After being out of action for more than a hundred years, the train route linking Italy and Slovenia is making a comeback. According to CNN Travel, the plan involves Italy’s Trenitalia and Slovenia’s SŽ Passenger Transport. Apparently, Slovenian Railways is eager to kickstart the train service as soon as possible, possibly by April.
So, what’s the deal? Well, these two European buddies will be hooked up by none other than the Frecciarossa Train, a speedy beast from Italy that can hit up to 300 kilometers per hour on the Italian tracks. The route? It’s from Milan in Italy to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, with a travel time of around seven hours.
This railway adventure will take you through some big-name Italian cities like Venice and Trieste before dropping you off at some of Slovenia’s natural wonders, including Postojna Cave, Škocjan Caves, and Lipica, where they’ve been breeding Lipizzaner horses since way back in 1580.
And get this – Italy and Slovenia used to be railway buddies back in 1857 during the Habsburg Empire days. They had this sweet setup with trains cruising from Vienna to Trieste via Ljubljana. Trieste was a hotshot port back then, and the link with Vienna was a big deal for the Habsburgs.
But, things changed after World War I, and Trieste got the short end of the stick, becoming a little corner of northeastern Italy. The railway connection to Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, or Budapest became pretty limited. “It’s about time we got a serious railway line back between Trieste and Ljubljana,” says Giovanni Vale, a journalist who’s all about reviving old-school train routes.