Train takes travelers on gourmet journey

The journeys take place in northern Italy, setting off from Brescia through the Franciacorta, around Lake Iseo, before climbing into Val Camonica and into Edolo.

Hearkening back to the golden age of train travel when rides really were about the journey and less about the destination, an Italian railway company has created a gourmet itinerary in which guests are able to taste the products typical to the regions they pass.

Called the Train of Tastes, or Il Treno di Sapori, the voyage transports guests with diesel electric motor cars that have been refurbished to evoke the train travel experience from the turn of the 20th century.

The journeys take place in northern Italy, setting off from Brescia through the Franciacorta, around Lake Iseo, before climbing into Val Camonica and into Edolo.

Against the backdrop of the Italian countryside, guests have the choice of dining in a lounge bar and tasting area or the dining rooms in the second car. The train fits a total of 75 people.

Day-long excursions are themed around wine and cheese tastings, pumpkin festivals and wild boar feasts and continue into October.

Meanwhile, perhaps the most iconic and luxurious rail service, the Orient Express, operates journeys throughout Europe spanning London to Istanbul. On the British Pullman train in the UK, a sample menu from the "Golden Age of Travel" is a throwback to retro dining cars with dishes like a salmon and crayfish parcel with a lemon and mustard dressing, slow-cooked Rhug Estate organic beef with roasted winter vegetables and dauphinoise potatoes.

Tickets for the Train of Tastes are around €54.

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