Not too long ago, I was telling you guys about my short escape to Rome in November, and how I took a quick trip to Florence one day. It was rightfully called a quick trip because I spent almost the whole day running from one side of the city to the other.
One day in Florence is extremely short, but I really wanted to see the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo. And since I didn't have many days available, I settled for just one. I told you all about my one-day trip to Florence here.
I couldn't find what I wanted, the plane tickets were over my budget, so I changed my plans. I had too many wishes and too few days available.
I flew to Rome with Ryanair, and the round-trip ticket cost me about 70€, including priority boarding. I usually keep an eye on specialized websites well in advance, and when I find a good price to a coveted destination, I don't think twice.
From Rome to Florence (and vice versa), it's about 230 km and the distance is covered by train in an hour and a half. What's more, the two cities are connected daily by no less than 86 trains. So I had plenty to choose from.
To make the most of that day, I left Rome at the crack of dawn. To get to Florence early and have time to do everything I had planned. It was pitch black when I left Rome at 6:15, and a little before 8, I was already on the streets of Florence.
To make sure I got a seat and a good price, I bought the tickets online. Of course, you can buy the tickets at the last minute too. There are machines in every station and always staff from the railway companies ready to help you if you get stuck. Just so you know, if I had bought the ticket from the machine for that day, it would have cost me 40€/way. So I saved 48€. I probably wouldn't have even gone if I hadn't bought the tickets in advance.
In Italy, there are two major railway companies: ItaloTreno and TrenItalia.
I traveled both ways with ItaloTreno, but in different classes. I'll tell you a bit more about that below. First, let's see what's the deal with the two companies.
- ItaloTreno is Italy's private company, a kind of low-cost rail, but with very good quality services and high-speed trains. It generally operates on medium and long distances, but uses the same lines and stations as TrenItalia. When you choose your tickets, you can also choose the class you want to travel in. ItaloTreno offers four distinct categories of comfort: Smart, Comfort, Prima, and Club Executive. The order of comfort is exactly as I've listed them, with Club Executive being the crème de la crème, a kind of First Class on planes.
- TrenItalia is the Italians' national railway company that operates almost all other trains in Italy. TrenItalia's high-speed trains are called Le Frecce (The Arrow) and there are three categories: Frecciarossa (Red Arrow), the fastest of them, Frecciargento (Silver Arrow), and Frecciabianca (White Arrow). The fastest of them is Frecciarossa, which runs at speeds of up to 360km/h. Ohohoo!!! Besides these high-speed trains, which usually run on medium and long distances, TrenItalia also operates regional trains, which are also fast, clean, and punctual.
What did I like most about this whole train experience from Rome to Florence? And back...
- Boarding was civilized, each person went to their designated car and took the seat written on their ticket. Wow, how cool!
- At the entrance of each carriage, there's a specially designed space for storing large luggage, so the aisles aren't blocked by suitcases.
- There's also enough space in the overhead compartments.
- There's a power outlet and a trash can next to each seat. I don't think it makes sense to mention that the carriages are clean.
- There's free Wi-Fi.
With your reservation number and email address, you can connect to the Wi-Fi and so, throughout the journey, you can watch a movie, check your email, write, do research, etc.
- The toilets are clean, absolutely nothing to complain about, just like the rest of the train; in some cars, there are coffee machines or all sorts of other snacks: water, juices, cookies, etc.
- On the way there, I traveled in Smart class, the space was divided into two seats on each side of the aisle; the seats are comfortable, with enough legroom, the seat can be reclined. It was more than okay, especially since I didn't have to stay on the train for too long, just an hour and a half. The train was going on to Venice, so it only made a short stop in Florence, where I got off.
- On the way back, I had tickets for Prima class, which is another level of comfort. The seats are much more comfortable, the space between rows is wider, and the seat layout is different, with two seats on one side and one on the other side of the aisle. Plus, we were served some snacks, cookies, juice/water. There were also newspapers.
- Regardless of the class you travel in, there are screens in each carriage displaying the speed you're traveling at, in real time (the fastest was 260 km/h).
You can choose your seat in the carriage!
Just like on airplanes, when you buy your ticket online, you're shown a diagram with the available trains, schedule, seats, and categories. You'll know in advance where your seat is, and depending on the price and your preference, you'll be able to choose where to travel. Ticket checking, at least in my case, was only done on the way back.
The train was coming from Venice, there were already people on the train when I got on. Shortly after we left Florence, the conductor came directly to us to check our tickets. I was actually wondering how they would do it. Here's another proof for me that their system works perfectly, they know exactly where someone is supposed to get on.
It was the same with the snacks, they probably already served those who were already on the train. They only came around with snacks and drinks for those of us who had boarded in Florence.
Civilization, cleanliness, punctuality.
I loved that feeling of ease, how everything can be solved, that I can move from one place to another without any problems. It's easy for everyone, it's very simple to take a trip to another place, a few hundred kilometers away. Maybe for some it's a common thing, a normality. That's how things are, I fell irrevocably in love with the Italian railway system. I'm sure things are at least as good in the rest of Western Europe. I'm trying to imagine what it's like on those Japanese trains...
It was a beautiful experience, which I will definitely repeat during my travels.
