captain whether they have room. They invariably do, but as one of the ticket office ladies said to us with a wink, “They (the captains) like to feel important, the poor dears.”.
There are a number of shipping lines running along the coast, across the Adriatic, to North Africa, to Sardinia and Sicily:
Ferry Companies on the Web
www.tirrenia.it
(for Tirrenia, Toremar, Caremar, Adriatica, Siremar and Saremar)
www.tirrenia.it
Adriatic Coast
www.alilauro.it
Lazio / Campania
www.caremar.it
Campania
www.snav.it
Campania / Sicily / Aeolian Islands
www.toremar.it
Elba / Giglio / Capraia
www.vetor.it
Ponza, Island of Ventotene, Ischia, Procida
www.gnv.it
Sardinia / Sicily
www.mobylines.it
Sardinia / Elba
www.saremar.it
Sardinia
www.corsicaferries.com
Sardinia
www.siremar.it
Sicily
www.usticalines.it
Sicily and Minor Islands
www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it
Liguria / Cinque Terre
Diversions
We would suggest the high speed run down the Brenner Pass from the summit – the highest station in Italy, where the engines are swopped over, down to Franzensfeste/Fortezza and then to take a local train up the Puster Valley to Toblach/Dobaccio or Innichen/San Candido. You normally have time to nip into the refreshment bar on Franzensfeste station which looks at first glance like the roughest joint west of Pecos, but actually serves a decent cup of coffee and the excellent Forst Pils from Meran.
