La Dolce Vita Orient Express: Eternal Stones of Matera
As well as writing this train review, I will also publish a more experiential piece about the detailed journey itself. I will also include some helpful hints and insights - like understanding the dress code which could have resulted in ‘Mrs’ TPT (1) not coming on the train and staying in Rome, (2) not coming on the trip at all, (3) a divorce; or indeed a combination of all of these options! I should have realised that having taken previous trips before on Rovos Rail in South Africa and the Train Suite Shiki-Shima in Japan, most likely the way a dress code is detailed by the train operator is likely to be more of a speculative wish list, but in reality you find that guests will do their own thing! More on this later.
The full train at Bari Centrale — ready to roll on one of Italy’s most exclusive rail journeys.
I know I’m definitely a train geek, but I would say this is more to do with the train experience itself - I don’t write down engine numbers, nor would I go trainspotting. That said, I have always loved trains since the early days of the InterCity 125 launching in the UK, and from then on I have always been fascinated. We have been lucky enough to have some incredible train experiences - like the Belmond Hiram Bingham in Peru, Rovos Rail in South Africa, and probably the pinnacle to date was securing the one and only bi-level Shiki-Shima Suite on the highly sought after (and extremely difficult to book) Train Suite Shiki-Shima in Japan, and although not residential, the incredible bullet trains in Japan and China.
The elegant La Dolce Vita Lounge at Rome Ostiense Station, where the journey begins in timeless Italian style. Designed buy Hugo Toro.
La Dolce Vita in Italy has launched with two cabin styles (Suites & Deluxe Cabins), but will be introducing the more prestigious La Dolce Vita Suite later on. We had the most fantastic experience, as I hope you will pick up from this review, and at times I felt almost emotional being able to take this journey on La Dolce Vita within weeks of its launch. On arriving in Bari Centrale, the first stop on our trip, there was a saxophone, trombone, and drums band to meet the train, and it’s at moments like that where you realise how special this is. Probably a Japanese culture difference, but I would say there was much more reverence for the Train Suite Shiki-Shima - anywhere we went there were crowds to meet and look at the train, at stations and even just on the route itself. I will always remember one man at a station that had created his own banner to welcome guests, and really seemed to enjoy meeting the guests as they disembarked. On that trip, we were the only non-Japanese guests, but it was maybe just us that stuck out a bit!
A glamorous space for pre-departure cocktails and live music — the lounge sets the tone for the journey ahead.
Index
1. Booking & Ticketing Process
2. Station Experience
3. Train Cabin Ambiance & Seating
4. Onboard Services & Dining
5. Entertainment & Connectivity
6. Scenery & Travel Experience
7. Arrival Experience
8. Overall Journey Summary & Verdict
Suite C2 aboard La Dolce Vita — elegant, compact, and beautifully finished with Art Deco flair.
Fast Facts for the Orient Express La Dolce Vita Train
Train Service: LDV535 Eternal Stones of Matera
Route: Rome Ostiense to Bari (for Matera), Bari Centrale to Sulmona (for Pescocostanzo) and returning to Rome
Duration: 3 days, 2 nights
Class: Suite (smaller Deluxe available, and La Dolce Vita Suite in the future)
Date of Travel: May 2025
The bar / lounge car — a serene space for reading, conversation, or post-dinner relaxation.
Eternal Stones & Elegant Rails: Aboard La Dolce Vita Orient Express
Arriving in Matera — a magical stop on the Eternal Stones journey aboard La Dolce Vita.
1. Booking & Ticketing Process
This was a good, but I guess slightly unusual booking experience because of the launch of this new service. As soon as I knew this train was being launched by Orient Express (I’ll explain more later on the OE history), I was desperately keen to try and secure one of the early journeys. The Orient Express team were excellent at keeping me informed, and at one point they were taking initial deposits to secure a place, even in advance of the journeys being finalised. I paid the deposit (which then became numbered, so that guests would be contacted in order of making the payment) once journeys were announced and guests were able to book a specific trip on a specific date.
I did all the research on the various options (I knew I wanted a 2-night trip on board) to try and work out which would give the longest train distance, but while I think that would have been the Rome to Sicily trip (either Rome - Maratea - Taormina - Palermo; or vice versa) what I didn’t want to do was revisit Taormina for the second time for just such a short day stay. The uniqueness of this journey is that the train will board a ferry to cross from Sicily to mainland Italy, or again vice versa, so what I did decide to do was to start our Italy trip in Palermo, then get the (normal TrenItalia) train from Taormina Gardini to Rome overnight, to be able to experience that same route. You can read all about our whole journey in these two blogs (Part I and Part II) and in what won’t be a glowing train review of that overnight service.
Sicily to Rome in Style: Villas, Views & an Overnight Sleeper Train (Part I)
Luxury Rail to Puglia: La Dolce Vita & a Southern Italian Escape (Part II)
Again I had analysed routes and services, finally booking the TrenItalia InterCity Notte service in what was called Excelsior class (now Superior Doppia) as soon as it was available. This SHOULD have had twin bunks and an en-suite WC, wash hand basin and private WC; however without any prior notification, once we had boarded we then found out they had changed the configuration of the train and we had been unceremoniously downgraded to a cabin without the en-suite. So, so disappointing after having been looking forward to this for so long - if I had known in advance what they were going to do, we would have changed our plans. That said, the train going on the ferry was a great (and very unique) experience.
Once we were booked for La Dolce Vita, the interaction with Guest Services was excellent and we were kept updated on the journey’s evolution, which did end up having a change of timing which wasn’t ideal meaning we wouldn’t board the train until 9pm, and although it was great to get a full 48 hour experience, not arrive back into Rome’s Ostiense station until almost 9:45pm. There also seemed to be a change in routing from when we booked, with Pescocostanzo replacing Paleno, though both on the Transiberiana d’Italia heritage railway route which we were still able to experience.
2. (Ostiense) Station Experience
We were picked up by a limousine at our Rome hotel (complimentary pickups also available from the airport or Rome Termini (the larger main station for Rome) depending on your travel plans. Since it’s opening, I had always wanted to stay at Six Senses (last time we visited Rome it hadn’t yet opened) so we knew that was the hotel we would stay at first. I had arranged a 5:30pm pick up time, and the driver was spot on time and got us across to the visually impressive frontage of Ostiense Station. This was designed in a Rationalist style by architect Roberto Narducci and built in 1940 to commemorate Hitler’s visit to Italy, featuring a striking travertine frontage adorned with bas-reliefs celebrating Roman history and Fascist ideology.
A refined nod to traditional railway elegance — the La Dolce Vita Orient Express lounge features individually slotted tickets awaiting each guest's journey.
The La Dolce Vita Lounge (designed by Hugo Toro) was an incredible design feat blending some of the original station mosaics and design features, with aspects of design from the newly created La Dolce Vita train, as well as also carefully and spectacularly incorporating a feeling of the vintage Orient Express design too. Absolutely wonderful - I know I can over-elaborate superlatives in my blogs, but this lounge was definitely STUNNING!
On arrival, we were shown our reserved seats in the lounge and given our (again so beautifully designed) Orient Express La Dolce Vita tickets (everything had the excellent LDV branding. Cocktails were served alongside an extensive food selection, delivered to our seats throughout the evening. There was a full bar service, and they dealt with my vegetarian request excellently, being curated by three-Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck, who also did the meals on board too. Just before 9pm, we were told the train was ready for boarding and were invited to make our way to the train. This wasn’t quite as ceremonious as the Shiki-Shima, where there was a welcoming ceremony for all the guests, and the train itself had its own platform immediately in front of their Prologue lounge.
3. Train Cabin Ambiance & Suite
On the train’s launch, there are 18 suites and 12 deluxe cabins, but a large La Dolce Suite will be launched later in the year I believe. We had Suite C2, which was one of 7 carriages on our journey. There were only four suites in the carriage, with one other carriage in between us and the restaurant car, followed by the bar car.
Thankfully larger than the standard room (and with a really decent permanent large bed), this was still compact although beautifully designed with a full en-suite shower room which would rival many hotel standards. The bed was large and comfortable, the only thing for me perhaps would have been having some softer pillows. On the second night, I just slept with one (the softer one) and that was much better. At each side of the bed was a small pull-down bedside shelf, and adjacent power points and USB charging ports (now with both USB-B and USB-C).
Spacious, stylish, and designed for comfort — the suite’s full-size bed and curved ceiling reflect the train’s signature blend of mid-century glamour and modern luxury.
On entrance to the suite was a small window table with two moveable circular bucket seats, and adjacent small one-person sofa facing out. There was decent storage - a wardrobe on one side and shelving/drawer/cupboards on the other side. This ‘bathroom’ wall was mirrored so it really helped enlarging the look of the suite.
The en-suite had a full walk-in shower (and all toiletries provided), a small wash hand basin and a WC. All were designed beautifully with mosaic tiling (black flooring which heated and white walls) topped with a border in the signature La Dolce Vita colour palette. Being so new, the only thing was the towels weren’t quite ‘broken in’ so not 100% absorbent and did tend to leave bits of fluff. Only a very minor inconvenience for such a luxury train, but throughout the journey we did seem to keep being covered in bits of white fluff! From one of my earliest blogs, I commented in one of my hotel reviews that a pet hate was either hotels using fabric softeners which make towels not very absorbent, or towels being too new for the fluff! I did wonder whether I was the only person that thought about the absorbency, but a follower from then on wrote to explain how she felt exactly the same!
Service was impeccable throughout and the suite maintained to perfection, there was always a choice of mineral water and snacks, and a bottle of Prosecco on boarding. There was a basket with a whole array of extra toiletries - toothbrushes, Marvis toothpaste, earplugs etc.
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4. Onboard Services & Dining
All meals and a selection of drinks were included within the trip - there was a restaurant car with a combination of seating for 4 and 2’s; something else that is likely to cause talk of divorce in The Private Traveller household if we have to share tables for meals. What worked much better here (than say Rovos Rail which became a bun fight to secure the tables for two) was that tables were reserved for each suite or room for a specific time. On the second night there were two seatings, an early 7:30pm anda later 9:30pm option; the third night there were less passengers and only one service without needing to reuse tables. Dinner on board (both nights) was excellent, on the first they seemed to accommodate our dietary preferences to exact detail, but for some reason on the last night I seemed to get served every meat and fish option going, despite being a strict vegetarian. It wasn’t an issue though, we just had to say each time a course was served and it was quickly changed.
The dining car aboard La Dolce Vita Orient Express — a refined space where white linen, natural light, and timeless design elevate every meal.
Breakfast could be served either in your cabin (with a selection of continental items) or as we chose each morning in the main restaurant with hot food options too. Service was excellent, with soft and hot drinks being complimentary, along with a small selection of alcoholic options including some wines. There was also an extensive choice of additional cost options in spirits, wines, champagnes, and cocktails. They would just take a note of your suite number with payment by card in your cabin just before the train arrived back into Rome.
The bar car had a mix of seating - four tables of two each at one end with curved lounge sofa style seating at the other. In the middle was the impressive bar and a full-sized piano.
5. Entertainment & Connectivity
On the night we boarded, there was entertainment in the bar (pianist and singer) as there was on the other two nights as well, but with the later boarding and having already spent a few hours in the lounge (also a very pleasant experience with entertainment there too) we had a quick drink then went to our cabin for a reasonably early night.
Wi-Fi was always available throughout the train and was at a decent speed. With hindsight, we probably should have downloaded some TV or films in advance, as we did try and watch the Eurovision Song Contest live, but the speed really wasn’t sufficient to keep up with that without being glitchy.
6. Scenery & Travel Experience
The train was so comfortable and so stylish, and we did get some great scenery through the Italian countryside, but we were off the train throughout most of the two days on board - from about 9am until almost 7pm in Bari/Matera and then again from 8:30am to 3pm on the second day in Sulmona/Pescocostanzo.
A beautifully restored Transiberiana d’Italia carriage awaiting passengers at the platform — a nostalgic glimpse into Italy’s historic rail heritage.
While the onboard atmosphere was undeniably elegant, the emphasis on immersive, off-train excursions meant that the journey was less about watching the world go by and more about stepping into it. For travellers looking to truly settle into their suite and absorb the rhythm of the rails, it’s worth knowing that the route prioritises cultural stops over continuous scenic travel.
7. Arrival Experience
Everything throughout the trip went well and the various stops roughly on time. With this being a public rail system (and actually used TrenItalia engines - unlike say the Shiki-Shima that had their own) you’re always at the mercy of the network and station/track availability, but we really had no delays. Indeed we would have arrived back into Rome early, while having dinner, so the train made an unscheduled journey to Orte to kill some time.
On arrival back into Rome’s Ostiense station, we were escorted back to the La Dolce Vita lounge and offered arrival water, with the option later of the signature cocktail, other drinks, and some bar snacks. With arrival being almost 10pm by that time, the only other (minor) inconvenience to the whole trip was the length of time waiting for our (included) transport to our overnight stop in Rome. With the train originally meant to have been returning I think around 6pm, I had booked the new Orient Express hotel in Rome (La Minerva) which is also owned by Paolo Barletta who is the entrepreneur behind the La Dolce Vita Orient Express train and of Hotel La Minerva in Rome, blending luxury travel with timeless Italian elegance. There is also a new hotel coming soon to Venice - Paolo Barletta, CEO of Arsenale S.p.A., is spearheading the development of the Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli in Venice, set to open in 2025. This project is a collaboration between Arsenale and Accor’s Orient Express brand, aiming to transform the historic 15th-century palazzo into a luxury hotel featuring 45 rooms and suites overlooking Venice’s canals and gardens.
With the train not due in until late evening, and us already having an early morning train departing from Roma Termini, I decided instead to rebook a hotel much closer to the station for our early departure. La Minerva hotel, also designed by Hugo Toro, looks stunning (I’ve used it appropriately again) but I didn’t want to be there for just a few hours. Next time we visit Rome, and I know there will be a next time, that will be our choice of hotel for sure.
8. Overall Journey Summary & Verdict
All in all this was an absolutely wonderful experience. The absolute highlights were the train itself (comfort, design, style, ambience etc.) as well as the food and experiences. Our Suite was excellent with a decent amount of space, I know I would be wowed too if we were lucky enough to go back once the larger La Dolce Vita Suite is launched. This one off on each train will be a generously sized private suite with a sitting area, bedroom, and private en-suite bathroom. Like the rest of the train, Interiors will be by Dimorestudio, blending mid-century modern elegance with Italian retro charm; including lacquered panelling, velvet fabrics, and Art Deco-inspired lighting. This suite will have access to exclusive services, including in-suite dining and curated excursions. Our suite on board was fantastic, but the La Dolce Vita suite would be more akin to space and exclusivity we were lucky enough to experience on board Rovos Rail and Train Suite Shiki-Shima.
The only minor negatives I would say were the less absorbent and fluff-shedding towels (which will naturally be resolved once they are used more) and perhaps a quicker departure from the lounge on arrival back in Ostiense station - maybe here we were just very unfortunate in the sequencing of transport, and it was just an unfortunate to end (as it had been a long day) to then not get to our hotel (which was actually only about 15 minutes away and we could have organised our own transport much quicker) until after 11pm.
In terms of the off-train experiences, getting to visit Sassi/Matera was amazing, but to my mind the lunch was too long which then meant that we ended up eating again too soon with our earlier 7:30pm sitting at night (we really didn’t want to eat at 9:30pm). As amazing as the food was at Vitantonio Lombardo restaurant, our view was it was probably just a bit too many courses and took too long - we were able to get some time in Bari afterwards, but if time was to be saved, I’d say reduce the lunch and allow time for a bit more sightseeing.
I started off with the review talking about the dress code too which did (seriously) nearly cause a divorce. Having had the attire guidelines aboard well in advance, it was really only in speaking with Guest Services on the day of our departure to Italy that I realised there wasn’t a need for a black suit for dinner, despite having just gone out to buy another one. The guidelines make no mention of shorts (which a lot of men wore during the day and looked absolutely fine), nor did I see one guest really wearing ‘elegant evening attire’ (with a tie or pocket square being optional) albeit we really liked the more casual environment and of course there was nothing to stop anyone really dressing up if they wanted.
As it was, we did wear long trousers during the day on the excursions, albeit ‘Mrs’ TPT did keep bemoaning the fact that he would have preferred to wear shorts with the hot weather, and for dinner I just wore chinos with a shirt and casual linen jacket. I do understand the need for some sort of dress code, but the reality turned out to be far more relaxed than I was expecting, and all to the good I would say - certainly from a marriage perspective!
The history behind the Orient Express brand
I did also say at the start I would come back and explain (my take) on the Orient Express branding. The very original Orient Express brand was owned by the French Railways system, until in 2014 I understand James Sherwood rebranded the Venice Simplon Orient Express (VSOE) as a Belmond train, Belmond being part of the LVMH company (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy). In 2018, the separate company Accor bought the OE brand from the French Railways, and now has the right to use the OE brand across hotels, trains and now yachts. So in short, Belmond run Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Royal Scotsman, British Pullman, Britannic Explorer, Andean Explorer, Eastern & Oriental Express, and Hiram Bingham; as well as now all the Belmond hotels (fabulous) and soon a yacht too. They are also launching new upgraded suites, as well as Grand Suites.
Accor (via say companies like Arsenale S.p.A) are launching trains under the Orient Express brand, hotels, and yachts too; as well as relaunching on the original Paris to Istanbul route too.
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