The Ambassador of Italy to Austria, Giovanni Pugliese, together with the Austrian Minister for Climate, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Leonore Gewessler, the CEO of Austrian Railways ÖBB, Andreas Matthä, the President of Enit, Alessandra Priante vienna's Councillor for Tourism and Economy, Peter Hanke, and the Head of the Office of the EU Representation in Austria, Christian Wigand, yesterday took part in the maiden voyage of the new Nightjet train of the Austrian Railways ӦBB, which will connect Vienna to Rome (and vice versa) with stops also in Bologna and Florence. The new and more modern train, renamed 'City of Rome' and characterised by design elements and greater comfort, is the result of investments made in recent years by ÖBB following an ever-increasing demand for rail connections to Italy, guaranteed also through the fruitful cooperation with Trenitalia.
The ambassador, before departing, said that every year more and more Italians visit Austrian cities attracted by the artistic and cultural beauty of the country, while Italy has always remained the favourite destination for Austrian tourists for a holiday, as confirmed - among other things - by the ISTAT data for 2023, which recorded almost 3 million arrivals in Italy from Austria. "This is a figure that makes us proud but, at the same time, not surprising," says Pugliese. 'Italy, in fact, at world level, boasts the largest number of Unesco sites (as many as 60) and a thousand-year-old tradition in fashion, design and food and wine. Italy, however, is also very committed to the theme of sustainability and ecological transition, in full harmony with what this government is also doing. Thanks also to the work of Enit, moreover, our country is committed to promoting destinations outside the classic tourist circuits, where it is still possible to find the authenticity of Italian places, people and traditions, such as the Italian villages, for example'.
The new-generation Nightjet therefore marks a further step, under the banner of innovation, in the already fruitful cooperation in rail transport between Italy and Austria, which is destined to intensify also in view of the major events that Italy is preparing to organise: the Jubilee in 2025 and the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina in 2026.
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