Italian rail travel

Has ANYONE TAKEN THE OVERNIGHT TRAIN - ROME TO Palermo, iTALY ? hOW ARE THE SLEEPERS ? Any information you care to share about that trip. Does the train have a dining car ? club car ? I will be making that trip late Feb. Also travelling throughout Italy - Milan south and return to Milan. plan to use the high speed trains - Eurostar and Le Freece that can be used with the Italian rail pass . Any info on your train travel experience is welcome. thanks

I have never travelled by train in Italy, but I have received helpful information from the seat61 website (the man in seat 61) which seems to cover train travel in Europe and Britain. Google something like seat61, Rome to Palermo, same for Milan. Somewhere on seat61 there is also a forum if you can't easily find the info you are looking for.

Jean

I've travelled quite extensively to, from, and throughout Italy (although not all the way south). Some of the more local trains (regionali and locali) can be a bit "rustic", but as long as there's no strike, they pretty much run on time, and are quite reasonable (if you're not going far on some days, consider just buying a ticket - it can be cheaper than a supplement, and would save you having to burn through a railpass day). I have taken the old ETR trains that ran as "Eurostar Italia" many times - gorgeous and comfortable - and last time I was there I took a "surprise" Frecciarossa from Roma to Napoli (it hadn't officially opened yet, they were doing a "soft opening" where it wasn't even on the timetable yet), which was also beautifully designed and comfy, although much of it was built on an elevated viaduct, which kind of reduced the charm of seeing the scenery at ground level. The FS is the one thing Mussolini managed to get right!