Slow trains through Italy

Just look at this one-week tour which has been designed for us by the editors of hidden europe, a publication which surely rates as Europe’s quirkiest travel mag. The All Aboard brief to hidden europe was simple: choose a clutch of fine mid-sized Italian cities, ideally ones which don’t have quite the crowds you find in Milan, Florence or Venice.

They came up with Mantua, Siena, Assisi, Ferrara and Vicenza, so there’s a Renaissance theme to this Italian adventure which starts in Turin and ends in Bergamo. You may want to extend this tour by spending two or even three nights in some of these cities.

Quite a bit of the rail travel is on local trains, so this really is a chance to put your slow travel principles into practice.