I have recently learned that rail strikes can happen pretty often in Italy. Does anyone know if they frequently occur on weekends? My concern is we are going by train from Florence to Venice to board a cruise ship on Saturday morning which should be no problem boarding by 4 pm. It may be difficult if the trains are stopped. Should I start looking for a backup plan? How much notice will we likely have if this occurs?
Any information will be appreciated.
bill,
The Italians are very civilized about that, and most often strikes (Scioperi) are announced in advance. Even during a strike, some trains will continue operating. On the Florence to Venice route, you can also travel via the competing Italo Treno high speed trains. I'm not sure if they go on strike at the same time as Trenitalia workers?
These are the only strikes I can find today.....
Italian work actions occur frequently enough that there is an Italian website with rail strike information:
https://www.italiarail.com/strike-information
Strikes are a part of the reality of Italy’s railway system. But
there's good news! Italians schedule strikes in advance. It's true,
their transportation strikes are scheduled.Despite this, an Italian transport strike can catch travelers
off-guard. Non-Italian speakers don’t typically have access to the
schedules in the same way Italians do, since we don’t read Italian
newspapers or speak Italian well enough to decipher the strike
schedules online.But there are a few resources that will help you figure out if an
Italian train strike will impact your trip, and it never hurts to
check them before you head off to on your trip to Italy. The best site
to use for tracking Italian transportation strikes Commisione di
Garanzia Sciopera is only available in Italian. There’s also a site
that’s in English: Easy Travel Report, click on “Italian strikes” to
get to the Italy section.
well this Saturday morning came and went this morning, so it can't be today.
Do you mean next Saturday, or some date further in the future?
October 8, 2016. Good to know they give advanced notice and there are other options. Now, I can stop worrying. Thank you very much.
The high-speed trains, the freccia do not stop in the event of a strike.
