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Let's Go For a Ride! How to Take a Train Across the Strait of Messina

If you're planning on taking a trip to Italy and haven't yet experienced the unique event of crossing the Strait of Messina by train, you must add it to your bucket list. We've done it six times, and each time we discover something new between the boot of Italy and the island of Messina. For one, when you take a train, your train is loaded into the belly of a ferry to make the crossing, and you're free to wander the ship and sightsee during those 35 minutes of open water.

Doing this is very easy, can be very cheap, and will yield you some of the best photographs and stories of your trip. That is, unless you sleep through the whole thing, it's that seamless a transportation transition! The video above is filmed from the front of a train car as it goes into the ferry of the "Ferrovie dello Stato"—or Italian railway—and then sits on the tracks inside for the crossing.

The Guide to Taking the Train across the Strait of Messina, after the jump

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