I'll just get this out there: I don't think anyone at Trenitalia has thought too much about making the Rome station, or their scheduling system, intelligible. Here's my experience:
First, I get issued a ticket by the ticket machine that says 'Assisi'. No other destination noted. So you might think I should look for a train that's going to Assisi, right?
Bong!
No, the train goes through Assisi, but the final destination in Perugia. So you have to look for a train going to Perugia, not Assisi. Well, darn! Doesn't everyone know that? Cause if you don't, good luck figuring it out here. There are no maps to inform you, nor is that little factoid on the ticket.
Second, the train to Perugia is going on binario (track) 1 est. So you wait by binario 1, right? Because there's no sign of an another track, est must mean 'estimated' or something.
Bong!
1 est is way, way down, outside the station, and your train just left while you were waiting for it. Is there a map up anywhere to show you where 1 est is?
No, heck no! That's your problem, man, to figure out where the platform is. I just work here. Besides, everyone knows that!
OK, that said, I did have a very smooth ride on a Eurostar train from Naples to Rome at about 190 km/hour. It took about an hour. That was before I wasted 3-4 hours at the station because they can't be bothered to develop decent signage and information systems.
It's not just me. I saw some Germans shaking their heads too. But to be fair, they do have very nice espresso at the food bar.
It's Italy. Enough said.
Update: I think this is worth saying:
As I got off the train from Assisi to Florence, I heard a call. Turning around, I saw a fellow waving at me from the door of the train. He had my ipod, which had fallen out of my pocket.
He could've easier just kept it, but he didn't. So there you are. Italy may have a somewhat disfunctional public sector (unlike America, where everything is just perfect (not!)) but the Italian people, for the most part are really great. I keep rediscovering this.
My sister lives in Todi, and says the Italian government is useless. But you are right about the espresso!
ReplyDeleteEveryone here seems to agree on both those points. It's a shame, because Italy has unparalleled tourist potential. They're raking in a lot off tourism, for sure, but it things here were better organized they could do a lot better. It's mostly about information. They already have a great public transportation physical infrastructure. But the 'how do I get from A to B part is sadly lacking.
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