The "Railway of Marvels" is a European train that few people know about.

The "Railway of Marvels" is a European train that few people know about.

Cuneo is a well-traveled city that is not particularly remarkable despite being the capital of a province that is located where the phrazle mountainous Maritime Alps and the fertile plains of Piedmont meet. Nevertheless, the small town in Italy is home to a wonder that isn't very well known and is always changing location.

It denotes the beginning of the "ferrovia delle meraviglie," also known as the "railway of marvels," which is a train that travels up into the mountains and soars down to the Mediterranean, passing through spiral tunnels and lofty viaducts and weaving between Italy and France before finally arriving in Ventimiglia, which is a border town on the Italian Riviera. The direction you are coming from will determine whether it is the beginning or the end. On the final leg of the journey to Nice, passengers are treated to breathtaking panoramas of the Maritime Alps, Mercantour National Park, the Ligurian coast, and the French Riviera as the train makes its way down an astounding 1,000 meters over the course of 100 kilometers.

The historic Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nice route was voted as the top choice in Fondo Ambiente Italiano's 10th edition of the "I Luoghi del Cuore" ("Places of the Heart") survey, which was held in 2020. This route has been chronically underfunded and overlooked. Fondo Ambiente Italiano (or FAI, as it is more commonly known) is a nonprofit organization that was established in 1975 and modeled after the British National Trust. As part of its efforts to preserve and enhance Italy's cultural heritage, Fondo Ambiente Italiano (or FAI, as it is more commonly known) organizes the campaign every other year.

The survey offers participants the opportunity to highlight lesser-known locations in Italy that are of interest to the general public. The list that participants choose from in order to cast their votes is user-generated. Federica Armiraglio, who is in charge of managing national projects for FAI, explains that the organization has amassed "a database of over 39,000 sites" through previous campaigns. She continues by saying, "When you take the survey, you will actually have the opportunity to search through the database in order to determine whether or not the locations for which you would like to vote are already included." In that case, users can always create new ones. In a similar vein, it is possible to cast votes for more than one website. According to Armiraglio, "the majority of people have more than one place that they love."

In the year 2020, the Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nice route received just over 75,000 votes, making it the winner over two locations that are considered to be more traditional: Sammezzano Castle in Tuscany (62,690 votes) and Brescia Castle (62,690 votes) (43,460 votes). It's possible that the allure of traveling by train, which is an integral part of Italian history and culture as well as a form of transportation that's making a comeback at a time when tourists are looking for ways to reduce their environmental impact, has captured the public's imagination.

It seemed like the right time to make the mountain-to-sea journey and see these marvels for myself, especially considering that the full route had only just recently reopened after flooding caused by a hurricane closed off a section in October 2020. With Italy relaxing its pandemic restrictions and spring shaking out her hair, it seemed like an opportune moment to make the journey.

In addition to that, the time had come to relocate once more. Because of the pandemic, yes, but also because of the challenges of raising a young child, I feel like I've spent the better part of the last two years doing very little moving around. When we had our first child, our world shrunk to the point where the streets within a radius of ten blocks of our apartment in Milan were completely explored. When I did travel with my family, which was not very often, the experience of moving from one location to another was not at all pleasant; rather, the primary focus was on making the trip as efficient as possible (and with as few meltdowns as possible). I boarded the train from Cuneo to Ventimiglia with the sole intention of luxuriating in motion at a leisurely pace. I had previously decided to leave my husband and daughter at home.

My primary form of self-indulgence consisted of nothing more than gazing out the window. In spite of the fact that it heralds the arrival of summer, spring on the plains of Piedmont is characterized by a preponderance of shades of brown rather than flowers. The soil, which was a dark coffee color, was turned over by tractors, while previously tilled fields took on a muted appearance due to the haze. Trees of a tan color stood bare, with only a hint of green visible on the very tips of their branches. The subdued color palette made the unexpected splashes of color stand out all the more: a solitary flowering tree in Barbie pink adjacent to a squat industrial building, or the never-ending rows of rosy and white blossoms on fruit trees — peach, kiwi, and apple — stretched to uniformity.

Even inside the train, there were hints of spring everywhere you looked. A woman who was seated across from me reached into her granny cart and pulled out a plastic bag that had blood splattered all over it. The bag gave the appearance that it contained a small murder scene. She carefully ran one hand under the rippled bottom of the heavy bag while keeping the other hand on the bag's knotted top in order to check for any leaks. While she was doing that, I could make out the outlines of some large, juicy strawberries that were the first of the season.