Italy

In this episode, we're celebrating Italy and following the Neapolitan Line. Travelling west from the gelato shops of the seaside town of Pescara, we cross Italy through the remote and wild Apennine Mountains down to the bustling city of Naples on the west coast. Years ago, for many Italians, this was a one-way trip, their ultimate destination being the US. But the line also helped some to stay, such as the Pelino family, who used the line to create a confectionery business in the small town of Sulmona. Almost 150 years later, it is still selling its products worldwide. Rising into the Apennines on coaches that date back to the 1920s, winter descends. The heavy snow gives this section of the line the nickname ‘Italy's Trans-Siberian'. And as we pull into Roccaraso, nearly 4,000 feet above sea level, we really feel like we're in Russia. It's here we meet the town's most famous resident, Juan Carrito, a two-year-old marsican bear, who likes to hang around the station at night, before wondering off into the vast expanse of the National Park of Abruzzo each morning. Coming out of the snow, we pull into Castel di Sangro. Although it has a population of only 6,000, its football team was once blessed by the ‘Miracle of Castel di Sangro', rising to the Italian equivalent of the championship league for two glorious seasons. Our journey ends on-board the royal carriages preserved in the old locomotive works of Pietrarsa, next to Italy's very first railway line, linking the royal palace to Naples itself.