On a hot day of July an idea that summer has almost gone first came across my mind. I understood that the last trip I planned was for September and that’s how I decided to make a trip from south to north Italy. I wanted to make my summer longer and started to look for tickets to those places where the average October temperatures exceed those in Central Russia to at least 15 degrees. So I found a few charter flights with the price around 3000 roubles one-way. I only needed to confirm my working schedule to proceed further with the route planning.

Direct flight to Lamezia Terme operated by Ural Airlines was the most suitable option for me and shortly after booking it I booked my return flight from Pisa with the well-known Russian lowcoster. I made a quick look at the map of Italy and browsed through ItaliaRail to make rough estimates for the required dates and directions. There appeared a few places that became my must-visit. Those were Bari, Florence, and, of course, Pisa. Crotone and Naples were added to the route considering all the changes and overnight stays. The total number of trains should have been 8, but Southern Italy is everything but train accuracy, so the actual plan was absolutely different.

In a few months after that it was finally the first day of my trip. The flight delay was the first trouble I had to encounter. It was 2 hours in the beginning, but in the end it came to almost 4 (sadly, 15 mins too less to get a free hot meal). That was a total disaster, because the 4-hour flight had no other meal plan than a small bun and some cake. Extra services were not supposed. The real challenge though was to pass through the border control at Lamezia Terme airport which is so small that there were only two customs officers to serve the whole flight (more than 200 passengers). Obviously they were not doing their best regarding speed. This way the people who found themselves at the end of the queue had to wait for about two hours to finally get the access to basic things (not only wi-fi), which are only to be found after the passport control in the baggage hall. There comes the conclusion: those who want to save nerves should choose flights to larger hubs where they don’t save money on passenger services.

The second day of my trip was dedicated to reaching Calabria from Puglia with Crotone as the middle destination. The unlucky adventures of the past day did not end, but only increased. It was made obvious by the train cancellation as I reached Catanzaro Lido. No worker of Trenitalia could give me the information on how to reach Crotone. Some said the trains stopped for the whole day, the others suggested there would be some replacement bus in a couple of hours. That was too risky to wait and hope, so I had to take a taxi (40 euro for 50 minutes ride), the cost of which exceeded the ticket for a high-speed train (3 hours) from Naples to Florence (frecciarossa is considered to be one of the best trains in Europe). Crotone turned out to be a place that makes you feel the time had stopped centuries ago.