On board the world's most luxurious new train

Sydney Morning Herald

22-04-2025

An ambitious programme of eight one and two-night itineraries covering 14 Italian regions has been devised, most starting and ending in Rome and the most elaborate entailing a transfer of the train across the Straits of Messina on a privately chartered vessel to Sicily for visits to Taormina and Palermo.
Some thought two nights was the right duration, others wanted longer, but all agreed that more time at our destinations would have been welcomed, and that will be reflected in tweaks to tours.
As invariably happens on hotel trains, guests from half a dozen countries soon bonded in the lounge car, where the bar and piano were placed between an area of sinuous banquettes and seats arranged in twos and fours. The youngest in the surprisingly wide age range were a couple from South Korea, evidently on their honeymoon.
Other passengers included an investor who had been successful enough to retire early and become a professional bridge player, and a couple from Delhi in the legal profession. Most of us matched the glad rags of the pianist, saxophonist and singer entertaining us after dinner.
The near extinction of proper dining cars on so many railways has increased the pleasure of eating in one, and we began lunch to views over a glittering bay to the island of Napoleon's first incarceration, Elba.
Our creative and high-quality six-course tasting menu with paired wines was created by Heinz Beck, who runs Rome's only three-Michelin-star restaurant, and produced by one of his protégés, Walter Canzio.
The train stops for four or five hours every night, and over breakfast it was evident that the world divides into those who can sleep on moving trains, and those who can't – however comfortable the bed.
Italy had the wit to retain many of its cross-country railway lines, which often venture into its equivalent of la France profonde, so it was a pleasure to reach Siena by the single-line route from Montepescali through remote countryside.
Between woods, an avenue of slender cypresses led to a characteristic Tuscan farmhouse with arcaded veranda on the upper level, surrounded by fields of artichokes, vines and apple orchards.
On distant hilltops, a jumble of pale brown houses rising above wooded slopes recalled a turbulent past, when villages were safer on high ground.
Another form of endemic rivalry was the subject of our visit by minibus to meet the winning jockey of last year's Palio at his stables and training fields just outside Siena.
Remarkably self-effacing for the man who had become the city's hero until the next Palio, Dino Pes took us through the Byzantine rules that govern the world's oldest horse race and the highlight of the Siena calendar since 1283.
So fierce is the rivalry between the contrada, neighbourhoods traceable back to medieval guilds, that he has to be protected against malfeasance by four bodyguards from the moment he is selected until he enters the bareback race around the Campo. The three circuits took him just 75 seconds.
Before lunch in the kind of unpretentious restaurant that Italy does so well, we had time to admire the jewel in the city's glorious Gothic cathedral, the Carrara marble pulpit sculpted in the 1260s by Giovanni Pisano, with its seven narrative panels of Christ's life and a cast of almost 400 figures.
He also sculpted the statues encrusting the lavish facade, which still looks astonishingly crisp and unweathered.
Because the train has to dovetail with passenger and freight trains or replenish water tanks, there are occasional longueurs in stations, but that is all part of slow travel.
The train never exceeds 120 km/h, and – unlike on high-speed services – this lack of velocity makes it possible to actually admire the landscapes. As we headed back to Rome, morning mist was rising over the broad plain flanking the Tavere river.
A long double avenue of umbrella pines shading a farm track spoke of the forethought of past generations. We skirted the lagoons enclosed by the peninsula of Monte Argentario, where the rackety life of Caravaggio came to an end in 1610, and as we approached Ostiense station, a large section of the Roman walls still stands beside the line.
All this luxury and exclusive access comes with a steep price tag, of course: a single-night itinerary costs from $5480 per person. But strong forward bookings suggest there is healthy demand for this sort of five-star experience, and I was told some celebrities have booked the whole train.
Arsenale certainly expects it to continue – a second train will be finished later this year, intended for a Rome to Istanbul journey, among others, and it is building a train for Saudi Arabia with plans for others in Egypt, UAE and Uzbekistan. The sweet life is going global, for those who can afford it.