Travel

Getting to Città di Castello

1. From Rome (Fiumicino Airport)

By Train and Bus: We have been reliably informed that this combination represents a fairly quick route from Rome to Città di Castello. It involves getting the direct train service from Rome Termini to Arezzo (this takes approximately 2 hours 30 minutes), then a bus from Arezzo bus terminal to Città di Castello [see 2a below]. Buses leave regularly from Arezzo terminal to Città di Castello and the trip lasts approximately 1 hour 30 minutes. The bus has 4 different stops in Città di Castello. You should get off at the Via Gramsci stop. From there, it is no more than a 5-minute walk or an extremely brief taxi ride to the Hotel Le Mura.

By Train: There is a train every hour from Rome airport (Fiumicino) to the Termini rail station, the main station in Rome. The trip takes about thirty minutes. There is also bus service to the train station. There is no direct rail service from Rome to Città di Castello, so you will have to change at either Perugia or Terni. The trip from Rome Termini to Perugia is about two hours (you may additionally also have to change trains in Foligno to get to Perugia), while the one from Rome Termini to Terni lasts about 50 minutes. There are local trains regularly running from Perugia and Terni to Città di Castello, but remember that these will be relatively slow. Once in Città di Castello, you can either walk the short distance to Hotel Le Mura or get a taxi.

The state railroad system has a web page - www.trenitalia.it - through which you can check all possible train connections for any destination. Just specify the departure and arrival locations.

2. From Florence

From Florence, you can get a train to Arezzo (this trip takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes), then a bus from the Arezzo terminal to Città di Castello. Alternatively, you can also get the bus directly from Florence, which goes via Arezzo, to Città di Castello (this journey will take 3 hours and 40 minutes). Once in Città di Castello, get off the bus at the stop indicated above (Via Gramsci).

Further information for taking the train from Firenze to Arrezo: When you arrive in the Firenze station, on the main departures board look for the train to Perugia e Orte –this will tell you the number of the “binario” (platform) that the train is departing from, and when the next train is departing. Check the schedule at the binario to make sure the train is stopping at Arrezo.

Further information for taking the bus from Arezzo to Città di Castello:

a) By bus: look for the (Fermata) SITA stop in the bus terminal area to the left of the main exit of the station. (The bus to Città di Castello is blue and almost always parks in the very first space in the parking area. If you are unsure which bus to take and when it leaves, don’t be afraid to ask.) You need to buy a ticket before getting on the bus. The biglietteria (ticket station) is across the street in the little building (it has ATAM on it), or one may purchase tickets at the tobacco/candy stand just inside the Arezzo train station. Buses to Città di Castello run about every hour, some days and times less frequently, and take about an hour to make the trip. Be aware that the last trip is at 20:35.

b) By taxi: If you have missed the bus, or are impatient to get to the hotel, you can take a taxi. The trip will cost around 70 Euros, will take somewhere between 30 to 45 minutes, and is quite entertaining if you are used to North American driving conventions.

3. Taking the train from Perugia to Città di Castello

If you are taking this train, make sure you do NOT get off at the main stop for Perugia, but at the prior smaller stop called San Giovanni. Note that this train is run by a private train company and not by TrenItalia.

4. Getting from Pisa Airport to Firenze

There is a train from the Pisa airport to Firenze which leaves every hour. If you’ve missed the train, there is also an inexpensive shuttle operated by a company called Terravision that goes back and forth from Pisa to Firenze.

Further travel infomation can be obtained from the Hotel’s website: www.hotellemura.it

General information about the train system in Italy

Most of the information about train travel in this document applies to the national train system, TrenItalia. (Some of the possible train travel, e.g., the train from Perugia to Città di Castello is by private companies.) For more on TrenItalia, see a guidebook or visit their website (www.trenitalia.it), but here are a few basic helpful points.

a) Before boarding trains, validate your ticket (to ��time-punch’ it) by sticking it in one of the yellow machines in the station or on the platform. Make sure you validate the correct end (the one with extra space), or else you might occasion some exasperation on part of the conductor.

b) Not all trains stop at all stations. Check the schedule on the platform to make sure that the departing train stops at your destination. See more in the guidebooks for the various different types of trains.

c) Automated ticket machines: Sometimes line-ups for ticket purchases are quite long. If you already know the tickets you need, you can use one of the automated ticket machines, which work in Italian, French, German, English, and let you pay for your tickets in cash or with credit card, cirrus cards, etc. Bear in mind that you have to choose time and date
windows when purchasing tickets on these machines.

General Information about the intercity bus system in Umbria

The inter-city bus provides a way of doing some traveling on the weekend without cars. There are connections from Arezzo to Florence and Siena. Perugia and Assisi are also within relatively easy reach. We will try to have bus schedules available early in the first week. The train connects with most of the major cities in the area.

The intercity system is called SITA and its buses are a distinctive blue color. Since the system is responsible for public transportation across the region, the buses can make many stops along the way and are consequently somewhat slow. On the other hand, it is a quick way to explore cities in the region. Be advised, however, that SITA buses generally stop running at about 9:00 in the evening. You can check schedules for SITA on their website, http://www.sitabus.it/wps/portal.