My family will be traveling to Italy in April (6 adults and 2 children). We will be spending a week in Tuscany (close to Siena) and a long weekend in Rome, a total of 12 days. I have an issue with tunnels due to anxiety. I have heard there are numerous tunnels on both the train route that we will be taking (between Rome and Florence) as well as if we drive from Rome to Siena. Could someone provide some perspective on the number of tunnels and the length/time spent in the tunnels (30 seconds, 10 minutes, etc)? We will take the A1 as our main route when we drive and the high-speed train from Florence to Rome. If I can prepare in advance, that will greatly reduce my stress. Thank you!

Take regional trains will I think far less tunnels because they tend to run in valleys and twist around a lot around mountains (my take after decades of taking regional trains in Italy but I may be wrong!-not something I took note on!

Siena -Chiusi - Orvieto - Rome may have no or a few shorter tunnels perhaps

Florence - Empoli - Siena regional train takes a round about route around the mountains.

My mother had the same phobia - first time we took the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Michigan where we have no tunnels except one underwater to Canada - she made my dad stop the car and she wanted to get out and walk up and over the mountain and meet us on the other side.

a half-hour or so of cajoling and she closed her eyes and thru we went -she has the same problem with elevators!

regional trains are yes slower but dirt cheap - no seat reservations even possible.

Side roads thru Tuscany seem to also have fewer tunnels as they also twist around - but the autoroute and high-speed rail line have some long long tunnels.

For lots on regional trains and trains in general check www.trenitalia.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Some maps- rail and road show tunnels by dashed lines.

Oh on trains you can hide in the toilette/WC!

Unless I am forgetting something, I can't recall any "long long" tunnels on your projected routes. Certainly not 10 minutes. Not even 2 minutes.

I can't remember at all how many times the train passes through a tunnel, however.

Perhaps you could take the train to Orvieto and drive to Siena from there. Or to Grosseto and drive to Siena from there. I believe if you plot a driving route using Michelin maps, every tunnel is indicated in the map. Never tried it, but I believe that is so.

As Palenq said, the best way to avoid tunnels is to take the back roads (not the A1), and to take the regional train (not the high-speed train) between Rome and Florence. There will still be some tunnels, because Italy is a mountainous country, but they will be shorter.

Palenq, I grew up in Pennsylvania, and had an aunt who was afraid of tunnels. Several times we took the old route 22 instead of the turnpike, when traveling west of Harrisburg, so that she wouldn't have to endure the tunnels.

The tunnels on the high speed train line are mostly short, passing under a river or a highway. There are no level crossings on this rail line, because it tunnels under the roads. These tunnels are mostly very short. There are several longer tunnels. The longest (San Donato) is 10 km (6 miles) long. Since the train is traveling at over 200 km an hour, passing through that tunnel should take about four minutes.

Here is Wikipedia's description of the principal tunnels on the high-speed line between Rome and Florence:

Galleria San Donato, 10 954 m
Galleria Orte, 9 317 m
Galleria Castiglione, 7 390 m
Galleria Sant'Oreste, 5 710 m
Galleria Fabro, 3 284 m

The tunnels on the regional line mostly go under rivers, highways, and other railways. There are a few other than that, but they're shorter than those on the high-speed lines.

On the A1, there are tunnels under roads, railway lines, and rivers. Apart from that, between Rome and Chiusi (where you'd probably exit to go to Siena) there are several other short tunnels. I don't think any are longer than 1 km. (.6 miles).

The route between Florence and Bologna, both on the highway and on the railway, has many more tunnels that the route you'll be traveling.

In my experience, the cheap regional trains in Italy frequently stop on the tracks to allow other trains to pass that have priority. They use different tracks from the high speed trains, but the high speed trains keep moving, very rapidly. I have sat on regional trains in Italy that stopped inside tunnels. Just stopped and sat there.

Are you going to Siena or Florence? Or Bologna? If you are going to Siena from Rome, you don't need to go to Florence, and can avoid the longest 4-minute train tunnel entirely. Or you can take a bus from Rome to Siena (and between Siena and Florence). Or drive. Check the maps to see if picking up a car at the airport would eliminate some tunnel driving.

I don't like the tunnels on the Rome-Florence [high speed] line because you miss out on a lot of scenery. I have to admit that I hadn't thought of putting together a route using regional trains, though I have done it elsewhere.

Thanks, as always, to the knowledgeable and helpful forum!

The high speed trains from Rome to Florence use entirely different tracks from the regional trains. I thought that was clear from both of the earlier responses, which stated that the regional trains on that route passed through fewer and shorter tunnels.

Also, when a train needs to stop to allow a higher-priority train to pass, the stop is usually at a station, where there are additional tracks. Tunnels are almost always single track in each direction, so no passing would be possible there. Even trains going in the opposite direction often use a different tunnel.

If a train stops for any length of time in a tunnel, it would be a very unusual situation.

xanax is your friend!