Italy

Arriving by air.

This is generally the quickest way to get to Italy, although it is not generally as cheap as it is to fly to countries such as Spain. Scheduled airlines run flights to the major cities from all over the world. Italy is perhaps not the best place in Europe to catch a budget flight to - former Italian budget airline Volaire went bankrupt at the end of 2004, after offering a limited range of not-especially cheap flights around Europe. That said, other budget airlines do fly from many locations in Europe, but to a more limited range of cities (mostly Rome and Milan) than is the case in other countries.

Arriving by train.

There are a range of trains running into the north of Italy from all the surrounding countries. The following is a summary of the key routes:

• Elipsos run a TrenHotel service 3 nights a week from Barcelona to Milan. This service often needs to be booked in advance
• SNCF run a night train every night from Cerbere (on the French-Spanish border near Barcelona) via Nice to Ventimiglio, which is near the coast on the French-Italian border.
• SNCF run a TGV service 3 times a day from Paris to Turin and Milan, taking around 6.5 hours.
• A EuroCity train runs 4 times daily from Geneva to Milan, taking around 4.5 hours. EuroNight trains also run from Geneva to Rome and Venice.
• A EuroCity train runs twice daily from Stuttgart and Zurich to Milan, and a night train runs from Stuttgart and Zurich through Milan to Rome and Naples.
• Eight services (inluding one night train) per day run from Munich to Verona, taking 6 hours. Night trains also run from Munich to Florence and Rome.
• EuroCity trains run twice a day from Vienna to Venice, with night trains running from Vienna to Milan, Venice and Rome
• A Eurocity train runs daily from Budapest via Ljubljana to Venice, with a further service just from Ljubljana. There is also a night train from Budapest to Venice

Timetable and some price information about all of the routes listed above can be obtained from the Deutsche Bahn website.

Arriving by ferry.

Ferry is a quite realistic way of travelling to Italy, particularly from Greece, where the train journey around takes days and passes through very non-western countries such as Macedonia and Serbia. Rail passes are actually valid for basic passage on several ferries between these two. The main ferries running across the Adriatic to Italy are listed below. Be aware that many ferries run seasonal schedules, with fewer or no sailings in the winter months:

• Jadrolinija run ferries from Ancona to Zadar in Croatia on Sundays and overnight three nights a week, taking five hours. They also run a summer catamaran service taking 4.5 hours.
• Jadrolinija also run daily ferries from Ancona to Split in Croatia
• Turkish Maritime Lines run from Cesme in Turkey to Brindisi, taking 60 hours.
• There is a weekly overnight ferry from Bari to Dubrovnik run by Jadrolinija.
• Tirrenia run a daily overnight service from Bari to Durres in Albania.
• Montenegro Lines run several times a week from Bari to Bar in Montenegro.
• Superfast run an overnight service from Patra in Greece to Bari.
• Ventouris run daily ferries taking 12 hours from Bari to Igumenitsa and Corfu.

Ferries from Spain generally take the same amount of time as the equivalent train journey, but may prove cheaper. Consider flying or visiting France or Switzerland between Spain and Italy rather than doing these journeys in one go. For reference these are the available routes:

• Valencia is connected to Salerno in southern Italy by bi-weekly ferries operated by Grimaldi, again taking more than a day.
• Grandi Navi Veloci connect Barcelona to Genova in the north of Italy in just 18 hours.

Finally, Italy is a good start point for trips by ferry to Tunisia and Malta:

• Medmar run weekly ferries from La Spezia in the North, Naples in the south, and Trapani on Sicily to Tunis.
• A weekly ferry runs from Salerno to Tunis and Valetta on Malta.
• Virtu Ferries run various summer services from Catania and Pozzallo in Sicily to Valetta on Malta