Letter from Viareggio

Florence was all we had hoped for. True there were times when the sheer ebb and flow of nationalities all keen on soaking up some of Florentine history proved challenging but we accepted we were tourists, took the sightseeing bus and followed the guide book.

Now I have always been snooty about a sightseeing bus and guide book, never wanting to admit that I was a tourist, which was both silly and arrogant. Silly because I missed out on what there was to know, and arrogant because I didn’t know much about the cities we visited. So Tina bought the book and got seats on the bus and Florence became more comprehensible as a result.

But all adventures can only really begin with a train journey. Aeroplanes and coaches are a poor substitute for a fast powerful train and an unknown railway station. First there is the station, smaller and more intimate than an airport, but still with all the promise of distant places.
Viareggio station is a business work a like place. It can’t claim to have the majesty of the great London termini, or the graceful sweep of the train shed at York. Nor has it that stark modernism of the Termini in Rome. Viareggio is a concrete block which fronts 8 simple platforms, but it has trains and that makes it magic.

We were there for 7.30; the train to Florence takes an hour and half and leaves at 8.10 which gave us time for breakfast. Conetto with cream is a croissant with a sort of rich custard which with an expresso is a perfect way to start the day. You can get others filled with jam or chocolate and should not be confused with bombaloni which are donuts with the same fillings. We eat these on the platform watching as the first trains of the day pass through, south to Rome, and north to Florence and Pisa.
Italian trains are generally cleaner than ours. There are none of those discarded newspapers on seats and tables, nor the empty tins which roll up and down the aisle with the movement of the train. This has a lot to do with the team of cleaners who descend on the train as it arrives at the termini. With only a short window between its arrival and departure they move swiftly armed with bags and brooms. It is the sort of thing that did once happen at home which meant that if you were last off an inner city train you battled down the corridor trying not to impede their work with your suitcases.

The journey through the Italian countryside has its own rewards. There are the endless fields of maize and sunflowers in neat fields, cut through with streams and rivers while further away to the north small villages cling to the side of steep mountains, each with their own distinctive tall tower. I guess these were the refuges for a population plagued by war and marauding bands of mercenaries.
The heat of August is all too evident from the state of the rivers often shrunk to sluggish strips of water which have vacated great stretches of their original course.

We stop frequently and as the train heads north the fields give way to factories, and urban sprawl before arriving in Florence. We pass the sleek Euro Star Italia express train which should not be confused with the London to Paris Euro Star service. Just outside the station moving slowing out towards the south is the Silver Arrow and as we glide to a stop there beside us is the Red Arrow.
These are fast and elegant and will transport their passengers in style and comfort across Italy. They are the new Alta Velocitá trains which can take you from Milan to Rome in just 3½ hours compared to the old 5 hour service. Or from Milan to Bologne, Florence, Rome and onto Naples.

But it is the speed which more than anything impresses me. Milan to Florence in just 2 hours 10 minutes, Milan to Rome in under 4 and Rome to Naples in 1 hour 21 minutes. The Frecciarossa, or “Red Arrow,” is the fastest, with a maximum speed of 300-350KPH. The others are the Frecciargento, or Silver Arrow and the Frecciabianca or White Arrow which are slightly slower.

It’s not cheap a standard 2nd class seat on a train between Rome and Milan will cost around €70 one-way, and a 1st class ticket single will set you back more than €90. And the “flexi” tickets (which let you change trains without penalty) are even costlier – €111.70 for 1st class and €80.90 for 2nd class. But this seems reasonable set against our own high fares which are bewilderingly complicated.

By comparison our snail train cost us just over €13 each return. But it got us to Florence in comfort and the return journey had the bonus of being in a double decker train.

Picture; Viareggio station, the bar at 7.45 where all train journeys begin from the collection of Andrew Simpson