This is a video I made from the window of Hitachi Rock ETR421-032 on 26/06/2024 as I travelled on the classic 1844 Ferrovia Leopolda from Firenze Santa Maria Novella to Pisa Central (service RV4023).
The Rock units are like a futuristic Ansaldo Breda TAF unit on steroids. They go like greyhounds (as you will see in this video). This was my first journey on one- I can't recall much about the comfort levels or interior, as I was enjoying the view and sporty ride so much.
The Leopoldo was opened in 1844 before Italy was unified. It was named after Leopold II Johann Joseph Franz Ferdinand Charles of Habsburg-Lorraine, the final Grand Dule of Tuscany before unification. His liberal thinking allowed entrepreneurs to bring the them new railway technology to the kingdom of Tuscany.
The line originally ran from the Leopoldo Terminus in Firenze (it is still there [ Ссылка ]) and the Leopoldo Terminus in Pisa (also still there [ Ссылка ]). Subsequently, the line was extended to a Terminus in Livorno ([ Ссылка ]), What is quite impressive is that for a very early line, much of it is very straight, allowing high speeds by modern trains. However, in 2006 a cutoff was opened to bypass a very curvaceous section that runs by the River Arno via Signa. This line is still used for slow trains. Ironically, the slowest part of our journey was on this new line, as we got held up by the preceding stopping service (R18187) as it rejoined at Bivio/PC Samminiatello. The Pop unit which formed this service can be seen in the bay platform at Empoli when we arrive there.
Trains now leave Firenze from the Santa Maria Novella station. It was originally named Maria Antonia after the wife of Grand Duke Maria Antonia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. I read somewhere that the famous UK railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was involved with the construction. In the 1930s, the station was renamed and rebuilt in its current form by a group of Florentine architects under Giovanni Michelucci. The design was influenced by the rationalist movement and it was the first station built using the form reflecting function ethos. Although some have linked the design with Fascist triumphalism (and this regime did use and comment on the project), it isn't really that and the clean lines and functional nature of the station are obvious even today.
Index Points:
00:00:00 Trenitalia Rock unit arriving at Firenze Santa Maria Novella
