This is a journey which ventures past the point where most rail travellers visiting Italy turn round and head back home. It gives a taste of the fiery harsh lands of Basilicata and it takes in a great sweep of the Calabrian coast.
We set out by train from Budapest to Split and then take the ferry to Ancona on Italy's Adriatic coast. This journey for Europe by Rail retraces a pilgrimage of yesteryear – but one which remains enduringly popular with residents of Budapest today.
Route 38 in Europe by Rail is a very useful fast hop south over the Alps from southern Germany to Italian sunshine. And it packs in an astonishing variety of scenery.
The Bernina Railway which links the Engadine area of eastern Switzerland with the Valtellina region in Lombardy is in our view far and away the finest of the three north-south rail routes connecting Switzerland with Italy. In 2008 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
It was the railway which created the Riviera and by 1874 it was possible to travel by train all the way from Nice to Florence. Just grab a seat on the seaward side of the train and sit back as we cruise along the coast from France into Italy.
Let’s set off on a journey through green hills, striped with olive groves and vineyards, stopping off at historic towns and cities overflowing with Renaissance art and architecture. Enjoy Route 46 from Verona to Rome.
Route 47 in Europe by Rail takes in several glorious north Italian cities from Genoa in the west to Trieste in the east – a veritable feast of art and architecture, along the way swapping the Mediterranean for the Adriatic.