The summer offer by the FS Group’s Passenger Hub has begun: the connections have been improved to reach all Italian tourist destinations
Summer time, vacation time: the most awaited time of the year has arrived, and Italy remains one of the most coveted destinations. Sea, mountains, art cities, villages: Italy, the “Bel Paese” offers an endless range of possibilities.
Countless destinations where you can have special, exclusive experiences thanks to True Italian Experience, a digital hub that aims to promote, share and develop the Italian tourism market. And that’s not all: these are destinations that can be reached comfortably in a sustainable way thanks to the FS Group’s Passenger Hub offer, True Italian Experience’s main partner.
With the summer railway timetable coming into force, the Trenitalia Summer experience has begun. Overall, there’s more than 10,000 connections per day by train and about 19,000 bus rides between Italy and Europe offered by the FS Group’s Passenger Hub to travel sustainably, as well as comfortably and safely. The 2023 Summer Experience was presented by Luigi Corradi, CEO and General Manager of Trenitalia: “With the Trenitalia Summer Experience we have further strengthened the focus on customers, which is increasingly at the heart of all our decisions. To meet the growing demand for travel, especially for leisure and recreational travellers, we have heavily invested in new trains and buses and increased the frequency of our vehicles over the weekend. FS Group Passenger Hub’s main strategic element is intermodality. That is why we have decided to further enrich the traveller’s experience and offer integrated solutions for the entire route, from their home to their destination, and not just from station to station. The success of the train and bus connections, combined with the growing demand of people who choose to travel by bike on board our trains, means that our commitment has translated into added value for the whole tourism industry and for the country’s regions”.
Longing for the Italian sea
From the Adriatic Coast to the Tyrrhenian Coast, from the North to the South: those who long for the sea will surely find the perfect destination for their needs in Italy. Reaching the seaside resorts is getting easier with FS Group Passenger Hub, thanks to increased high-speed connections between the main cities of the Centre-North and the South of Italy. There are also more Frecciarossa high-speed trains on the Adriatic route, along with an increase in the number of stops along the coast for the summer months, including Latisana-Lignano Sabbiadoro, Riccione, Senigallia, Giulianova, Monopoli and Ostuni. Stops will be added in Basilicata and Calabria regions, in the cities of Maratea and Scalea, and in Orbetello in Tuscany. Additional summer stops are planned for Freccialink and Intercity trains, including Polignano and Maratea. One of the most interesting bits of news for anyone who prefers seaside resorts is that there will be more connections to some destinations on the “Costa degli Dei” the Gods Coast. Then there will also be more regional connections in Campania, Apulia, Sicily and Sardinia region. As for the boat service between the Gulf of Naples and the Aeolian Islands, thanks to the collaboration among Frecciarossa, SNAV and Alilauro, the integrated sale of train and ship tickets on the Trenitalia channels has been made possible. Meanwhile, for people who want to admire the Amalfi Coast directly from the sea, the regional service offers the Costiera Coastal Link, a train + ferry service from the port of Salerno.
High altitude holidays in Italy
The FS Group’s Passenger Hub is supporting lovers of mountain tourist destinations and high altitude resorts in northern Italy. With 10 Frecciarossa high-speed trains per day for Rome-Florence-Bologna to and from Trento and Bolzano and 2 additional Frecciarossa trains for Milan-Bolzano scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays, it will be possible to reach the mountain resorts of Trentino-Alto Adige region. Also, you will be able to spend the weekend in the Alps with the 2 Frecciarossa trains from Naples toTurin, reaching Oulx and Bardonecchia. Here, the stop in the Piedmontese town is also planned on the 2 Frecciarossa trains Milan-Paris. There are also many FrecciaLink trains that will allow you to reach the most beautiful mountain resorts in the Alps. From Val Gardena to Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme, passing through the most visited destinations in Italy, such as Cortina D’Ampezzo, Cadore, Madonna di Campiglio and Pinzolo. With the Intercity Night train service it will be possible to reach San Candido on the weekends
Italy for bike lovers
For bike lovers, it is increasingly easy to travel by public transport thanks to Trenitalia: the Bus&Bici (Bus and Bike) service in Veneto region allows to travel around the areas of the Po river Delta, while in Umbria region the Lake Trasimeno Boat Service allows to reach Isola Maggiore and Isola Polvese with bikes and, with the TrasimenoLink offer, it is possible to combine train and boat tickets. And there are still many services designed for lovers of cycling tourism thanks to the special Regional bike trains that, with about 25.000 bike seats offered every day, is able to accommodate even large groups of cyclists and their bikes, especially in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Marche and Abruzzo regions.
Discovering Italian big cities
Not only sea, mountains and nature: Italy boasts some of the most beautiful cities in the world. Trenitalia has been enhancing the its Passenger Hub offer towards the main Italian cities with 4 more Frecciarossa high-speed trains per day between Milan, Rome and Naples. Trenitalia also increased the number of connections between Milan and Venice to a total of 38 daily trains. To reach the Peninsula’s most striking art cities, you can easily reach Assisi, Perugia, Pompeii and Matera thanks to the Frecciarossa high-speed Train + Bus FrecciaLink intermodality. Thanks to the Frecciarossa Trains + MediopadanaLink service, High-Speed travellers will be able to reach the beautiful Parma from Rome and many other Italian cities on the Frecciarossa train network, with an easy change at the Reggio Emilia High-Speed station: 12 daily bus connections that depart every 2 hours and bring you to destination in 35 minutes. There are also many solutions for those who want to shop during the summer sales with the new Valmontone Outlet Link, the Reggia Outlet Link or the direct service of Busitalia’s The Mall by Bus Florence direct to the exclusive Tuscan shopping centre.
Travel among Italian villages and archaeological sites
Thanks to the FS Group Link intermodal regional train + bus solutions, it is possible to reach the most important archaeological sites in the Italian historical landscape, such as the wonderful Agrigento Valley of the Temples. In Sicily the Barocco Line with a Blues train and the Cefalù Line ihave also been reactivated. In Campania region the Pompeii Link brings travellers from the Pompeii railway station the entrance of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. For the first time ever, a Frecciarossa high-speed train will reach Pompeii with two new connections to and from Rome every third Sunday of the month, starting from June 16th. In the Tuscany Line the regional train service is also resuming, so you can reach the most beautiful coastal locations between Pisa and Grosseto and discover the historical and artistic heritage of Tuscany. On the other hand, in Umbria, you can discover the beauties of the region through the Assisi Link, the Marmore Link, the Piediluco Link and with the Orvieto Link the intermodal train + cable car service that makes it even easier to reach Orvieto’s historic centre. 2023 new addition is the Spoleto Link: this is the new Trenitalia Passenger Hub solution that allows travellers to reach Spoleto by train and then enter the ancient doors of its magnificent historic centre in 10 minutes by bus.
Transcript of interview – Luigi Corradi, CEO and General Manager of Trenitalia
FS Group numbers are impressive. Every time I look at them I have a hard time believing it: 18,000 connections per day. Try to visualize this number: we have 18,000 connections for the whole Passenger Hub, namely Ferrovie del Sud Est, Busitalia and Trenitalia.
The most important news is that we can reach all the most beautiful Italian tourist destinations by train. And if the train doesn’t arrive there, we will travel by bus. The magic word is intermodality. So, as an example, we expanded the Trenitalia services with buses through Busitalia and Ferrovie del Sud Est.
So, and this is an example that I always like to use, say we want to go to Cortina D’Ampezzo: we can also go there by train. That is because, travelling by train, we get off at Venice Mestre and take our Link service, which is a bus waiting in front of the station to take us to Cortina. We have many Link services to reach to Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Agrigento Valley of the Temples.
Tourism is choosing the train, choosing it more and more, and the best thing is that it is choosing all the Trenitalia services. We’re definitely talking about the Frecciarossa high-speed trains, but tourism is also growing a lot through regional transport.
The weekend for our regional trains is populated by tourists. So, what should we do with the future in mind? We have to convince more and more Italians to use the train more, because whoever chooses this experience gives us very positive feedback.
How can we do this? We can do it by helping them reach the station in the simplest way, which means creating connections to take them to the station with taxis, bicycles, scooters or buses, that work better and better.