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La Dolce Vita Orient Express, Luxury Italian Train Travel Debuts

Pasta on the Orient Express? Here’s what to know about the newly announced train experience, open for bookings now and launching in Spring 2025.

La Dolce Vita Orient Express

A dining car aboard La Dolce Vita Orient Express train (rendering).

La Dolce Vita Orient Express is exactly what it sounds like: a glamorous Italian train journey. The famed travel brand has just announced a new series of itineraries across Italy, launching in Spring 2025 and available for booking now at orient-express.com.

The eight all-inclusive round-trip excursions will depart from Rome and head off to destinations including Portofino, Abruzzo, Piedmont, Tuscany, Matera, and Venice. Famed chef Heinz Beck, a German who became one of Italy’s best-known culinary figures for his work at Rome’s 3-Michelin star La Pergula, will oversee the kitchens on the La Dolce Vita Orient Express trains.

The new travel venture is a partnership between Italian luxury hospitality group Arsenale S.p.A, Orient Express, and Trenitalia-Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato, Fondazione DFS and Treni Turistici Italian TTI. 

La Dolce Vita Orient Express Suite
La Dolce Vita Orient Express suite (rendering).

Besides great Italian cuisine on-board and memorable destinations, the trips center around a luxurious train experience. The interiors are the work of Milan-based Dimorestudio, meant to evoke the La Dolce Vita era of Italian glamor in the 1960s and ‘70s. There are 12 carriages and a limit of 62 passengers per trip, with accommodations including 12 deluxe cabins, 18 suites, and a special La Dolce Vita Suite.

Guests will start their journey in Rome and depart for their selected destination, with one- or two-night, and two- to three-day themed itineraries such as The Truffle Route (from Rome to Piedmont) and Tastes of Tuscan Vineyards. There are also one-way trips exploring Sicily by rail. Guests will also have access to the newly created La Dolce Vita Orient Express Executive Lounge at Roma Ostiense. 

This being Italy, food and drink is of course central to the experience. Besides Beck’s menus showcasing Italian regional cuisine, wines will be curated in partnership with Vinitaly, the organization behind an annual wine and spirits exhibition. 

Prices for the trips start at EUR 3,500 per person (about $3,800 US) for a one-night itinerary in a deluxe cabin, or EUR 4,700 per person (about $5,150 US) in a suite.

The new train experience is being announced in advance of two new Orient Express hotels coming to Italy: Orient Express La Minerva in Rome, and Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli in Venice. Details on those openings will be revealed later this year.

See more renderings below.

La Dolce Vita Orient Express
La Dolce Vita Orient Express suite (rendering).
Deluxe room La Dolce Vita Orient Express
A deluxe room on the La Dolce Vita Orient Express (rendering).
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