Buses in Italy
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Getting around Italy by inter-city coach or bus
Every province in Italy has its own bus system; there are a few regional ones as well. (An Italian regione, or "region," is like a U.S. state—Tuscany, Sicily, Lombardy—while a provincia, or "province," is more like a U.S. county, and usually describes the smaller towns and territory surrounding a major city or town—for example, Tuscany includes the provinces of Florence, Siena, Pisa, etc.)
Useful Italian for bus travel
ticket - biglietto
one-way - solo andata
round-trip - andata-ritorno
intercity coach - pullman
city bus - autobus, bus
bus stop - fermata
excuse me (in a crowd) - permesso
I'm getting off! - scendo!
The only Italian coach company with national scope is SITA (www.sitabus.it), which runs regional lines in the Veneto (home to Venice, Verona, Padova), Tuscany (Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Siena), Campania (Naples, Amalfi Coast), Basilicata (Matera), and Apulia (Bari, Brindisi, Lecce).
All things being equal (and with a few notable excepetions, like the Amalfi Coast or some Tuscan hilltowns), to connect any two reasonably-sized towns or cities in Italy, the trains will be faster, more frequent, and more convenient than the buses, and will cost about the same, on average (which is to say: sometimes less, sometimes more).
In other words: unless you're trying to get to a tiny town off the beaten path (and off the rail lines), it makes far more sesne to take the train.
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This material was last updated January 2010. All information was accurate at the time.
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