A Case for Trains

When people throw that vague “how was your trip” question at me, they expect descriptions of canals and gondolas, the seductive historic yet modern chaos of Rome, and oh! the art and food of course, but my mind instantly goes to the trains.

There were 26 in total. 26 rumbling boxes of green and red on white took me through a one-month whirlwind trip across Italy. Of course I was as dazzled and inspired as anyone by the spectacle of visual and culinary experiences that make Italy the traveler magnet that it is. But as I’ve heard before, it’s the people that make the trip. And the beautiful sights became more like a magnificent background to the people and stories I encountered. Mostly, in trains.

During a long broken-up ride from southern Catania to Torino at the opposite end, I met a Venetian woman who left “the most beautiful city in the world” for a love who took her to Salerno. The love left but she stayed, now kept by motherly love for her ten-year old aspiring Formula 1 driver. She got off in Salerno to be replaced by an excitable American girl who would collect a piece of clothing from an H&M in each town she went, yet to realize that they all carry the same collection. Later on, I’d wake up from a nap to two middle aged men, one offering me a small cup of instant coffee, strangers to each other who in a matter of minutes were engaged in energetic conversation, laughing at every mistranslation as we tried to get around my handful of Italian words and their humble set of English stock phrases.

From the brother and sister who in their youth had traveled the entire coast of my home country, Brazil, to the pair of young Eritrean refugees clutching an A4 sheet with Rome’s central station, “Roma Termini,” written in big blue letters, it’s in the trains that I stumbled upon the unique experiences that I was craving in the first place.

Walking through the Uffizi, seeing the Coliseum, and getting lost in Venice are all unforgettable experiences, I’d recommend them to everyone. They are there, you see them, you say or feel ‘wow,’ and then you walk on. But after every time I found myself pulled into conversation with complete strangers who would unabashedly tell me their stories and worries, and with sincere warm interest ask about my own life, I’d actually feel– changed. These were the experiences that actually pulled me into the lives of the country and made me feel like I was leaving a bit of my life here to live on with these brief encounters.