[PRCo] Italia

[Fred Schneider]

This learning lesson started because three of us were making plans to go to Japan next year.   Well, that trip seems to have been "All Shook Up."   So now one of guys suggested let's look at Italy instead.  This is part of an e-mail I'm sending to the other two.   They have gone as crazy as France but for a nation which eliminated all but Rome, Naples, Genoa, Milan and Turin and a line in the mountains of the South Tirol by the early 1960s, it's amazing that we can go to 14 cities again and look at trams or subways.  
THE TRAMS AND LIGHT RAIL LINES ... Rather than alphabetical or by regions, I'm tried to do it from north to south in order to keep everything in the same area together.   
 
In the far northeast in the German speaking Sud Tirol lies the Rittnerbahn, high on the mountain above Bozen (Bolzano in Italian).   This is not a new line but simply a very old one that the community simply forgot to tear up.   The connecting incline to the city beneath it is gone requiring you to use a cable tramway or a bus to access tram cars that have been there since the line opened.  This part of Italy became was transferred from Austria at the end of World War I.
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rittnerbahn

In the Piedmont (Piedmonte), Turin (Turino):  This is amazing when you think that our primary automobile city (Detroit) got rid of its trolleys in the 1950s and here is Italy's auto city with a huge tram network.   Look at the green lines on the map link.   
     http://www.tundria.com/trams/ITA/Turin-2011.shtml
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turin
     http://world.nycsubway.org/world/it/turin.html
     http://www.comune.torino.it/gtt/urbana/mappa/mapparete.pdf
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CQIoZv8Sws&feature=related

In Liguria, in the city of Genova, there is a metro line.
     http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/gen/genova.htm
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genoa_Metro
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXvi-sRukw8&feature=related

In Lombardia, in Milano
    The trams
          http://www.tundria.com/trams/ITA/Milan-2011.shtml
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV38pz4aUcg&feature=related
     The subway map
          http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/mil/milano.htm
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90GU_3ZsnmA&feature=related
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR9gXq_GbhU&feature=related

Also in Lombardia, a light rail line opened in Bergano in April 25, 2009.  This is about 20 miles northeast of Milano.
     http://www.subways.net/italy/bergamo.htm
     http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/berg/bergamo.htm

In Veneto in the city in Padova (Padua), a Translohr system opened October 29, 2007.
     http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/pad/padova.htm
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c3fr7xrOXI
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0YMZGIaRNE

Also in Veneto in the city of Venezia-Mestre, another Translohr system opened December 20, 2010.  This town is at the end of the causeway from Venezia (Venice).   Runs 6.3 km north from the train station.
      http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tranvia_di_Mestre
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp0QlBAX74Q
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF5eB8k8WWo&NR=1
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JerJeu1sp3k&NR=1

In Toscana (Tuscany) in Firenze Florence), a tramway (the  Florence Tram) opened Feb. 14, 2010.  Lines 2 and 3 will follow, perhaps by 2014.  This is a city we went to in order to visit the famous art museums.   Now we can also go to ride the trams again for the first time since 1958.  
     http://www.metrotram.it/index.php?vmcity=FIRENZE-L2&vmsys=tfe&ind=0&num=5&lang=eng
     http://www.metrotram.it/index.php?vmcity=FIRENZE-L3&vmsys=tfe&num=5&ind=0&lang=eng
     http://www.subways.net/italy/florence.htm
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKv8GSSrETY
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTTdf8rrtaY
     
     http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tramways_of_Florence_linee.jpg

Rome in Lazia has a city system; Steffer, the interurban line, and a subway. 
     http://www.tundria.com/trams/ITA/Rome-2009.shtml 
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlXKP8v8U2Q

Down south in Campania, the city of Naples has two trolley lines, a metro, the Circumvesiuiana Railway and motor vehicle drivers train in Hell.   Watching some of these videos will convince you that the streetcars need a third one more form of braking in addition to dynamics, discs, tracks brakes.  An old boat anchor thrown out the rear to tear up the pavement when someone drives in front of you might also be helpful!   
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSJeHXvPIQk&NR=1
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF5eB8k8WWo&NR=1
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitana_di_Napoli
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rYVzvBk9Po

The Island of Sicily also has a light rail line in Messina that opened April 3, 2003 and one planned for Palermo.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messina
      http://www.efacec.pt/presentationLayer/efacec_projecto_00.aspx?area=2&idioma=2&projectoid=37
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLXqt7VX5R0&feature=related
   In this video, note the curve without the spiral in the track....
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFc5Wgjnuns&NR=1

      Palermo's Metro
         http://www.subways.net/italy/palermo.htm

     http://www.subways.net/italy/catania.htm
    http://www.subways.net/italy/circum_map.jpg
  
 General notes on Sicily
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicily
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sicily

And Sardegna  (Sardinia if you must Anglicize it) has a line out of Cagliari that opened March 17, 2008.  It is essentially a replacement for railroad service.
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9izITf8xww
     http://www.subways.net/italy/cagliari.htm

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagliari
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinia