Gianni Cipriano for The New York TimesAn Italo train in Florence, Italy, on April 28.Americans wary of interminable waits in highway traffic and at the T.S.A. security checkpoint have dreamed for years of high speed trains like France’s TGV or Germany’s so-called ICE train. But as reported in Sunday’s Times, from Italy comes news that two high-speed rail lines are competing on features like design, quality of cuisine and the feel of the luxury-brand leather on their seats.
Service began April 28 on Italo, the high-speed line billed as the Ferrari of the railroad. The phrase is inevitable, given the sleek trains are red and their managing company, Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, is headed by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the chairman of Ferrari. His co-investors include the French state rail agency S.N.C.F. and Diego della Valle, the fashion entrepreneur whose firm, Tod’s, is known for creating shoes well-suited to the Ferrari driver.
Mr. Montezemolo’s venture competes with Trenitalia, the state-controlled railroad, which has inaugurated its own high-speed line and upgraded its food service, highlighting its star chef, Gianfranco Vissani.
Italo’s first eight routes will grow to include other cities on a Y-shaped map, with Naples at its base and Turin and Venice on its arms.
The Ferrari-red cars represent the latest generation of high-speed equipment from Alstom, which also builds the TGV. They distribute motors to individual cars rather than concentrating them in a locomotive. There are three “ambiances,” or classes: Club, Prima and Smart.
Interiors were styled by Italdesign Giugiaro, among whose automotive-design credits include the Volkswagen Mk1 Golf and DeLorean DMC-12. Passengers are afforded wireless Internet service — yes, even in tunnels — live television and meals served by primly dressed attendants. There are cinema cars with large screens. Dining services are catered by Eataly, the food emporium known for its giant markets in New York and Tokyo, as well as Italy.
Seats are swathed in high-end leather from the luxury furniture maker Poltrona Frau, another firm with which Mr. Montezemolo shares links. His son, Matteo Cordero di Montezemolo, is vice chairman of the group that owns the brand. The hides are commonly found in Maseratis as well.
Service on the Italo trains is tier-priced in the manner of airlines, varying with time of day and week. Tickets can be booked online or purchased from vending machines at facilities called Casa Italo — part offices, part clubs, in rail stations designed by the architect, Stefano Boeri.
For all the care put into design, there may be one flaw: the Italo logo is no prancing stallion.
Presumably intended to represent a rapid rabbit, it instead suggests an abstracted kangaroo or wallaby, sooner befitting an Australian transport outfit.
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