Historic trains are returning to Sicily, attracting 100,000 passengers: here are the scheduled itineraries.
#Palermo
Tomorrow, at 10 o’clock, the press conference for the presentation of the “Historic Trains Sicily 2023” program will take place. The program is promoted by the Regional Tourism, Sports and Entertainment Department of Sicily and the Foundation Fs. It is a tourist attraction for both Sicilians and visitors who come to the island to discover its beautiful landscapes and architectural wonders.
The meeting will be held in the Mosaic Hall of the Messina Maritime Station. Elvira Amata, the regional tourism councilor, Luigi Cantamessa, the General Director of the foundation FS, and Sandro Pappalardo, board member of Enit – the National Tourism Agency, will be present.
At 10:50, a historic train will depart from platform 1 of the Messina Central Station, heading to Capo d’Orlando. At 11:55, it will arrive at Capo d’Orlando Station, and at 12:48, it will depart from the station in the municipality of Capo d’Orlando and return to Messina Central Station.
Sicily is among the regions in Italy with the highest number of historic and tourist trains in operation, with a total of 77 throughout the year. These trains carry over 10,000 passengers on 460 train events in Italy, totaling 100,000 passengers. Especially during the summer and autumn seasons, the trains are always fully booked.
Historic trains are a niche form of tourism that, although they do not significantly impact the island’s tourism GDP, still contributed about half a million euros to the economy of the island in 2019 (pre-pandemic year). This calculation is based on an average ticket price of 20 euros, with an estimated additional expenditure of 30 euros per person on local food, artisanal products, and souvenirs. This niche tourism enriches the regional tourism offering and may attract some of the 100,000 passengers who have traveled in Italy on historic locomotives. In 2022, after a two-year hiatus, the historic train from Palermo Central to Porto Empedocle with a stop at the Valley of the Temples has been reinstated by the FS Foundation.
In Sicily, several railway routes have been designated for tourist use, including Alcantara-Randazzo, Castelvetrano-Porto Palo di Menfi, Agrigento Bassa-Porto Empedocle, and Noto-Pachino. The project, developed by the Sicilian Regional Tourism Department in collaboration with the FS Foundation and Slow Food Sicily, included 23 itineraries on vintage trains to connect major urban centers such as Catania, Palermo, and Messina with various towns on the island, such as Modica, Bronte, Marsala, as well as historic centers like Taormina, Siracusa, the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, and Ragusa Ibla. There was a pause, but now it seems that everything is ready to resume.
Tornano i treni storici in Sicilia, un affare da 100 mila passeggeri: gli itinerari previsti
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