Hello, fellow travelers. Having my trip 'enhanced' by a train strike some years ago in Italy, I wanted to see if there were any planned train strikes in Italy in May, 2024. I found dates for planned strikes in April, but none in May.
How far in advanced are train strikes in Italy announced? Are there good websites that list them? I would like to be as prepared as possible in the event of a strike.
Happy Travels,
Scott
Hi Scott -- here is a fairly useful link to the Ministry of Infrastructure & Transports Schedule of transport strikes (https://scioperi.mit.gov.it/mit2/public/scioperi) I view it on a Chromebook so it is automatically translated to English. Right now they are showing upcoming strikes for April, May and a little into June. It is updated daily so keep your eyes peeled.
Some of it is a bit confusing as there are all sorts of abbreviations as to which union is striking. The important thing to look at is under the "Relevance" category heading which will indicate if the strike is National or Regional. If Regional just click on the far left plus sign to "open-up" the row which will then reveal which region is affected. Also, I've noticed that sometimes the dates are written in Italian/European order (Day/Month/Year) and yet dates seem to inexplicably change to our style (Month/Day/Year). Also, I grew concerned about the May 16 strike date as I will be travelling by train. However, I now realize that the train strike ONLY concerns cargo/goods not passengers.
Also, if you are doing any train travel on Trenitalia they have established certain trains that are guaranteed to run even in the event of a strike. Here is the link: https://www.trenitalia.com/en/purchase/info_contacts/in_case_of_strike.html
Joe and Rose,
Thanks for the website and the tip about using Chrome to view it! Very helpful.
Scott
Interesting note about the website.
On May 3rd it lists for Lombardy:
SOC. STAFF TERMINALS ITALY LOMBARDY REGION
for Regional rail.
Does that just mean staffing at the terminals, or something more? We plan on taking the train from Milan to Varenna. There was a strike the last time we attempted this and we got into Varenna late. Laura at the Olivedo complained about our late arrival! We got a story out of it, at least.
Since I've planned train travel on 5/19 (a Sunday), which is a date listed on the site, I asked my AirBnB host about options. (Travel from Florence to Monterossa). He called TrenItalia and they told him 'it was too early to know about a strike.' They told me the same thing in a chat. I asked my host what he thought they meant by that and he said that there could be negotiations between now and then that would call off the strike. His advice was to wait until the start of May and check back. In the meantime, we're going to look at car rental options as a back up.
Hi there! I attempted the ministry site you had posted (on a Chrome book), and it keeps coming up as "fatal error". My husband and I will be traveling on the 15th and the 19th, and hope that this isn't a problem. Not sure what to prepare for in case of strike short of getting ahold of our airbnb hosts. Kind of concerned.
Hi @malloryprincess, try this web address instead.
https://scioperi.mit.gov.it/mit2/public/scioperi
So sorry Mallory for my bad link (not sure what happened) and thanks Steve for the correction. I have gone back into my post and made the fix!
Looking at the website it really looks like 3 May 2024 will not be a good day for train travel. I switched my ticket to the morning prior to 8am and hope, if there ends up being a strike on Friday, we'll be able to still catch a morning train.
So if it said Freight Transport, I don't have to worry?
And if it says Calabria and I will be traveling from Naples to Rome, I don't have to worry?
grafarena, yes -- you should not have to worry. If you want to play it extra safe you could email your hotel or airbnb and get their opinion on the matter. I did do this as a double check on my understanding and they verified that my concerns were unfounded as the strike was limited to freight. If you decide to get confirmation from your lodging just send them the link to the strike website. Good luck!
