Italy’s privately-run Italo NTV has begun a 23-hour national strike running from 03:00 on Thursday 9 July until 02:00 on Friday 10 July. The walk-out, called by the UILTrasporti union, involves all on-board crew and has already triggered dozens of cancellations and severe delays on the Milan-Rome-Naples and Turin-Venice corridors that carry the bulk of Italy’s corporate travellers.
![23-hour Italo high-speed rail strike disrupts business travel across Italy]()
For overseas visitors caught up in the disruption, having travel documents in perfect order is one less headache. VisaHQ’s dedicated Italy page lets passengers and corporate travel teams arrange visas, transit permits and passport services online in a matter of minutes, reducing the risk of additional delays while plans are being reshuffled.
Unions accuse Italo of breaching key provisions of the company agreement and of scheduling trains with chronic understaffing, forcing personnel to work beyond contractual limits. They also lament that no progress has been made on renewing the collective agreement despite the operator reporting almost €1 billion in 2025 revenues and paying more than €100 million in dividends. Under Italian strike-protection law, a limited number of “guaranteed trains” continue to run during peak hours; however, the list published by the company covers barely 30 percent of the usual timetable. Passengers whose trains are cancelled or delayed by more than an hour can obtain a full refund, re-routing or automatic compensation of 25–50 percent of the ticket price. Travel managers have been advised to shift time-critical itineraries either to Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa services or to air routes where available. With summer tourist traffic already driving high load factors, remaining seats on alternative services are scarce and expensive. Companies with frequent-traveller agreements are activating “duty of care” protocols to support staff stranded en route. The strike is the latest in a series of transport stoppages this summer and highlights mounting employee unrest as labour shortages collide with booming passenger demand. Unless a last-minute settlement is reached, unions warn that further actions could follow in late July, coinciding with the peak holiday exodus.
For overseas visitors caught up in the disruption, having travel documents in perfect order is one less headache. VisaHQ’s dedicated Italy page lets passengers and corporate travel teams arrange visas, transit permits and passport services online in a matter of minutes, reducing the risk of additional delays while plans are being reshuffled.
Unions accuse Italo of breaching key provisions of the company agreement and of scheduling trains with chronic understaffing, forcing personnel to work beyond contractual limits. They also lament that no progress has been made on renewing the collective agreement despite the operator reporting almost €1 billion in 2025 revenues and paying more than €100 million in dividends. Under Italian strike-protection law, a limited number of “guaranteed trains” continue to run during peak hours; however, the list published by the company covers barely 30 percent of the usual timetable. Passengers whose trains are cancelled or delayed by more than an hour can obtain a full refund, re-routing or automatic compensation of 25–50 percent of the ticket price. Travel managers have been advised to shift time-critical itineraries either to Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa services or to air routes where available. With summer tourist traffic already driving high load factors, remaining seats on alternative services are scarce and expensive. Companies with frequent-traveller agreements are activating “duty of care” protocols to support staff stranded en route. The strike is the latest in a series of transport stoppages this summer and highlights mounting employee unrest as labour shortages collide with booming passenger demand. Unless a last-minute settlement is reached, unions warn that further actions could follow in late July, coinciding with the peak holiday exodus.
