 An ETR 600 Frecciargento at Venice Santa Lucia...
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Venice to Rome by Frecciargento...
Trenitalia is Italy's national train operator. Their front-rank trains are the 300 km/h Frecciarossas, and the next rank down are their fast tilting Frecciargento trains which can reach 250 km/h (155 mph) on Italy's new high-speed lines. Frecciargento means silver arrow, and Frecciargentos operate on the Venice-Bologna-Florence-Rome & Verona-Bologna-Florence-Rome routes plus a few others. Rome to Venice now takes as little as 3 hours 45 minutes by train, the trains on this route being a mixture of Frecciargentos and Frecciarossas.
Where do Frecciargentos run?
Venice - Bologna - Florence - Rome (Frecciarossa 500 & 1000
also operate this route)
Verona - Bologna - Florence - Rome
Rome – Caserta - Bari – Lecce
Genoa - La Spezia - Pisa -
Rome
Milan - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona
What are Frecciargentos like?
Several types of train operate Frecciargento services. Frecciarossas have four classes, but Frecciargentos retain just the normal 2 classes, 1st & 2nd, plus a cafe-bar.
On the Venice-Florence-Rome route it's usually the ETR600 type shown below.
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An ETR600 train about to form the 13:25 Venice to Rome Frecciargento. |
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1st class on an ETR600 Frecciargento. Larger photo. |
2nd class on an ETR600 Frecciargento. Larger photo. |
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The cafe-bar on an ETR600 Frecciargento... |
Luggage just goes on the racks... |
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Entrance steps to an ETR600... |
A wedge-nosed ETR480, a different type of Frecciargento... |
On the Milan - Verona - Venice route, Frecciargento services are usually operated by ETR700 trains. These were built by Ansaldo-Breda for the ill-fated Fyra high-speed services between Brussels & Amsterdam, suitable refitted and repainted for service in Italy. They appear to work better in their home country!
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An ETR700 ex-FYRA train with its distinctive dog-like snout... Courtesy of Discoverbyrail.com. |
Luggage on Frecciargento trains
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It's simple, you just take all your bags with you onto the train. Nobody weighs it, measures it or argues with you about it. You can take pretty much whatever you can carry and you simply put it on the racks.
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Anything up to backpack-sized will fit on the overhead racks above your seat, or in the recess between the seat backs. If you insist on bringing a giant suitcase, this will fit on the racks at the end of each car, just inside the entrance doors, see the photo to the right.
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It's always best to keep your bags where you can see them, although they'll be perfectly safe. Theft of bags from trains is as rare as theft of airline baggage. More information about luggage on European trains. Information about luggage storage at stations.
Travel tips
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2nd class is fine for most travellers, all 1st class gets you is more leg and elbow room plus a small welcome drink of coffee or prosecco. Seats in 1st class are arranged 2+1 across the car width (as opposed to 2+2 in 2nd class) so on one side of the aisle there are solo seats and face-to-face tables for two, which are the nicest options for solo travellers and couples respectively. See seat numbering plans.
Venice - Rome trains change direction at Florence SMN (which is a dead-end terminus) so before obsessing about forward-facing seats on a Venice to Rome or Rome to Venice journey, remember that you'll be forward facing half the journey whatever seat you choose. Indeed, for couples or families, face-to-face seats around a table (tables-for-4 in both classes, tables-for-two in 1st class) are the best option in any case.
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Like Frecciarossas & Frecciabiancas, Frecciargentos are all-reserved trains. Every ticket comes with a reserved seat included. Passholders must pay a €10 reservation fee to make a reservation this can be done at the station using the self-service ticket machines up to a few minutes before departure.
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You can buy food and drink from the cafe-bar, or just take your own picnic and bottle of wine with you.
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There's no check-in, you just board any time before the doors close and it leaves.