The city of Florence is a great experience. It has a lot of interesting buildings, for instance the old bridge Ponte Vecchio that crosses the river Arno. Florence is not only art and culture, but also wine and food. Travelling through the Alps is quite the experience for trainspotters, you will see everything in locomotive-hauled trains, locomotives working in teams, push-and-pull operations, and it all takes place at a pace that gives every photographer a fair chance.

After the beautiful train ride through the Alps it takes a lot to exceed the impressions, but the city of Florence and the region of Tuscany will do that again and again. Florence and Tuscany are world-famous for the beautiful landscape, the art, the history, the food and the wine and their citizens.

The city squares that you find in almost every town center are well-preserved, and so are many beautiful buildings. A town like San Giminignano has been pracically unchanged in its appearance since the 16th century. The medieval towns have seen a lot of violence and unrest.

You can visit a town like Montecatini Alto which has its own funicular railway (Funicolare). A town like that has a history and culture dating back to the Etruscans, a people that lost their independent culture only a few years B.C.
The Italians are very passionate about their food and wine. There is nothing quite like the fresh fruit, bread and tomatoes from Mercato Centrale, the central market of Florence near San Lorenzo. In Florence you find a lot of restaurants, some good, some not so good, but you can always find something at a fair price.

The Italian State Railways (Ferrovie dello Stato, FS) have changed the livery of most of their rolling stock, but if you're lucky you can still see a locomotive in the brown or orange/purple liveries.