We will be traveling from Moneglia to Venice via train in mid June. We would like to take a route that does not go through Florence in order to see more of the countryside, since we will have already done the route via Florence. We are currently looking at 2 different train routes at this time, one that goes through Genoa and Milan, and another that goes through Parma and Bologna. Is either route preferable if we are looking for a scenic route? They both looked to have a similar amount of stops. Is there anything else we should be considering (this is our first trip to Italy). Thanks for any input or suggestions!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16575 posts
It will be a boring ride no matter which route you take. The scenic views will be provided by your dreams once you fall asleep totally bored by what you see from the window.
Posted by
Arctophilia, Northamptonshire, England
34899 posts
If you go via the route Milan - Venice you may see (depending on the weather) the Swiss mountains in the far distance and will certainly see the industrial sprawl in the near distance. If they haven't improved the track since I was last over it be sure to keep your mouth closed if your fillings are a bit loose.
If you go via Parma/Bologna you will be going along the very flat Po River valley (no or very few views of the river though) where a lot of the land is put over to growing rice. From a train it just looks like miles and miles of miles and miles.
Much like what Roberto said, you will probably close your eyes and doze off.
To be honest, the route via Firenze is more scenic as you cross under and over the Apennines.
If you are using any high speed Freccia trains or InterCity trains be sure that you are on the one named on your ticket. You can't just switch to a different one without lots of hoops and costs.
If you are using a Regionale train or a Regionale Veloce be sure to stamp your ticket in the little machine before you board - unless your ticket was printed at home.
Posted by
OP
Michigan, USA
21 posts
Thank you for the input - it looks like the route via Florence may be back in consideration. Perhaps I will consider cost and time, rather than view, in making my choice!
Posted by
Green Bay
22176 posts
The Regionale from La Spezia to Parma also crosses the Apennines in deep valleys and a small (by Italian standards) tunnel. Don't know how much scenery there is in the valleys, I have not taken that route on the train, but driven on the parallel autostrada. I knew I was going through mountains, but my eyes were pretty much glued to the highway.
The route from Florence to Bologna also crosses the Apennines, but virtually in a one long tunnel, accommodating high-speed trains.
The route to Genoa is a series of tunnels and bridges along the mountainous coast, then long tunnels leaving Genoa to get to the flat-lands by Alessandria. The engineering is impressive. Milan to Venice does skirt the alpine foothills on the left side of the train.
Posted by
Reggio emilia (italy)
10 posts
Hi
Tre regional line from La Spezia to parma crosses the appennine in a suggestive scenary ( i did that trip two times and i liked it a lot. The problem si that line is slow and you could have to change a lot of trains: moneglia- La Spezia, La Spezia-parma, parma-bologna and bologna venice. All these routes are operated by slow regional trains and the leg Parma-bologna is very boring and you will lost a lot of time.
A soluzioni for you can be this: take a train from moneglia to sarzana, in sarzana take a regional train to Milan or brescia (it cross appennines on the parma-la spezia suggestive line without change train in Parma). In Milan or Brescia you can take a freccia train to venice and preserve your time.
I hope to be helpful for you.