Train on a Boat

So, you want to travel from Rome to Messina. With its well-developed rail system, much of it high speed, a train is your best option in Italy. At Rome Termini you buy a ticket to Messina and then you wonder what happens when the train gets to the Strait of Messina. The long talked-about suspension bridge has never been funded. Do you exit the train in Calabria and take a ferry to Sicily? If so, where do you buy a ferry ticket? You ask the ticket clerk in your best Italia and she responds, “Il treno viene trasportato attraverso lo stretto su un traghetto.” Yes, you heard correctly, the train is carried across the strait on a ferry.

When the train gets to Reggio, Calabria it comes to a stop at which point sections of the train (4-5 train cars at a time, but not the engine) are rolled into a lower deck of a ferry that also carries cars, trucks and passengers on decks above. After about a 30-minute sail, during which you can go up on deck to enjoy the fresh air and view, the train is rolled off, reassembled and it continues onto Messina and other parts of Sicily. Loading and unloading takes about 10 minutes each time. The trip across the strait was not only fascinating but also enjoyable, and provided some great views of Messina, Sicily and Reggio, Calabria, as well as the gilded Stele della Madonna della Lettera (Madonna of the Letter) statue that sits atop a high pedestal welcoming ships to the Messina harbor. The last photo shows another ferry with a train onboard, entering Messina Harbor under the statue.