Terminii is a huge station with 28+ platforms. With the station, so close we were able to wait in our room until half an hour before departure but then we ended up standing for half an hour under the departures board scanning it for the platform number for our train. One of the few things we had been told when buying the tickets was that the platform number would be notified on the board 20 mins before the train’s departure. Waiting and watching the platform number finally appeared as “1 EST”. This was confusing as we could not see that platform listed anywhere until a kindly attendant directed us to the end of platform 1. Interestingly notice of the platform was late allowing about 18 minutes for us to get to the platform and as it is the furthest from the station it took probably 16 minutes to get there followed by other passengers running and out of breath.
We had made it. But we had a surprise to come. After passing through the first stop, the conductress asked for my ticket which I produce and she then told me in Italian that I had not validated the ticket at Termini and that incurred a €50.00 on the spot fine. Kerry came out to find out what the problem was (I was caring for the luggage in the vestibule of the train) and she copped a fine as well. Of course, we made a protest and the conductress pointed out the notice in fine print on the back of ticket underneath notices in three other languages that you must validate your ticket. We were not the only ones – a young lady with a cold, an Italian accent and the ability to speak the language also coped the fine. So, unless you want to pay €57 for a €7 fare, you must validate your ticket before travel – something no one had thought to mention. As it turned out we probably had no time to do that due to the distance of the platform from the station. Knowledge is a wonderful thing. We were to catch this train several times and being the experienced train traveler we knew to go straight to 1 EST – the train never left from any other platform.
Finally, we arrived in Terni to be greeted by Roberto. We agreed to share a cab to Cesi as we had had quite enough of trains. In fact the train to Cesi stopped at the bottom of the hill another 400 metres vertically up the hill before you get to Cesi.
Cesi is a fraction of the town of Terni, in the region of Umbria. The small village lies at an altitude of 437 metres on the slopes of Mount Aeolus, one of the last foothills of the mountains Martani south. It is about 10 km from Terni , in the northern suburbs to Carsulae . Its position offers an ideal panorama of the entire Terni basin. According to Istat data of 2001 , 682 residents live there.
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