The other day I stumbled across a website for train travel within Europe. It opened up a plethora of possibilities. As I’m planning my May-June trip to Italy, I was wondering how to get from the Puglia region down south back up to northern Italy without taking a plane. And then I discovered Trainline. Italy has a high-speed train network (similar to France’s TGV (train à grande vitesse)) called Frecciarossa (“Red Arrow”), Frecciargento (“Silver Arrow”), and Frecciabianca (“White Arrow”). Frecciarossa trains are the fastest, reaching speeds of up to 190 MPH (300 km/h).

This means that from Bari or Brindisi down south (in the heel of Italy where I’ll be spending 7 days) I can jump on one of these shiny babies and head to any major city I want: Bologna, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Torino … before making my way back up to Paris. I’ve been to Bologna, Genoa, Milan and Florence but not Torino, so maybe I’ll go there. On the other hand, Florence is so beautiful and brimming with Art … Bologna was lovely … and Genoa is fascinating with its frescoes, palazzos, labyrinthine streets and medieval quarter … I can’t decide.

Called trainline.com or thetrainline.com, it connects to each country’s national railway system and facilitates ticket purchase.

I love travelling by train, it’s so relaxing and stress-free as opposed to airports and plane travel.