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Strain by Train in Italy Reprinted
Courtesy of Jenni Meredith &"Disability Now." Italy,
country of contrasts, offers several thousand miles of sheltered Mediterranean
and rocky Adriatic coast, misty mountain ranges, placid lakes, the wide flat
plain of the dark-soiled Po valley, bustling cities, friendly people and
wonderful wines and cheeses. Train
travel is the best way to appreciate the scenery, so we decided to do a
grand tour last autumn. All Italian stations are accessible, very clean and
have plenty of staff and lifts. But only some trains are accessible, so you
need to plan schedules in advance. We
flew KLM to Milan hoping it would prove
an easy route for a novice flyer. It did. Stansted
is more user-friendly than London's bulging Heathrow.
What
is more, the Milan tube has stair lifts, and there are pedestrian areas and
some drop kerbs. You can walk through Cathedral
Square and along the narrow side streets where specialist shops
sell furniture handles, antique toys or fashion fabrics. As one of Europe's
main fashion centres, this is the place to find beautiful materials. But
prices can be as fabulous as the fabrics. Leaving
Milan, we took the train to Trieste on
the Slovenic border and returned via Venice and
Verona. The coastal route between Venice
and Trieste takes you past the ship-building centre of Monfalcone
and ancient sea fortresses at Duion and Miramare. Once
home to James Joyce, Trieste, variously
ruled by Romans, French and Austrians, was finally annexed to Italy in 1954.
It has a lively daily market, more scooters than I've ever seen, and canal
marinas in the baroque main square. At night, floodlit facades and the
twinkling lights of mountain villages are reflected in its sheltered
Adriatic bay. Trieste,
too, boasts a good modern art collection in an accessible, ancient palace,
which also houses a wonderful library lined from floor to ceiling with
antique cabinets of leather-bound volumes. In
nearby Muggia, with its 15th century
cathedral, sardine fisherman mended nets whilst chatting to customs
officers. We sat in a harbour cafe writing postcards home. We
also took a tram to Opiccina with
gradients as steep as one-in-four, affording breathtaking views of the
Italian and Slovenic coast. Ice
cream is a must on any Italian holiday and it's in Trieste's pedestrianised
Via XX Settembre that the locals dip long spoons into tall glasses of
designer ices after a stroll around the town's more select shops. We joined
them beneath the chestnuts. On
our way to Verona, we stopped for a few
hours in Venice. This beautiful, if
illogical, city is packed with tourists, even in October. A few metres from
the crowds, though, you find the real Venetians: builders taking
coffee-breaks in barges full of bricks; locals sipping aperitifs at shady
pavement cafes, others pegging washing precariously across upper-storey
windows. And there is no traffic noise.
The
train then deposited us at Verona's pink marble station, home to a Roman
amphitheatre, opera house, Juliet's balcony and grave, and the 12th century
Castle Vecchio, one of Italy's most important museums, which is partly
accessible. Through
Verona meanders the River
Adige. Large squares with covered colonnades and connecting lanes
in the pedestrianised, historical centre offered interesting walks. Famous
among fossil collectors, the Lessina
hills rise to the north of the city. Commercialised Lake
Garda is a bus ride away, through rich vineyards. On
our way to the centre for a glass of Valpolicella, the local
specialty, we
joined local residents at a roller-skating contest in a municipal park. Verona's
wide, pink marble pavements look easily accessible, though finding drop-kerbs
demands concentration. By
contrast, Turin, candidate city for the
Winter Olympics, has plenty of ways on and off its miles of covered
walkways. We
took another train journey to this elegant regional capital at the foot of
the Alps to attend a disability film
festival. There were galleries and more opportunities for window shopping. Abundant
local produce in the daily market and the music of vendors' calls made it a
favourite morning haunt. Many buses run from there to the main station,
where we saw EUCRA's (the umbrella disability arts organisation) digital art
exhibition. A
short walk under the colonnades brought us to the River
Po and leafier suburbs across the bridge. From
Turin, we took a scenic train journey to
Carrara and its famous marble quarries
via the Mediterranean resort of Vintimiglia
on the French border. Rattling over spectacular viaducts and then rushing
through mountain tunnels, we surfaced each time to see deep blue skies
contrasting with the fiery leaves of mountain trees. Then
we took the coastal route via Genova,
arriving at Carrara in the early
evening. Storm clouds brewed on the horizon and bright sunlight edged colour-washed
houses. From
Carrara, we journeyed to Florence,
with its galleries, opulent shops, fast flowing river and ancient city
walls. Self-catering
in a renovated 13th century building offered us the chance to shop for food
in Italian. Grocers and greengrocers are well stocked with fresh produce
it's like stepping inside a Harrods hamper. But many have steps, so access
is not easy. From
our Florence base, we made excursions to
the ancient village of Assisi in the Umbrian
hills and Tuscany's Siena, where
busloads of Americans were on the culture trail. The
train winds through rolling hills wooded with blue evergreens, golden
birches and rich valley plots neatly planted with olives, vines and fruit
trees. Climbing to ancient Assisi from the station by car, foot or bus is
well worth the effort. Returning
to Milan for the flight home, we were treated to more lakes, mountains and
rich plains. But you can't have too much of a good thing. Fact
file. Italian
State Tourist Board, 1 Princes Street, London, W1R 8AY, tel:
0171-408 1254. Massimo
Misconti, consultant on accessible tourism can provide complete
packages and/or advice, c/o Promotur, Piazza Pitagora 9, 10137 Turin, Italy,
fax: 0039/011/3091201, e-mail: m.micotti@agora.stm.it. KLM
UK return flights, Milan Linate-Stansted, from £89. Italian
Rail has kilometric cards (£75 if bought in Italy) valid for two
months and ten journeys or 3,000km. For
the booklet, I servizi per la clientela disabile, write to Service Alla
Clientela Assist-enza Disabilii, Statzione FS, Piazzale XXV Aprile, Verona. Tips
for your Euro trip. Orange
Badge is a British company in Tenerife which aims to make getting round the
island easier, whether with transport to and from the airport, wheel-chairs
or scooters . Tel: 00 34 922 797355. If
your journey starts from Heathrow, their
Traveller's Information Special Needs leaflet will help with the
nightmare of navigating the airport. Maps highlight accessible toilets and
ramped access and there is information about other facilities, including
Skycaps, Heathrow's internal luggage carrying system, which is free to
people with special needs. For a copy, tel:(01233) 211207. Sailing
will hopefully be plain if you go with P&O. Their ferries have lifts to
the main passenger areas and easy access to bars and toilets. Members of the
Disabled Drivers Association, tel:
(01508) 489449, the Disabled Drivers' Motor Club, tel: (01832) 734724, and
the Disabled Motorists' Federation, tel: (01743) 761889, receive a 30
percent discount when booking through their associations. P&O tel:
0171-800 2345 Stena Line offers up to 50 percent discount, tel: 0990-707
070. The
RNIB Holiday Service can help visually
impaired people find accommodation abroad and in the UK and financial
assistance for your holiday. They can also provide a sighted guide to
accompany you on your trip. A hotel guidebook, £2.99, is available in
different formats. It includes details of 50 UK hotels and guests houses
recommended by other visually impaired people. RNIB Holiday Service, tel:
0171-388 1266. Jenni
Meredith is a freelance travel writer. Contact her at
Global Access Disabled Travel
Network |
The
best way to see Italy is by train, says
Jenni Meredith, who traveled with her husband, a wheelchair user.
I
was told you only visit Milan on business. Not true. The Civic
Gallery of Modern Art has wonderful Mario Marini sculptures; the
nearby park is a welcome oasis of calm amid city traffic, and large museums
in the historical centre of the city have important DaVinci's, Botticellis,
Caravaggios, Italian abstracts and futurists. 
When
the sun is too hot, Venice offers ample
shade with tall old buildings and narrow streets. My map clearly identified
accessible areas, since pedestrian bridges with many steps cross the network
of canals. These areas appear to be linked only by canals. But you can reach
all the main sites by accessible water-bus.