About this journey

Crotone station sits on the Ferrovia Jonica, the 472-kilometre line that runs the length of Italy's Ionian coast from Taranto south to Reggio Calabria. Opened in stages between 1866 and 1875, the line threads through Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria, largely following the Ionian Sea shore — one of the longer coastal rail corridors in southern Italy.

The journey is operated by Trenitalia, with this section of the route handled by a diesel FS Class D.445 locomotive. The central portion of the Ferrovia Jonica, between Sibari and Melito di Porto Salvo, remains non-electrified, while sections at each end of the line have been brought under overhead power. Along the way, the served network reflects significant rationalisation: in December 2010 several intermediate stations were downgraded to halts, thinning the stops across this stretch of coast.

The route ends at Reggio Calabria, which sits at the very tip of the Italian Peninsula — the 'toe' of the boot — backed by the Aspromonte mountains and separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina. The city's present layout dates from rebuilding after the 1908 earthquake. The journey from Crotone thus moves from the open Ionian coast through the narrowing Calabrian toe to a city shaped as much by catastrophe as by geography.