The Best Train Journeys in Italy for Luxury Travellers

There is a version of Italy that you only see from a train window. The terracotta rooftops of hill towns that no road quite reaches. The Apennines rising and falling between Florence and Rome. The lagoon opening up around you as you approach Venice, water on both sides and the city materializing ahead as it has appeared to travellers arriving this way for centuries.

Italy also has one of the best high-speed rail networks in Europe, which means the journey between its greatest cities takes hours rather than days and covers ground that rewards the looking.

At the top of the market, the train experience in Italy is a luxurious proposition: private cabins, dedicated hosts, on-board dining, and lounge access that makes the journey feel continuous with the hotels on either end.

Couples who build their Italian itinerary around the train rather than around airports see more of the country in a single trip, arrive at each destination without the exhaustion that airports produce, and occasionally find that the journey itself becomes one of the things they remember most.

The Frecciarossa: Italy’s High-Speed Network

The Frecciarossa is the backbone of luxury rail travel in Italy, connecting Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, and Naples on a network that runs frequently and reliably throughout the day.

Rome to Florence takes ninety minutes. Rome to Naples takes just over an hour. Florence to Venice is two hours through the Po Valley, arriving into Santa Lucia station with the lagoon on both sides as you pull in.

Executive class on the Frecciarossa is the right choice for a luxury itinerary. The cabin is private, seating four in a dedicated compartment with a dedicated host, table service throughout the journey, and a meal included. Lounge access at the main stations is included, which transforms the departure experience considerably. For couples moving between the major cities on a honeymoon or a significant trip, Executive class makes the train not just a practical choice but a pleasurable one.

The Belmond Experience

Belmond operates two extraordinary train experiences in and around Italy that sit in a completely different category from the standard rail network.

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is the most celebrated: a journey from London Victoria through Paris and across the Alps to Venice, in carriages dating from the 1920s and 1930s that have been restored to their original specification. Marquetry wall panels, monogrammed linen, three art deco dining cars, and a bar car with a resident pianist.

The journey takes a day and a night, arriving in Venice the following afternoon, and the experience of stepping from one of the most romantic journeys in the world directly into one of the most romantic cities is one that very few trips can match. For LGBTQ+ couples beginning a honeymoon in Italy, it is an arrival that sets a tone nothing else quite achieves.

Belmond also operates the Il Treno di Dante, a more recent addition that runs day excursions between Florence and Ravenna through the Tuscan and Emilian landscapes, and the Bellini, Donatello, and Raphael trains, which connect Venice, Florence, and Rome respectively on scenic day routes that are less about the destination than about the journey itself. These are not commuter services. They are moving dining rooms with some of the best scenery in Europe passing outside the window.

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Ancient Rome Luxury Tour: The Colosseum to Pompeii

Tailor-made Holiday

At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Syria, but its heart always remained in Italy. This nine-day journey takes you through the empire's most spectacular sites—from the Colosseum where gladiators fought to the buried streets of Pompeii, from Hadrian's architectural masterpieces to the villas where emperors escaped the heat. Expect private expert guides, five-star hotels, and access that brings imperial Rome to life without the crowds.

9 days tailor-made from £7,895 per person View trip

Rome to Florence

Ninety minutes on the Frecciarossa, with the Tuscan landscape appearing as you clear the outskirts of Rome and the dome of Florence’s cathedral visible on the approach into Santa Maria Novella station. In Executive class, a meal is served at your seat and the journey passes with the particular ease of travel that has been properly organised. A private chauffeur at both ends keeps the experience seamless from hotel door to hotel door.

Florence to Venice

Two hours through the flat agricultural landscape of northern Italy, ending with the approach across the lagoon that makes arriving in Venice by train the right way to arrive.

For couples combining Florence and Venice on the same itinerary, this connection is simple, fast, and considerably more pleasurable than any alternative.

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Southern Italy and Amalfi Coast Explorer

Tailor-made Holiday

Southern Italy is at its best when you combine the bustling streets of Naples with historic Pompeii, the slower pace of Sorrento, and a few days on the Amalfi Coast and Capri. Your journey begins in Naples, where private transfers and guided touring give you an introduction to one of Italy’s most characterful cities. There is exceptional food, layers of history and a sense of life happening all around you.

8 days tailor-made from £5,350 per person View trip

Rome to Naples and the Amalfi Coast

An hour and ten minutes on the high-speed line to Naples, then a private transfer south along the coast. For couples building a Rome and Amalfi honeymoon, the train makes the transition between city and coast feel natural rather than logistically complicated.

Naples itself rewards the time between the train and the transfer: the archaeological museum, which holds the finest collection of Roman artefacts in the world, is twenty minutes from the station and worth two hours of any Italy itinerary.

Milan to Lake Como

Less than an hour from Milano Centrale to Varenna, with the lake appearing as the train rounds the final curve before the station. The transition from one of Europe’s great design capitals to the stillness of a lakeside town with mountains behind it is complete within the hour. For couples adding Lake Como to a Milan city break, the train makes it an effortless addition to an itinerary that might otherwise feel like it is missing a natural counterpoint to the city.

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The Best Luxury Sleeper Trains in Europe

Luxury sleeper trains also evoke a sense of nostalgia and romance, reminiscent of a bygone era when train travel was glamorous. Routes like the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express combine old-world charm with modern-day luxuries. Whether you’re sipping champagne in the bar car or waking up to sweeping views of Europe outside your cabin, it’s as if you’re stepping back into a more glamorous era. Think of all the Agatha Christie adaptations set on glamorous train journeys.

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The Cinque Terre Coastal Line

The local train that runs along the Ligurian coast between La Spezia and Levanto is a different proposition from the high-speed network, and deliberately so. It is slow, it stops at every village, and the views between tunnels, brief flashes of terraced vineyards above a deep blue sea, are among the most beautiful on any short rail journey in Europe. Use it to move between the five villages and you see the coastline from an angle the hiking paths above never quite provide.

How to do it well

The best seats on the Frecciarossa sell out on popular routes, and seat reservations are mandatory on all high-speed services. First class is worth the premium on any journey over an hour. The private operator Italo runs in direct competition with Trenitalia on the main routes and is often the better choice for standard services, with modern rolling stock and strong on-board service.

The Belmond trains require advance booking, sometimes months ahead for the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express on the most popular departure dates.

At Out Of Office, we handle all train reservations, seat selections, Belmond bookings, and private transfers at every stage of an Italian itinerary. The logistics are invisible, and the journey itself becomes something to look forward to.