Hi everyone,
My family is planning a trip to Italy in the second half of September 2023. We will be relying heavily on the trains, Italo Tren in particular. Does anyone know how to reliably figure out if there will be train strikes at any point? I see some information around but it's hard to tell what is reliable and how to keep track of any changing strike plans.
Thank you!
I think your best option is to use a browser with translate built in and just have a good look through the local newspaper websites?
That's a great idea. Thank you.
For anyone else, I found this site that seems to be a database of upcoming strikes:
ItaloTreno is a private company
They don’t usually strike
Regional Trenitalia would be your main concern
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/how-to-check-for-updates-about-strikes
That's a Data Base of notified strikes in all sectors and all over Italy. A strike can be called off at the last minute. Or blocked by the Government. Or the union that called that strike could be totally irrelevant in the region where you are. Or the strike could involve only cargo trains. Or, since striking is not mandatory, the crew of the train you are taking could not strike and go to work.
In other words, you can google translate that page but you wouldn't get any useful information since you don't know how the system works.
Millions of Italians take trains any day, nobody checks the list of notified strikes. Do the same and relax, if a strike happens and you are taking a Regional train you'll either depart before 9 AM / after 6 PM. If you are taking one of Trenitalia's Freccias, they rarely strike even if Trenitalia is a state owned company.
The airport trains of Milan and Rome are guaranteed to run during a strike.
Thanks, Dario.
We will be taking Italo Tren's high speed trains (Rome to Florence, Florence to Salerno). Fingers crossed.
Thanks for the link to the website and I appreciate Dario's "reality" response. Help me understand the contents of the website, as it looks like there "may" be a strike when we travel via train from Monterosso (11 am departure) to Pisa, and then to Siena (did not buy that ticket yet, as don't know how long our layover will be in Pisa (thank you Dario for making me feel better about our layover in Pisa!). The website indicates Trenitalia is involved with "Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl, Orsa Transporti, Fast Ferrovie, Ugl Ferrovieri" (I assume those are the type of trains?) and then it says Calabria (I assume that is the affected region, which is good, as we'll be leaving the Liguria region, going to the Tuscany region). I am thinking we are OK, but wanted to make sure I was interpreting this information correctly.
I'm definitely not an expert but your interpretation seems correct to me. Good luck!
country wide transportation strike just announced sept 18th
airport handler strike Sept 29th
this is the calendar for the commissioner's office regarding planned strikes for 2023; subject to changes of course.
I learned 2 days before our arrival in September 2022 there would be a national train strike. Since we were on a fast train to Salerno same day, we started to make contingency plans to stay a night near the train station. Someone on this forum replied to my questions @ 9pm the eve of my trip that high speed trains do not strike. I had a wonderful night sleep and she was correct. Also, when we arrive at Termini (Leonardo Express also not impacted) one would never know there was a strike on! Good luck!
Oh boy.
We are planning to transfer from Orvieto to Rome on 18Sep2023 using the regional service.
Should I be concerned?
There is no Trenitalia strike on September the 18th.
Thank you Dario!
I misunderstood.
Appreciate the assist.
Are the DB EC88 trains from Verona affected by this strike?
RE: Dario's post
About Regional trains before 9 AM or after 6 PM....I wonder how stringent these times are because we are scheduled to leave Firenze SMN at 9:04 AM on RV4101 to Chiusi where we pick up our rental car. If we have to wait till after 6PM, we will miss our window to pick up the car. Our first trip to Italy, and dont know how this is all supposed to work. Thanks for any help!!
Regional Trains stop running at 8:59:59. You can either bet on the strike to fail, or take the 6:40 direct Regionale #6197 or get the rental car in Florence.
The latter option would be the most sensible one even without a strike. There are more rental agencies and more cars to pick in Florence. Trains are not particularly fast on that route, either.
Thanks Dario. Now i'm feeling really stupid because i just now went on Trainline site and purchased earlier tickets (leaving SMN at 07:34 - arrive Chiusi at 09:43) to cover my bases; but now after seeing your post about taking the 06:40 train, it makes me think that maybe the 07:34 wont run after all because of the projected arrival time being after the strike starts. As to renting car in Florence, no, i have already paid for picking up in chiusi. Do you think they will run the 07:34, or should i try to change that to the 06:40 ?
The Regionale #18745 for sure will call at Arezzo at 8:55 and it should continue to its final destination since the scheduled arrival time is within 1 hour from the beginning of the strike. If not, at least Arezzo is a nice town.
But Regional trains can't sell out, what's the point of getting your "plan B" tickets 3 weeks before a strike that could be called off?
Same for getting tickets on a re-seller's site when you could need Trenitalia's assistance at the station, odd choice.
Hello,
On Italo website I do not see any trains from FCO to Florence. I only see Malpensa airport. Does Italo not run trains from Rome Airport FCO to Florence SM Novella station?
Thanks
Hi,
I'm not sure why you don't see Roma Termini to Florence Santa Maria Novella. That is the ticket I booked. I typed in "Florence" and "Roma" to find them.
-Suren
I do not see any trains from FCO to Florence
FCO is the IATA acronym.
Switch to the English version of italotreno.it and Start writing either Fiumicino or just "airport".
Italotreno does not run any train departing from airports, but it can sell through tickets when you are transferring into one of their trains.
Trenitalia runs a couple of direct trains from Fiumicino to Florence each day, most of the times you must change in downtown Rome.
