Upcoming transport strikes — official calendar
Every announced strike affecting travelers (rail, air, local transit, ferries) in the coming weeks, read directly from Italy's official government strike calendar — translated into plain English, with the hours and what still runs. Freight-only strikes are filtered out.
Source: Ministry of Transport official strike register
The calendar you just read will change
Italian strikes are announced at least ten days in advance by law — and they are called off just as often, sometimes the day before. So the calendar above is right today and may be wrong next week.
Give us your travel dates and we watch it for you. A program reads the Ministry of Transport's own register every half hour. If a strike is announced, changed or revoked on one of your days, you get an email. Nothing else — no newsletter, no marketing.
Free. One email per strike that affects your dates, and an unsubscribe link in every one.
How Italian train strikes actually work
Here is the part most first-time visitors don't know: Italian rail strikes are regulated by law, announced well in advance, and they almost never stop the entire day. Under Law 146/1990, strikes in essential public services require at least ten days' notice, and the operator must tell the public at least five days before how services will run and when normal service resumes. A strike should never ambush you at the platform.
Four rules take most of the fear out of it.
- Guaranteed time bands for regional trains. Essential services run in the peak windows: 06:00–09:00 and 18:00–21:00 on working days, and 07:00–10:00 and 18:00–21:00 on Sundays and public holidays. A regional train scheduled inside those bands operates normally.
- Guaranteed long-distance trains — and you can check yours right now. This is the point almost every guide gets wrong: Trenitalia does not publish the list at the last minute. It maintains permanent tables on its own site — Table A for ordinary strikes, Table B for a national general strike falling on a holiday and starting at 21:00 the evening before. You can look up your train months ahead. See Trenitalia's guaranteed trains page.
- A train already running usually finishes its journey. If your train has departed before the strike begins and is not cancelled at its origin station, it will normally reach its final destination — provided that destination can be reached within one hour of the strike starting. Beyond that hour it may terminate early at an intermediate station. So a journey that starts before the strike is often completed.
- The evening-to-evening trap. Many national rail strikes run from 21:00 one day to 20:59 the next. Read the hours before writing off a whole day: a strike of that shape leaves the morning of the previous day completely untouched.
And if your train is cancelled by a strike, you are covered — but the deadlines differ depending on what you want to do, and one of them is easy to miss.
- Your train is cancelled. Trenitalia's conditions of carriage treat this as its own responsibility, so you get a full refund with nothing withheld, even if the ticket was already validated. You can claim at any ticket office from the day of the event, and the formal claim can be made up to a year later. Italo does the same: a cancelled train or a departure delayed more than 60 minutes gives you a full refund with no deduction, or travel on the next available Italo, including on a later date.
- You would rather give up the trip because of the announced strike. This is where the trap is. Trenitalia's conditions state that the claim can be made from the moment the strike is declared and only until 23:59 on the day before the strike. Miss that window and you are back to the ordinary rules for voluntary cancellation, which carry a 20% deduction on regional tickets.
- You travel anyway and arrive late. Both operators pay compensation for delays at arrival: 25% of the fare for 60–119 minutes, 50% from 120 minutes. With Italo it is paid automatically within 30 days. With Trenitalia it is automatic too on digital regional tickets bought electronically since January 2025; otherwise you claim it.
One warning that catches people out on connections: if your journey is made of separate tickets from different operators — say an Italo high-speed leg and a Trenitalia regional one — each company is responsible only for its own service. If the first train is late and you miss the second, the first operator will not refund the second ticket. Leave real margin between separate tickets, especially on a strike day.
A strike lands on your travel day? Your 5-step plan
- Don't cancel anything yet. Strikes are sometimes called off, and most trips survive them with small adjustments.
- Check the exact hours in the table above — many strikes leave protected morning and evening windows, or start at 21:00.
- Look up your train number on the official guaranteed-trains tables on trenitalia.com. These are permanent — you can check today, not the night before.
- Have a plan B window: if your train isn't guaranteed, aim for the protected bands or shift by a few hours rather than a whole day.
- Cancelled anyway? Claim the free rebooking or full refund — and keep your ticket.
Local transit strikes (metro, buses) and airport strikes follow the same logic: announced ahead, minimum service windows, published in the same official calendar above.
Frequently asked questions
Do high-speed trains (Frecciarossa, Italo) run during strikes?
Mostly yes. Long-distance high-speed services are far less affected than regional trains. Trenitalia publishes permanent tables of the trains it guarantees — Table A for ordinary strikes, Table B for a national general strike on a holiday. They are on the operator's own site and can be checked at any time, months ahead. Look up your specific train number rather than assuming.
What exactly are the guaranteed time bands?
For regional trains, essential services run from 06:00 to 09:00 and 18:00 to 21:00 on working days, and from 07:00 to 10:00 and 18:00 to 21:00 on Sundays and public holidays. Trains scheduled to depart inside those bands run normally. The bands cover regional services — long-distance trains follow the guaranteed tables instead.
My train was cancelled because of a strike — do I get my money back?
Yes, and with nothing withheld — Trenitalia's conditions of carriage treat a strike cancellation as the operator's responsibility, so the refund is full even if the ticket was already validated. Italo applies the same for a cancelled train or a departure delayed over 60 minutes, and will also carry you on the next available service, including on a later date. But if you decide to give up the trip in advance because a strike has been announced, the claim must be made by 23:59 on the day before the strike. After that you fall back on the ordinary voluntary-cancellation rules, which carry a deduction.
How far in advance are strikes announced?
Law 146/1990 requires at least ten days' notice for strikes in essential public services, and the operator must inform the public at least five days before about how services will run. That's why this page can show you the coming weeks — and why strikes are also frequently revoked, so re-check about 48 hours before you travel.
My train departs before the strike starts. Will it be cancelled halfway?
Usually not. If the train has left its origin station and was not cancelled there, it normally continues to its final destination — as long as that destination can be reached within one hour of the strike beginning. Past that hour it may stop early at an intermediate station. In practice, journeys that start before a strike are frequently completed in full.
I have separate tickets from Italo and Trenitalia. Who covers me if a strike breaks the connection?
Each operator only. When a journey is made of separate tickets issued by different companies, each one answers for its own service alone: if an Italo train runs late and you miss a Trenitalia regional, Italo will not refund the regional ticket, and the reverse is equally true. Both carriers state this in their own conditions. On a strike day, leave generous margin between separate tickets, or buy the whole journey from one operator.
Travelling on a strike date?
Ask Pronto about your exact train and day and it reads this same live calendar — free during beta. And if your train is cancelled, we deal with it: the alternatives, the refund window, the call to the operator. You are in Italy on holiday; the phone calls are our job.
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