For decades, one of Southern Italy’s greatest structural challenges has been the gap in transport infrastructure compared with the center and north of the country. In 2026, however, that picture is changing rapidly. A series of major railway projects in Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily is creating one of the most ambitious infrastructure programs ever undertaken in the Mezzogiorno.
A central project is the new Naples–Bari high-speed/high-capacity railway. Once completed, it is expected to cut the journey between Naples and Bari from about 4 hours to 2, while Rome–Bari could fall to approximately 3 hours – around 90 minutes less than today. More than 7,000 engineers, technicians and workers are involved across the project.
