Italy Cruise Ports: Genoa, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, Bari Cruise Ports of Call in Italy

A Italy cruise in the Mediterranean around the boot that is the Italic peninsula of Italy have lots of ports of call to visit with history and culture waiting in every Italian port. Visit WebVisionItaly's Italy travel channel for more about Italy's ports of call and Italy travel.

Ports of call in Italy include Genoa cruise port in the Liguria region of Italy, Livorno cruise port of call closest to Florence in Tusany, Civitavecchia cruise port outside Rome near Fiumincino airport in Lazio, Naples cruise port in the Bay of Naples region of Campania, Sicily includes Palermo and Siracusa, and on Italy's Adriatic coast Bari, Rimini, and Venice.

WebVisionItaly cruise port video gives the Italian tourism traveler and Italy cruise traveler ideas for day trips and shore trips. Visit the ports on WebVisionItaly.com to watch videos about the surrounding areas. Don't just be a tourist to Italy, be a traveler to Italy with WebVisionItaly.com.

Click for a complete listing of guided tours of Italy, Italy travel packages including air and hotel, and Rome Italy cruise listings and Venice Italy cruise listings.

Italy High Speed Train: Milan, Naples, Florence, Rome and Bologna by TrenItalia

TrenItalia, or Ferrovie dello Stato is Italy's national train line. It is very easy to travel in Italy by train. A tip that always helps is to know the name and spelling of Italian cities in Italian language. Buy a ticket from a vending machine or from the person - either way you'll need this information to make your Italy travel easy.

TrenItalia recently introduced high-speed rail service. Italy's high speed rail routes run between Naples and Milan. This train service is called the Freccia Rossa, named after the gorgeous new red trains that run Italy's high speed rails.

TrenItalia high speed rail travel time and cost of train ticket between cities in Italy:

• Rome to Milan by high speed rail to three and a half hours. -- Roma a Milano
• Milan to Bologna by high speed train is one hour. -- Milano a Bologna
• Milan to Florence 2 hours 10 minutes -- Milano a Firenze
• Naples to Milan 4 hours and 50 minutes -- Napoli a Milano
• Rome to Bari to 4 hours. -- Roma a Bari
• Rome to Verona by high speed Freccia Rossa train to 4 hours. -- Roma a Verona
• Rome to Venice by high speed rail to 4 hours. -- Roma a Venezia

Route	Time	1st Class	2nd Class
Milan - Bologna Centrale	1h5'	$65	$46
Milan - Florence	2h10'	$78	$55
Milan - Naples	4h50'	$146	$103
Milan - Rome	3h30'	$128	$93
Lemezia T.C.le - Rome	3h59'	$93	$63
Rome - Bari Centrale	3h59'	$93	$63
Verona P.N. - Rome	3h59'	$98	$67
Rome - Venice	3h59'	$116	$81

Italy High Speed rail prices good through January 15, 2009.

High speed rail travel in Italy includes free newspapers, beverages and snacks, so don't bother buying the water and snack in Termini, Milano Centrale, Napoli, or Firenze.

Click here for video How to Buy a train ticket in Italy.  For more about traveling by train in Italy click Italy travel travel.

Italy prepares for a trains versus planes smackdown

The Economist reports that, not only are low-cost carriers like Ryanair and easyJet giving the eternally-in-peril Alitalia a run for its money on some domestic air routes (more on that in a moment), but that the trains are shaping up to be an even better option on long hauls.

A new high-speed track on the Bologna-Milan line will cut 30 minutes off the travel time; by the end of 2009, a similar project should be finished for Bologna-Florence, slashing travel time from 60 to 30 minutes.

Planes still sound faster, right. Well remember: A 90 minute flight actually eats up approximately five hours of your time (give yourself an hour on each end to get to and from the airports, check in at least an hour early for your flight, and pad that with another 30 minutes for luggage retrieval, missed airport trains, and the wise decision to arrive at the airport a wee bit early).

Still, you can't argue with low prices from no-frills airlines--and air connections are a lot faster than trains for going from, say, Milan down to Apulia or Sicily.

The article cites only easyJet's new route connecting Rome's Fiumicino airport with Milan's Malpensa airport, but know that easyJet also flies from Rome to Bari and Palermo, and from Milan to Naples, Apulia (Bari, Brindisi), Sicily (Palermo, Catania), Lamezia, and Sardegna (Cagliari and Olbia).

Meanwhile, Ryanair--which is making a strong bid to oust Alitalia from its own market--now flies from Milan to Rome, Apulia (Bari, Brindisi), Sicily (Palermo, Trapani), Lamezia, and Sardegna (Cagliari, and Alghero); from Rome to Milan, Venice, Trapani, and Sardegna (Cagliari, Alghero); from Bologna to Apulia (Bari, Brindisi), Lamezia, and Sicily (Trapani); and from Pisa to Bari, Lamezia, Sicily (Palermo, Trapani), and Sardegna (Caglieri, Alghero).

Also in the article: more news on the announced rival to the Italian state railways that is aiming to provide high-speed service between Rome, Milan Turin/Torino), and Venice in 2011.