Using the Vatican City train station?
Using the Vatican City train station?
From Wikivoyage
It's a little-known fact that the Vatican has its own train station; it is rarely ever used. Historically, it has been used by the Pope for special travel on Italian rail or to send off papal remains. By special arrangement with the Italy State railway, ordinary people (usually train enthusiasts) can arrange to arrive and leave the Vatican via the Vatican Station. This requires quite some time to arrange and is not remotely cheap.
Consider me interested. However Wikivoyage is lacking info on how to achieve this? Can anyone else provide some information on this?
Would this do? museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/…
– Berend
Aug 27 at 11:05
I think it travel one per week for "ordinary" people. Then (AFAIK) it is to transport freight (food), quicker than Rome traffic.
– Giacomo Catenazzi
Aug 27 at 11:29
@giacomo-catenazzi this train supposedly goes from Vatican City to Gandolfo, and back.
– Berend
Aug 27 at 11:40
I have edited the Wikivoyage page to describe the weekly tour pointed out by Berend, so it no longer contains the quote from the answer.
– Jacob Bundgaard
Aug 27 at 15:42
1 Answer
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I am not sure if it is a little-known fact that there is a train station in the Vatican City, but never mind. You should be able to find the station and the rail line quite prominently on any map of the Vatican.
Other fun facts: The railway network is also the shortest in any state, with a track length of 1.27km, and the most dense railway network with 2.89km of track per km².
As Berend already pointed out in his comment, there is a weekly package tour operated each Saturday, which is open to the public. This tour has been available at least for a few years and I have no idea why Wikivoyage is so outdated. Tickets start at €41 and there are several options including additional guided tours or frills. The included train ride is first a trip from the Vatican City station to Castel Gandolfo in the morning and a trip back from Castel Gandolfo to Roma San Pietro (last station on the Italian side of the border) in the late afternoon.
So strictly speaking, you can only travel on the regularly scheduled train from the Vatican City station and not to.
Here some more information about timetable and which day: trenitalia.com/tcom/Treni-Regionali/Lazio/…
– Giacomo Catenazzi
Aug 27 at 13:05
...and a photo-loaded article: ferrovie.it/portale/leggi.php?id=1358 (italian only); fun fact: the train remains with the pantograph on the Italian side of the border railway gate (normally closed, photo of the opening), because the Vatican side is not electrified.
– Astrinus
Aug 27 at 14:20
@AzorAhai If you want to know for sure, you will have to contact the tour operator and ask. Just my wild guess: The retour is so late, that all the museums in the Vatican City are already closed. It would not make much sense to bring the participants back into the Vatican City.
– Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
Aug 27 at 22:25
@Thunderforge As you can see in the comments to the question: That has already been considered and done.
– Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
Aug 27 at 22:26
If you're into Fun Facts about the Vatican, how about this one: Statistically, the Vatican has two popes per km²
– KlaymenDK
Aug 28 at 11:09
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little-known fact indeed!
– user67108
Aug 27 at 10:45