On the Right Track

Italy is reviving old railways as visitor attractions and breathing life back into underappreciated regions. Taras Grescoe rides a locomotive through the Piedmont countryside.

- Taras Grescoe

IN A LIFETIME OF riding the rails, the trains I remember best all had this in common: they were old, noisy, and none too fast. I'm thinking of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, switchbacking its way up precipitous terraces that bristled with tea plantations; the cog railway to Zermatt in the Swiss Alps; and the vintage streetcars I spent a blissful day riding at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Don't get me wrong I love the convenience of Japan's Shinkansens and Europe's high-speed rail system, and am of the opinion that North America should have started building its own network of fast intercity trains a generation ago. But bullet trains have been blamed by transportation analysts for killing off service to smaller towns, especially in France and Spain.

When I heard Italy was keeping its railway heritage alive by running historic trains on rami secchi, or "dry branches," as these neglected routes are known, I immediately began planning a trip. The Fondazione FS Italiane, a nonprofit that manages Italy's historic railways, offers a dozen itineraries across the country, from April to November. The foundation calls its heritage train program Binari Senza Tempo, or "Timeless Tracks," and also runs the National Railway Museum of Pietrasara, in Naples, where it warehouses and restores 400 historic vehicles the oldest of which go back to the age of steam.

While the U.S. and Canada have made a virtue of converting old railway lines into hiking and biking trails, Italy has flipped the narrative by keeping the routes alive. The government has set aside 19 lines that run through what a national law calls "territories of great natural or archaeological value." There are day trips out of Palermo, Milan, and Florence that cost about $21. Another trip, in Sicily, stops at Pachino, the southernmost railway station in Europe.