The Italian railway system is one of the most important parts of the infrastructure of Italy, with a total length of as of 2011.
Origins
Railways were introduced in Italy when it was still a divided country.
The first line to be built on the peninsula was the Naples–Portici line, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which was 7.64 km long and was inaugurated on 3 October 1839, nine years after the world's first "modern" inter-city railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The following year the firm Holzhammer of Bolzano was granted the "Imperial-Royal privilege" to build the Milano–Monza line (12 km), the second railway built in Italy, in the then Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, a part of the Austrian Empire.
On request of the Milanese and Venetian industries, but also for the already clear military importance, construction of the Milan–Venice line was begun. In 1842 the Padua-Mestre stretch of 32 km was inaugurated, followed in 1846 by the Milan-Treviglio (32 km) and Padua-Vicenza (30 km), as well as the bridge spanning the lagoon of Venice.
In the Kingdom of Sardinia (comprising Piedmont, Liguria and Sardinia), King Charles Albert ordered on 18 July 1844 the construction of the Turin–Genoa railway, which was inaugurated on 18 December 1853. This was followed by the opening of other sections which connected with France, Switzerland and Lombardy–Venetia.
A locomotive factory was also founded in Genoa, in order to avoid the English monopoly in the field. This became the modern Ansaldo.
In Tuscany, the Duke of Lucca signed the concession for the Lucca–Pisa railway, while, in 1845, the Duchy of Parma began the construction of two lines towards Piacenza and Modena. In the Papal States, Pope Gregory XVI opposed railways but Pope Pius IX took a more liberal view. Some lines were begun in 1846 under Pius IX with the Rome and Frascati Rail Road then the Rome and Civitavecchia Rail Road.
In the course of the Wars of Italian Independence railways proved to be instrumental in the defeat of Charles Albert's army at , as well as in the Austrian defeats at Palestro and Magenta: in the latter French troops were able to reach the battlefield quickly thanks to the new means of transport and established a defence line right on the ballast of the line.
Under unified Italy
At the creation of the unified Kingdom of Italy, railways in the country were the following:
for a total of 2,064 km active railways. Lines in the Papal States were still under construction, whilst Sicily had its first, short railway only in 1863 (Palermo-Bagheria). The existing lines did not form an organized network: property of the line was state or private, the latter in turn for private or state use. An organic structure began to be created in 1865 with the connection of the existing sections. In order to promote industrial development, the government entrusted the existing lines to five concessionaires: SFAI (Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta Italia) SFR (Società per le strade ferrate romane) SFM (Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali) Società Vittorio Emanuele Società Reale delle ferrovie sarde
The war of 1866 caused great disruption to industrial activities, including those of the railway companies, which almost went bankrupt, and state intervention was needed to save them. In 1870 the last remnant of the Papal States was also annexed to Italy: it comprised the railway connection from Rome to Frascati, Civitavecchia, Terni and Cassino (through Velletri). In 1872 there were in Italy about of railways, entrusted to the existing companies as follows:
Other secondary lines were operated by minor companies. After unification, construction of new lines was boosted: in 1875, with the completion of the section Orte-Orvieto, the direct Florence–Rome line was completed, reducing the travel time of the former route passing through Foligno-Terontola. The economic situation of the secondary companies continued to get worse, aggravating the failure of the concessionaire regime at a time when in the whole of Europe the tendency to aggregate all railways into a single, state-owned company became predominant. This, among other benefits, fulfilled the transport demands that a strictly profit-oriented policy could not afford.
The Italian government was however slow to react, and only in 1878 and 1880, respectively, the largely deficitaire SFAI and SFR went under state administration.