Italy Strike June 12, 2026

We are also traveling this day to Varenna, but starting in Lucca, Italy. Are there any ideas on how to manage a potential rail strike for June 12?

Fran, As of yet the only logical solution that I can come up with is to reserve a rental car (cancelable if need be) and make the drive ourselves. Short of changing dates and leaving Montepulciano on June 11th and trying to add another hotel day in Varenna, which at this point in time would likely be costly if it were even possible.
I am just hoping that whatever this June 12th strike actually is won't disrupt the trains and we will have worried for no reason.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge on the subject will reply to this post and clear up the confusion.

Best of luck in your travels.

We are also traveling this day to Varenna, but starting in Lucca, Italy. Are there any ideas on how to manage a potential rail strike for June 12?

As far as I can tell these strikes will not affect transit - at least not directly. Unless I'm reading this wrong these one is local police unions that are striking. It looks like one is an inter-union agency calling for a national strike in support the police union strike but whether that means anything for rail transit this far out is really hard to say.

You can check the guaranteed trains - usually fast trains between big cities and often the first and last three. So if you can get to Florence or Bologna early enough - from either Lucca or Montepulciano - early enough to catch a guaranteed train to Milan it will get you much of the way there.

Then maybe bus from Milan to the ferry in Como - assuming neither of those are on strike as well. Without the train travel up the east coast of Lake Como is difficult. Small local trains like the one to Varenna are exactly the kind that could be affected if there is a strike and the train unions observe it.

My only personal experience with a realm nationwide strike with everyone participating was going from Verona to Venice. We were booked on the last guaranteed fast train out of Verona and then I booked a .Italo that left 15 minutes later as a possible back-up but they were observing the strike too. The train was 10 minutes late pulling into the station and 30 minutes late leaving at a slow crawl pace. I have no idea of the .Italo train actually ran or not. We arrived very late into Venice into the maw of the vaporetti also being on strike and the tourist chaos outside the train station was exactly what you're imagining.

I don't have much beyond that. Hopefully nothing will come of this call and they will decide to strike another day.

Good luck,
=Tod

This international strike tracker website is sometimes helpful if used in conjunction with the official gov site you already used. It says: "CSA RAL has proclaimed a nationwide 24‑hour strike of municipal/local police services for 12 June 2026, with an overtime ban indicated. The walkout covers personnel of local police corps across Italy; essential services will be ensured under Italian strike law.." This follows what Hiredman posted.

Trennord has its own strike information and update page on its website. This is another source to monitor if there is concern close to your travel date.

The scioperi.mit.gov.it is a dangerous website, because it is difficult to interpret to Italians, and probably impossible to foreigners - not because of the language, but because it implies understanding how the Italian society and enterprises are organized.

In this entry, two things needs to be interpreted. First, the union are COBAS (base committees), that is an independent union, about fourth or fifth in dimensions after the majors (CGIL, CISL, UIL and CISAL). COBAS are hardliners, more than the majors, so they are sometimes able to commit to strike more workers than their effective forces, but they need to raise some actual and general questions. On a side issue, they probably won't have too many followers.

Second, we are talking about contractors going on strike. In a train, the engineer and the conductor will be employed by the firm running the train, the contractors will likely be janitors and refreshment service. So the most likely outcome could be trains running somewhat dirty and without bar service, but still running.

I would guess that the impact of the strike should be limited. But I am very afraid to put these words in writing, because it is a personal opinion, I am not a railway professional, not even a travel agent, and I can't know how important this trip would be for you. A trip could be supremely important (if not travelling I would lose my daughter's marriage) or not important at all (I could as well travel the following day), so needing different levels of backup plans.

Thank you to everyone who responded to this question regarding stiles in Italy.
All the information provided was very helpful.

Thanks,

Brian