Buckle your seatbelts: New direct high-speed services will soon whisk passengers from the northern city of Turin to the southern tip of Calabria, state railway company, Trenitalia, and its rival, Italo, both announced this week.

Trenitalia’s high-speed trains will start rolling on June 3, which coincides with the gradual relaunch of travel across Italy and the EU, according to The Local.

Italo trains will hit the route–which runs from Turin to Reggio Calabria–on June 14.

Forbes reports: 

Italy’s borders are reopening on June 3 for travel, but only to European tourists at the outset. International visitors must wait for a later date to pack their bags for Italy. That could be soon. “At the moment the European borders remain closed until June 15, but it is very likely that after that it will be possible to arrive in Italy from non-European countries too,” says Italian tourism sales expert, Giulio Gambardella. “Italy wishes that, as soon as the EU borders reopen. Italian tourist destinations are already in the reopening phase, starting with local customers. But hotels, restaurants and museums will be ready to welcome tourists over the next few days.”

As of Friday morning, there have been at least 231,700 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 33,142 deaths in Italy, according to the Italian Department of Civil Protection.

New cases hit a peak on March 21, when 6,557 infections were reported; however, that daily case tally has dwindled by roughly 90 percent, as only 598 cases were reported on May 28, The New York Times reports.

It’s an encouraging sign as the country has slowly lifted its strict lockdown. Over the last four weeks, factories, construction sites, restaurants, bars, clubs and churches have reopened.

But, only time will tell whether the pandemic is flattened enough to enable Italy to open its borders to international travelers.

 

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