Trenino Verde In Sardinia 0 Comments

David Herbert Lawrence, author of “Lady Chatterley's Lover”, wrote in "Sea and Sardinia": “After a long pull, we come to a station after a stretch of loneliness. Each time, it looks as if there were nothing beyond—no more habitations. And each time we come to a station." A hundred years ago journey, the slow pleasure of the adventure of exploring... todays’ experiential tourism, to be savoured and seasoned, and why not, with meditation and introspection.

In 1921, Lawrence went across Sardinia by train along the 438 km of the longest historic railway in Italy, enjoying its still wild charm, the untouched nature, the water mirrors and the silence of the solitary expanses, and finally the small stations suddenly appearing. It is the narrow gauge of Sardinia's historic railways that allows people to slowly enjoy the route and make it appreciable. In fact, Lawrence was captivated by the undeniable charm of his journey and wanted to narrate it in his book.

It was after the second war that a form of slow tourism began but it was in the eighties that, sensing the tourist potential, some of the historic lines were used by the Sardinian Regional Transport Company exclusively for tourist transport, for a journey through the wonderful greenery of the Mediterranean scrub, which can still be travelled today on what was called in 1984 the "Trenino Verde” (Little Green Train).

To enhance this important tourist resource, the Sardinia Region made a substantial allocation in 2019 to secure the lines, maintaining and managing them, upgrading and renewing the trains by redeveloping the rail sections of the Trenino Verde. The old stations could be converted into tourist reception spots.

By relaunching the internal areas and the related territory resources and traditions, a slow and welcoming tourism experience could be added to the already well-implemented sea tourism of the coast, to further make the Sardinian vacation precious.

The ambitious goal is to have the Trenino Verde nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but things must be done really well to be able to reach a not simple but possible target, raising it to international tourist notoriety.

The Trenino Verde, whose slogan is "The Trenino Verde railway is a historic "gate" that has connected the interior of Sardinia to the coast for more than 130 years", travels on 5 lines: Mandas-Laconi, Palau-Tempio, Macomer-Bosa, Mandas-Seui and Arbatax-Gairo. It has a website where the calendars of the proposed routes on a monthly basis can be found.

The trains used are vintage. There are three types of locomotives: the 1931 Reggiane Steam Locomotive (used on prestigious occasions or in period films); the Diesel Locomotive (which replaced steam vehicles); the Diesel Railcar (designed both for traction and for passengers transporting).

As carriages we find the Bauchiero Passenger Carriage (from 1913, the one in which Lawrence travelled); the Breda Passenger Car (1929/1930); the V2D Passenger Car (from the 1930s).

The Trenino Verde routes can be completed with activities such as boat trips on the lakes along the route, trekking and excursions by bike or on horseback.

“But soon we begin to climb to the hills. And soon the cultivation begins to be intermittent. Extraordinary how the heathy, moor-like hills come near the sea: extraordinary how scrubby and uninhabited the great spaces of Sardinia are”. (David Herbert Lawrence)

Written by Daniela Toti