italian railway heritage— the tuscan nature train · a national italian railway network was only...

Heritage Railways (part 2)

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Japan Railway & Transport Review 31 • June 200218 Copyright © 2002 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Italian Railway Heritage—The Tuscan Nature Train

Stefano Maggi

In Italy, preservation of railway heritage isa very recent development because onlyRoman and medieval remains wereconsidered ‘history.’ This article describesthe Ferrovia Val’d Orcia (Val d’OrciaRailway) in Tuscany as a case study of theproblems facing Italian tourist railways andvintage trains. The Val d’Orcia Railwaywhere old diesel railcars run and steamengines haul vintage carriages throughbeautiful scenery is one of the few examplesof preserved railways in Italy.

Summary of Italian Railwaysuntil Today

A national Italian railway network was onlyformed in the 1860s due to the late nationalunification in 1861, and delayed economicdevelopment. However, some of the moredeveloped regions like Piedmont,Lombardy and Tuscany already had smallnetworks totalling about 2200 km. Afterthe Italian State was established, the newgovernment viewed railways as essentiallinks in connecting the different economiesand societies of the new nation.Before 1865, different sections of railwayswere managed differently due to differentpre-unification histories. The Staterailways, especially those in Piedmont,existed together with lines owned byprivate companies and each received verydifferent concessions. Sometimes theinfrastructure belonged to the State whilethe operations were entrusted to privatesocieties, which received a public grantfor each kilometer of line managed orsometimes a guaranteed revenue for theirshares.In 1865, the government decided thatrailway construction and operation shouldbe entrusted to five private companies.However, the system almost immediatelycollapsed and the State had to spend hugesums of money in ‘ransom’ and to balancecompany budgets. This bad experienceresulted in a long public debate about anew system of organizing railways.

Finally, in 1885, the government entrustedoperations to three big companies whileretaining ownership of lines, permanentinstallations, while the rolling stock wassold to the companies.The Italian peninsula was dividedlongitudinally to encourage north–sou th t r a f f i c and ove rcome theconsiderable differences between thesetwo regions of I taly. The easternnetwork was entrusted to the SocietàAdriatica, which managed 4300 km oflines, while the western network wasentrusted to the Società per le StradeFerrate del Medi terraneo, whichmanaged 4100 km of lines. The thirdcompany, Sicula, managed 1100 km oflines in the Italian islands. Eachcompany was granted a 60-yearoperations lease, subdivided into threeperiods of 20 years each1.This system collapsed within a few yearstoo and after repeated financial bailouts,the State nationalized the entire networkof 13,000 km in April 1905—relativelye a r l y c o m p a r e d t o r a i l w a ynationalizations in other Europeancountries2. Initially, an autonomous Staterailway administration called Ferroviedello Stato with a board of directors thathad the freedom to take managerialdecisions was established, but it sooncame under tight political control.Railways have been very important inItalian history for political, economic andsocial reasons; railway works consumedthe largest part of the public purse andled to the creation of fundamental politicalalliances, while railway workers formedthe largest labour bloc nationwide.When Italian industry began to boomaround the turn of the century, railwayworkers formed the core of a growing left-wing socialist movement. Railwaymens e e m e d t o e m b o d y t h e s o c i a lmodernization following in the wake ofnew lines linking isolated rural towns andregions with national life in the cities.The first national strike in Italy was by

railwaymen in 1905 and the moreconservative classes were afraid of theirrebellious attitude. Strikes became a‘normal’ feature of Italian railways infollowing years, paralyzing the nation’slife more and more.The railways remained under directState management until 18 April 1985when privatization started with theestablishment of the autonomous EnteFerrovie dello Stato ( I talian StateRailways), 80 years after the 1905nationalization. The goals of the newautonomous railway company wereeconomy and ef f ic iency and theMinister of Transport and Navigation,Claudio Signor i le , only re ta inedsupervisory powers3.The establishment of Italian State Railwayswas the first big reform in the Italianadministration and the reform started aseries of changes that led to theprivatization of other government sectors.The financial crisis in late 1991 forced thegovernment to adopt decisive measures toprivatize big public enterprises and ItalianState Railways was transformed in 1992into Italian Railways (FS), a company withthe entire capital held by the State. In thepast few months, FS has been split into fourdivisions: passengers, freight, regionaltransport and infrastructure.

Railway Heritage and HistoricalTrains in Italy

In Italy, development of tourist historicaltrains was independent of the then little-known railway preservation movementthat started in the UK in 1951.Development of Italian tourist trainsstarted in the 1980s and 1990s whengroups of steam enthusiasts would chartersteam trains for special outings to thecountryside on secondary lines or on thenational network.Due to this tourism origin and lack ofknowledge about the preservationmovement, many historical trains went to

Japan Railway & Transport Review 31 • June 2002 19Copyright © 2002 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

the breaker’s yard, especially in the mid-1990s when the cancer-inducingproperties of asbestos—which was usedextensively in old trains—became known.The problem was further exacerbatedbecause many Italians only consideredRoman and medieval relics as historicallyimportant and so there was no culture ofindustrial archaeology until recent years.Consequently, vintage trains were treatedas old scrap4.Tourist railways typically belong to localrailway companies. One principalexample is the Trenino Verde dellaSardegna (Small Green Train of Sardinia)run by Ferrovie della Sardegna (SardinianRailways). It operates mostly duringsummer with normal rolling stock, butspecial charters with old carriages hauledby a steam locomotive are run on linesclosed to normal traffic5.Other local companies such as theDomodossola–Locarno Railways (SSIF)

near the Swiss border, the Turin LocalRailways (SATTI), the Genoa–CasellaRailway (FGC), Padane Railways (FP) nearFerrara, Arezzo Railways (LFI), andCalabria Railways (FC) on a narrow-gaugeline in the Sila highlands, sometimes runhistorical trains.FS run a few charter and special vintagetrains on normal lines6 and they have justrestored some steam engines, vintagewagons, electric and diesel locomotives,and railcars for such purposes7.Moreover, FS has been operating the 10-kmFerrovia del Basso Sebino (Basso SebinoRailway) located near Milan8 since 1994, andthe 52-km Val d’Orcia Railway in Tuscanysince 1995, in conjunction with two voluntaryassociations comprising the Ferrovie TuristicheItaliane (Italian Tourist Railways Association)9.The rest of this article describes the TrenoNatura (Nature Train) running on the Vald’Orcia Railway.

The Val d’Orcia Railway:A Century of History

The decision to build a railway linebetween Siena and Grosseto was madein 1859 just before the unification of Italyin 1861. At that time, Grosseto was avillage of some 4000 people that becamealmost deserted in summer, when thepublic offices, etc., were transferred tothe hills of Scansano to escape theravages of endemic malaria. There wereno railway connections in the Maremmaregion and the nearest lines stopped atLivorno and Siena.The route of the line was difficult and theplanners tried to avoid a line based onlyon Maremma traffic which was anunknown factor. As a result, the line wasrouted to service the mountainous Amiataarea, a population centre in the Maremmaregion, and to run through the Asso andOrcia valleys.

Nature Train running past flowering trackside Opuntia cactus (Author)

Map of Circular Route of Vald’Orcia Railway



The first section from Asciano to Torrenieriwas opened in May 1865 and the nextstretch as far as Monte Amiata Station wasopened in August 1871. The entire lineentered full service on 27 May 1872 witha grand official ceremony attended by theMinister of Public Works and the highestmunicipal authorities10.The railway played an important role inconnecting the Maremma region with therest of Tuscany. It was also useful forfreight transport. For example, cinnabarore from the nearby mercury mines wascarried in special carts to Monte AmiataStation, where it was loaded on the trains.Restaurants inside almost every railwaystation became social meeting places forthe local residents.The S iena–Buonconvento–MonteAntico Line was completed much laterin 1927 partly on the roadbed of theold tracks at the Murlo Mine, whichwere constructed in 1877 to carry oreto Monte Antico Station.This railway was managed by a privatecompany until 1956 when it joined ItalianState Railways, which closed the Siena–Buonconvento section 10 years later. Theline was completely reopened forpassenger service in 1980.

The Nature Train

The starting point to operating a tourist trainover the Siena–Asciano–Monte Antico–Buonconvento–Siena circuit dates back to1990 during a period of increasedenvironmental sensitivity. The railwaytracks run through woods and along riverbanks in areas of the Artistic Natural andCultural Park of the Val d’Orcia that cannotbe reached by road. Running a so-calledNature Train combining train travel andtrekking seemed like a good way of seeingItalian nature and the Siena ProvincialCouncil resolved to help finance the idea.The original Nature Train was a chartermanaged by a travel agency but the

business was abandoned soon after itopened in September 1991. Then the mostinteresting section between Asciano andMonte Antico was closed to ordinary railservice in September 1994. Protests causedby the line closure motivated the SienaProvincial Council and FS to relaunch theNature Train project as a charter managedby a travel agency.However, the train operation was not afinancial success and in 1996, FS agreedto hand over operations to the Val d’OrciaRailway, a voluntary association of retiredrailway workers and other interestedpeople who now run regular Nature Trainservices on 15 to 20 holidays during May,June, September and October over theAsciano–Monte Antico route11.Most Nature Train services use 50-year-old diesel railcars but sometimes oldsteam engines haul vintage wagons datingback to the 1910s and 1920s. Thetimetables have been arranged to connectwith ordinary train services at Siena,Asciano and Monte Antico, so the train iseasy to reach from Florence, Rome, andGrosseto. Special rover tickets permittravel for a whole day on trains comprisingthe circuit with no restrictions onintermediate stops.

Tickets are sold on the trains by volunteerstaf f who explain the scenery topassengers through a speaker system; thevolunteers also design advertising andpublicity materials; staff a bookings andinformation bureau; organize villagefestivals; and sell books, travel guides,postcards, etc.The Nature Train covers more than 50%of its costs from the farebox, which isbetter than the 35% average for branchlines, and the Siena Provincial Councilsubsidizes the remaining 50%. Insteadof just running some trains with no specificconnection to infrastructure, the project’sphilosophy is to invigorate a proper touristand preserved railway12.Although the Nature Train is subsidizedby the Siena Provincial Council anddespite the fact that the lines and the trainsare owned by FS, the voluntaryassociation is actually the sole managerof the business.The number of annual passengersbetween 1996 and 2001 has increasedgreatly from 4700 to about 7000, most ofwhom are interested in the landscape,meals in the countryside, and historicaltravel at slow speeds in old railcars andvintage wagons hauled by steam

Steam hauled Nature Train at Torrenieri Station (Author)


locomotives. Some see the travel as beinglike that in the 1950s before widespreadmotorization—an impression that isenhanced by the period uniforms wornby the railwaymen and volunteers.The project has an educational aim aswell—familiarizing schoolchildren withthe environment and with using publictransport, which is a first for many of them.The local section of the Italian AlpineClub (CAI) has given great support to theplan and has marked out some footpathsalong the line in order to combine traintravel with trekking. There are severalroutes to suit the different age groups andcyclists. A successful project forschoolchildren has also been developedthanks to the CAI members.Beyond the fundamental role ofvolunteering, the agreement between theSiena Provincial Council and FS issignificant because it demonstrates a realinterest in the historical train on the partof the regional authorities, despite overallItalian backwardness concerning heritagepreservation. Following Siena’s example,in 2000 and 2001, other local authoritiesin Tuscany have promoted historicaltrains, but regular services like the NatureTrain are not presently planned.As a demonstration of how the Val d’OrciaRailway Association managed to persuadethe institutions of the importance oflinking rails and landscape, from 2001 theSiena Provincial Council has startedhanding both the financing of the NatureTrain and the management of the project

over to the Artistic Natural and CulturalPark of the Val d’Orcia, a private bodycreated by all the municipalities of thearea that operates in the territory of therailway. As a result, the Val d’OrciaRailway has become one of the park’sgreatest attractions.The intense summer heat of July sawdecreased tourism to the region so NatureTrain runs were stopped in mid-June andresumed in mid-September. But due tothe train’s increasing popularity, summerservices have been increased by two extraruns in July since 2001.Support for closer links between touristrailways and scenic tourism has emergedat the national level, too. In 1999, theMinister for the Environment, Edo Ronchi,allocated funds to rebuild some stationsand to open entrances to the Park fromthe stations.The Val d’Orcia Railway Association itselfhas decided to restore the historicTorrenieri Montalcino Station, which datesback to 1865 and was built by the mosttalented local architects of the time. Thestation was the terminal for the line toGrosseto between the opening of the firstsection in 1865 and the completion in1872; many buildings like the enginedepot are still in good basic shape butrequire some renovation.

‘Building’ a Preserved Railway

To create a real tourist and preserved

railway—assuming that the presentrailway is just a start—some investmentsare needed. A comprehensive plan todevelop the area as a working museumshould be studied. This can be achievedby restoring the old rolling stock andstations without losing the main focus onnature and the environment. In short, thegreat popularity of the railway so far canbe used to extend the project in the longerterm in to the rea lm of her i tagepreservation and industrial archaeology.Footpaths between stations have beenmarked ou t s ince 1997 and thepriority now is to equip the stationswith tables and benches, informationboards on the locality and feasibleexcursions routes, etc.Until the 1980s, when the line was stillin active operation, some stations hadpassengers refreshment facil i t ies.Perhaps at least one restaurant or barshould be reopened along the route.Moreover, some station buildings couldbe transformed in hotels and hostels. Arailway restaurant in the mid-20thcentury style might be popular withvisitors, promote the railway and bringrevenue too. It could offer chances fororganizing festivals, wedding receptions,etc., thus linking the train with regionalfoods, which are very important in Italyand in Tuscany in particular!Although seven out of 25 Nature Trainservices each year are steam hauled,increasing the number of services andcharters will require more rolling stock

Nature Train diesel railcar crossing Montalceto Viaduct (Author) Torrenieri Station will be renovated as an entrance to the ArtisticNatural and Cultural Park of the Val d’Orcia. (Author)



beyond the available diesel railcars. Asufficient collection of vintage carriagesin the right livery is needed along withmore steam engines.Another fundamental point to tackle is thepersonal growth of the volunteers. At themoment, volunteers are mainly devotedto selling tickets onboard but they shouldbe able to take on the role of guard,stationmaster, fireman, engine driver, etc.Volunteers could also handle the rolling-stock restoration and preservation.Perhaps the cost savings of usingvolunteers could enable the tourist railwayto operate on a day-to-day basis withoutpublic money.

Industrial Archaeology onVal d’Orcia Railway

In Italy, old railway rolling stock, stations,bridges, tunnels, etc., have only recentlybegun to be seen as having artistic andarchaeological merit. Conversely, theeconomic value of vintage trains iscoming to be understood so the problemis how to preserve old railway heritagewhile keeping a tourist dimension. Theexperience of the Nature Train is a firststep on this journey.Some o f the bes t technolog ica lachievements of the best railway

engineers of the late 19th and early 20thcenturies have been replaced by newtechnologies but many of these oldtechnologies can still be seen on the Vald’Orcia Railway. For example, the linestill has two mechanical signals nearMonte Amiata Station. Other examplesare the hand-operated points at Ascianoand Monte Amiata that rely on a systemof numbered interlocks to keep the trainsmoving safely.The stations still have the railwaytelephones imported from the USA in the1920s to replace the railway telegraph.Other parts of the historic inventory arethe 1865 locomotive depots at Ascianoand Torrenieri. Torrenieri Station itself isof great archi tectural value anddemonstrates the strong 19th-centurydetermination to build attractive railwaystations symbolizing the interface betweenthe rural idyll and the new modernity.Also the size of the goods yard thathandled all the products of the Val d’Orciaand the Mount Amiata regions for morethan a century is an important industrialheritage demonstrating the remarkablegoods traffic.Other important artifacts include watercolumns, hand-operated 1865 turntable,and tunnels, some of which wereextensively rebuilt at the portals after WWII.

The viaduct at Montalceto and the bridgeover the River Ombrone near Monte Anticowere redesigned and rebuilt in concreteinstead of brick after the war too.F inal ly, there are the numerousabandoned wayside cottages that housedthe track workers and their families.

The Landscape—RailwayResource

Val d’Orcia in southern Tuscany is far frommain roads and traffic jams. There is anold bond between the people and theland, enabling them to maintain ad ign i f i ed re la t ionsh ip wi th theenvironment that is now hard to find.The landscape is characterized by startlingand extraordinary calanchi slopes andridges. The strange biancane clay knollshave such an unmistakable impact thatseveral have preservation orders on them.In the past, this lunar landscape putwonder and even fear into the hearts ofwriters like Dickens, Hawthorne and DeSade on their Grand Tour. Today, the areais famous thanks to painters like DarioNeri, Aleardo Paolucci and Aleandro Luziand cinema and TV.But the Val d’Orcia is not only the softlyrolling clay hills, there are beautiful Ilexgroves, springs and woodlands. The small

Turntable at Asciano Station on Val d’Orcia Railway (Author) Water column for steam locomotives on Val d’OrciaRailway (Author)


picturesque towns of Amiata sit on hilltopssome 700-m above sea level. The historictown squares are still perfectly preservedin a region where history and art are linkedby nature13.The Artistic Natural and Cultural Park ofthe Val d’Orcia was established topromote and preserve the naturalresources of this land where the dynamicsof day-to-day life are still inspired andintegrated with traditions like goodregional food including fine wines,cheeses, olive oil, honey, meats, salamis,cereals and handicrafts.And all this beauty can be seen from NatureTrain as it travels from Asciano to MonteAntico along the Val d’Orcia Railway.

Conclusions and Problems

Tourist railways are gaining momentumin Italy and there are new plans to followthe examples set by the Basso SebinoRailway and the Val d’Orcia Railway.Although some envisage reconstruction oftracks, few have yet to start running butlocal public transport reforms providehope that tourist and preservation railwayswill benefit from more sympathetictreatment by local authorities.However, there is still much resistance:transport chairmen who seem unwillingto try to understand these projects; townand provincial authorities who considerthe train beyond the interests of localgovernment; some FS branches who tryto undermine prospects for efficientrailway management by volunteers.But the resisters need to realize that touristtrains and railway preservation projects canhave an amazing impact on the economiesof small towns and secondary railway linesby creating new tourism traffic.Another technical issue that must betackled soon is overstrict regulation ofcrews (each Nature Train still has twoengine drivers and a guard) that does notmatch the needs of tourist railways based

on volunteer staff, low speeds, frequentstops, short sections and the presence ofjust a single train operation on a closedtrack. Tourist railways urgently need anew set of rules to cover their uniquecircumstances. However, the support ofthe Italian public and volunteers for

tourist railways and preservation ofheritage railways seems likely to assuretheir future growth and success. �

This article was first presented at the internationalconference ‘Slow Train Coming: Heritage Railways inthe 21st Century,’ held in York in September 2001.

2001 Leaflet for Val d’Orcia Railway (Author)

Stefano Maggi

Dr Maggi is a researcher in the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Siena. He has been

Chairman of the Val d’Orcia Railway Association since 1996. He has a PhD in history and an MSc in

transport economics and has published extensively on railway and transport history in Italy and Africa.

Notes1. S. Maggi, Politica ed economia dei trasporti. Secoli XIX–

XX. Una storia della modernizzazione italiana(Transport policy and economics. XIX–XX centuries. Ahistory of Italian modernization), Bologna, Il Mulino,pp. 37–38, 2001.

2. A. Papa, Classe politica e intervento pubblico nell’etàgiolittiana. La nazionalizzazione delle ferrovie (Politicalclass and public intervention in the age of Giolitti. Therailway nationalization), Naples, Guida, 1973.

3. G. Coletti, Storia di una riforma. L’ente Ferrovie delloStato (History of reform. The State Railways Board),Roma, Cafi, pp. 371–373, 1985.

4. S. Maggi, In treno per diporto. Dal turismo ferroviarioalle ferrovie turistiche. Esperienze e prospettive (By trainfor pleasure. From railway tourism to tourist railways.Experiences and perspectives), Siena, Copinfax, pp. 34–35, 1997.

5. Il trenino verde della Sardegna (The Small Green Trainof Sardinia), vol. I Da Mandas ad Arbatax (From Mandasto Arbatax), vol. II Da Mandas a Sorgono (From Mandasto Sorgono), vol. III Da Macomer a Bosa (FromMacomer to Bosa), vol. IV Da Sassari a Tempio (FromSassari to Tempio), vol. V Da Tempio a Palau (FromTempio to Palau), edited by A. Boccone and L. Demelas,Cagliari, Edisar, 1996.

6. Internet: http://www.railtouritalia.it

7. Il deposito rotabili storici di Pistoia (The Pistoia shedfor historic rolling stock), edited by N. Baldi, Firenze,Pegaso, pp. 53–81, 2001.

8. Ferrovia del Basso Sebino, Un binario lungo l’Oglio.La ferrovia Palazzolo sull’Oglio-Paratico Sarnico e itrasporti sul Lago d’Iseo (A track along the River Oglio.The Palazzolo-sull’Oglio–Paratico-Sarnico railway andtransport on Lake Iseo), Bergamo, 1996.

9. Internet: http://www.ferrovieturistiche.it.10. S. Maggi, La ferrovia per la Maremma (The railway for

Maremma), Siena, Nuova Immagine Editrice, pp. 23–24, 1997.

11. Viaggio sul Treno Natura. Guida storico-paesaggisticacon otto itinerari escursionistici (Travel in the NatureTrain. History and landscape guide with eight excursionroutes), edited by S. Maggi, Siena, Nuova ImmagineEditrice, pp. 9–10, 2000.

12. S. Maggi, Conservation et mise en valeur du patrimoineferroviaire par le tourisme: l’exemple du “Train Nature”,train touristique Asciano-Monte Antico (Toscane)(Tourism preservation and exploitation of railwayheritage: The example of the Nature Train, a touristtrain from Asciano to Monte Antico (Tuscany)), Revued’Histoire des chemins de fer, No. 20 & 21, pp. 278–279, 1999.

13. Internet: http://www.parcodellavaldorcia.com.

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