Leaving Campania for Umbria

After a week in Sant'Agnello (Campania) and seeing the sights of the Naples and Sorrento area, we departed for Umbria. Our destination was Hotel Fortuna in Perugia, where we had made reservations back in the States. One word of advice, never travel on trains in Italy during an Italian holiday, especially without reservations or even with reservations (as sometimes they're useless... you will learn later why). Reservations may be helpful in 1st class, but from my observations, they were pretty useless in 2nd class.

We departed Sant'Agnello early (6 or 7 a.m.) and didn't arrive to our destination Hotel Fortuna until 3:30 p.m. (Driving time according to Via Michelin is roughly 4 hours, plus at least 40 euros for gasoline/petrol and tolls.) In order to get from Sant'Agnello to Perugia (via local public transit):
1) Circumvesuvania to Naples
2) From Naples, National Rail to another town (usually no direct train to Perugia, this is where we lost time) - Our train went from Naples to Arezzo (the last stop was Venezia)
3) From that small town, board another local milk run/regional train (hopefully you will only have one connection) to Perugia (and not long of a wait... our train was on Italian time!!!, good time to study maps, get caffe', relax)
4) Once you arrive at Perugia's train depot (there are several train stations in Perugia, so pay attention), purchase bus tickets (may want to buy a packet of 10 bus tickets, this is more economical) to Piazza Italia (the heart of Perugia) and where most of action is.

Travel Warning - Think Twice before Traveling on an Italian Holiday
The reason I say reservations are useless in 2nd class is that I saw many instances during that day when people had reservations but couldn't find their seat or car number. It didn't exist. So unless the people who were already sitting were polite, friendly, and wanted to give up a seat to an older individual or to people who were traveling longer distances, it wasn't going to happen. I overheard that this happens on occasion (not always). I have never seen people crammed like sardines in public transit -- okay, I have, but not for long distances. They bring on their luggage, children, and so much more and stand for the entire voyage. Incredible. On the other hand, in 1st class there seemed to be enough seats.

Helpful Perugia Sites (see travels links below)
Perugia Online www.perugiaonline.com
Hotel Fortuna Book Online