Italy Express: Lecce to Rome
before sunrise on the Salento express
It’s lonely on the Salento express, the special edition overnight tourist train from Lecce to Rome. The dining car, white and pristine, is nearly empty. The evening sun casts golden hour shadows as the flat landscape rolls by. The Adriatic is somewhere to the right, I catch its marine blue from the corner of my eye. I see only two other travellers at separate tables, while the duo of dining car attendants (an odd couple in energy and manners) take the dinner order.
The first course arrives instantly. The pasta is...very al-dente. I look up: the solo travellers are now sitting opposite each other across the same table. Deep in conversation, their first course appears untouched. The sun is setting, the sky converts to a deeper blue hue. The second course arrives, the chicken is…no it is fish. I hear the one attendant exclaim “Romantic!” as he pops opens a bottle of Prosecco for the joined solo travellers. They laugh slightly awkwardly. The dining room lights have taken over from the summer sun. The couple are toasting, laughing, having a good time. 2nd course still on the table. By the time the dessert arrives, a very dry tart, the other attendant is urging me to call it a night with his card machine. It is dark outside. The travellers are still chatting like old friends as the train leaves the coast of the Adriatic and heads inland and I go to my cabin.
For a number of hours in the middle of the night, the train stops. As if it needed a respite before a second go. Earlier on, I had heard the giddy voices of the travellers pass through the corridor. Now there is a silence. So silent I could hear the train and the very few people on it breathe. By the time the intercom announces breakfast in the morning, the train has been rolling again. In the dining car, same attendants, same dry food but no solo travellers. As I walk out of Roma Termini, I see them again, with their bags, standing together. One points and they walk and get into a car that has just pulled up. So, their encounter continues. Where do they go from here? Was I witness to a “before sunrise” on the salento express?