About this journey

Bari Centrale station sits at the northern end of the Ferrovia Adriatica's Apulian stretch, the starting point of a route that has carried passengers south through the heel of Italy for well over a century. The line was built by the Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali between 1863 and 1872, financed by a consortium of 92 bankers with 100 million gold lire. Construction favoured the flattest coastal path, deliberately avoiding tunnels and viaducts, though storms repeatedly interrupted the work. In 1906, management of the entire line passed to Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane.

The southern portion of this route — from Brindisi onward to Lecce — was in fact the first section completed, finished by 1866, driven partly by the competitive race to carry the Imperial Indian Mail, the Valigia delle Indie, with Brindisi positioned as Europe's gateway to the East. That segment was later doubled between 2002 and 2006, reflecting its continued importance. Lecce station itself opened on 15 January 1866 as the terminus of that inaugural section, and it remains the southern end of the Ferrovia Adriatica today. The FS ETR 104 arrives here having covered a line whose northern and southern halves were completed years apart yet have functioned as a single corridor ever since.