Travelling along the Sacile-Gemona piedmont railway line allows you to cross very evocative landscapes, watercourses and environments, open to the plain and overlooking the foothills of the Alps. Conceived as an infrastructure of military interest, construction began on the threshold of the First World War, in the autumn of 1914, putting the many emigrants returning from Austria and Germany to work. In just a few months the Pinzano-Gemona line was completed, while there was renewed talk of the section from Sacile to Pinzano in the 1920s, partly to provide employment for the many unemployed and to slow the trend of depopulation in the pre-Alpine valleys. Between 1921 and 1926 viaduct bridges were built over the Cellina, Colvera, Meduna and Cosa rivers, while between 1928 and 1930 the stations were built and the line was completed.
On 28 October 1930 the railway was opened to the public. The local chronicle narrates that in the villages the people waited en masse for the train to pass and welcomed it with “irrepressible exultation”. There were various reactions: in Montereale Valcellina a farmer threw a basket full of corn on the cob into the air, spread his arms and shouted at the sight of the train. In Castelnovo, a group of elderly women blessed the train.
The railway is used to transport people and goods, but also for military purposes. After the war, until 1965, the piedmont railway became the train of emigrants. From the mid-1960s, with the economic boom and the increase in motorisation, commuters and students were the only ones to use the train. The 1976 earthquake caused damage to the stations of Osoppo, Majano, Pinzano, Travesio, Meduno and Maniago. Many empty carriages, located near the villages, were used for the needs of the earthquake victims. In the early 1980s the railway was upgraded to allow for higher weights and speeds.
In 2012 a landslide blocked its functionality, until 2017, when it was recognised as a tourist railway and the section between Sacile and Maniago was reopened. In the summer of 2018, the historic train journeys are inaugurated, covering the entire route, about 72 km, to Gemona.
The train allows you to discover the area slowly, making an experience of times gone by. Using the bicycle transport service, it is possible to combine the train journey with a route on two wheels, along the FVG3 cycle route or other fascinating routes.
The stations along the piedmont line are located in: Sacile, Budoia-Polcenigo, Aviano, Marsure, Montereale Valcellina, Maniago, Fanna-Cavasso, Meduno, Travesio, Castelnovo, Pinzano, Forgaria, Camino, Cimano, Majano, Osoppo.