Orient Express returns to Europe in 2023
The Orient Express, the world’s most famous train will be offering travellers a much-needed touch of the good life as it returns to Italy on a range of new and unforgettable journeys in 2023.
The Orient Express La Dolce Vita, will welcome passengers on six exquisite new trains to enjoy itineraries across 14 regions, from the Alps to Southern Italy, including three international destinations from Rome to Paris, Istanbul and Split. In addition, the stopover in Rome will be at the first Orient Express Hotel, the 17th century Hotel de La Minerve, scheduled to open after renovation in 2024.
Georges Nagelmackers launched the first Orient Express train more than 150 years ago, creating an icon of the Golden Age of Travel and raising expectations of the premium journey experience — the new Orient Express La Dolce Vita trains have been designed by global architectural and design studio Dimorestudio in the spirit of that luxury, as well as the creativity and decadence of the eponymous 1960s Italian period. Each will offer 12 deluxe cabins, 19 suites and a fine-dining restaurant, as well as an executive lounge at the Roma Termini station to welcome passengers in gourmet style before departure.
Paolo Barletta, CEO of investor Arsenale S.p.A said: “It is a great honour and privilege to work with Orient Express, one of the most prestigious luxury brands in the world. We will take travellers to discover new itineraries, to unique places where they will be able to live a ‘Made In Italy’ experience. The journey itself becomes the destination and Italy has never been so close and sensational.”
And thanks to a partnership with Trenitalia and Fondazione FS Italiane, La Dolce Vita train will explore corners of Italy normally ‘off the beaten track’ for most visitors, travelling through more than 16,000km of workable railway lines, 7,000km of which are not electrified.
For Stephen Alden, CEO of Raffles and Orient Express, Accor, La Dolce Vita train’s official hospitality partner, bringing the refined nomadic spirit of the Orient Express back to life for a new generation of travellers is a thrilling proposition. “The original train route was innovative in the way it paradoxically brought cultures together – the Occident with the Orient, history with modernity. We wish to revive this old-world, awe-inspiring ‘journey to elsewhere’.”