The railway line that connects Sulmona in Abruzzo and Iserniain Molise, built with a project approved in 1885 and work started in 1892, was nicknamed Trans-Siberian Railway of Italyor Abruzzo Trans-Siberian Railwaybecause in an article in Gente Viaggi in 1980, the journalist Luciano Zeppegno defined trafficking as a “little trans-Siberian”.
The train – railway tourist service of the FS Italiane Foundation – of what is today there Parks Railwaycrosses the Abruzzo plateaus, the Majella National Park, rocky gorges and large pastures and spaces which are green in summer but subject to heavy snowfall in winter, and which can vaguely recall the desolate lands of the famous Trans-Siberian Railway.
Long 128.7kmstarts from Sulmona, at 328 metres, then rises to 1,268 meters in Rivisondoli-Pescocostanzo, descends again to Castel di Sangro at 793 metres, climbs up again to San Pietro Avellana at 960 metres, touches Carpinone at 631 meters and today ends in Isernia, at 493 metres, among mountains, national parks and historic villages.
In the meantime, he crosses 58 galleries – of which the longest within the Majella is 4km long – for a total of 25 km in the tunnel, and includes several stages: today you can travel on “our” Trans-Siberian in convoys typical of the 1930s, thanks to the Ferrovia dei Parchi project, considered an appellation, “more correct and more in line with the image of the places it crosses by crossing the tracks of two national parks and various reserves and protected areas between Abruzzo and Molise”.
History of the Abruzzo Trans-Siberian Railway: an avant-garde engineering work
There railway that connects Sulmona to Carpinone is foreseen by the Baccarini law of 1879: its construction is divided into two phases and proves to be rather complex, precisely due to the mountainous and impervious territory, as well as the lack of connections to transport the material necessary to build the infrastructure.
The Sulmona-Cansano section was opened in 1892, and from 1897 Carpinone and then Isernia were reached.
It’s about a cutting-edge engineering workbecause the convoys have to cross mountains, ravines and escarpments: during the 1900s, moreover, maintenance problems were not uncommon, the railway line was seriously damaged during the Second World War and interrupted.
As of 2014, the Ferrovie dello Stato Foundation and the Le Rotaie Association have started a project to relaunch the line, activating vintage trains on which you can travel today, effectively becoming one tourist railway which takes travelers through some of the most fascinating and lesser-known areas of Italy.
Rates vary depending on the stages: they start from 40 euros for children up to 11 years old and reach up to 70 euros for adults.
What are the stops on the Ferrovia dei Parchi
After the departure from Sulmona the train crosses the Gizio valleyThe village of Pettoranoand dates back to Mitra Hill: you then arrive at a gentle plateau, and then arrive at Camp Jupiter and enter the Majella National Park. From here the route is uphill on the slopes of the Mount Porrara: then follow the prairies and woods of the plateaus of Abruzzoand then arrive at the station Rivisondoli-Pescocostanzowhich holds the title of the second highest station in Italy, after Brenner.
Now begins the descent towards Roccarasothen we move on Mount Arazzecca and the Sangro valley: the travelers then cross the Mount Pagano with a tunnel, and you enter Molise: you pass the stations of S. Pietro Avellana-Capracotta, Vastogirardi, Carovilli, Pescolanciano-Chiauciyou cross the tunnel Mount Totila, the town of Sessanoand we arrive at Carpinone and then to Isernia.
The train of Parks Railway touches these stages:
- Sulmona
- Sulmona-Introdacqua
- Vallelarga
- Pettorano sul Gizio
- Cansano
- Camp Jupiter
- Jupiter Majella field
- Palena
- Rivisondoli-Pescocostanzo
- Roccaraso
- Alfedena-Scontrone
- Castel di Sangro
- San Pietro Avellana-Capracotta
- Villa San Michele
- Vastogirardi
- Carovilli-Roccasicura
- Pescolanciano-Chiauci
- Sessano del Molise
- Carpinone
- Isernia
