Adriatic railway Adriatic railway The Adriatic railway (Italian: "Ferrovia Adriatica") is the railroad from Ancona to Lecce that runs along the Adriatic Coast of Italy, following it almost all of the way. It is one of the main lines of the Italian rail system and links the northern cities with the most important productive areas of central and southern Italy. The railroad was built by the Società per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali (Italian: "Company for the Southern Railways", "SFM"), between 1863 and 1872. In 1906, management of the line was taken over by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. In 1933, the southernmost Lecce-Otranto
Rail transport in Vatican City September 1934, on which date the property passed from "Ferrovie dello Stato" (Italian State Railways) to the Holy See. In October 1934 the Ministry of Public Works gave the completed rail lines to Vatican City and Ferrovie dello Stato, respectively. "Legge sulle fonti del diritto" (7 June 1929) made Italian railway legislation binding on Vatican-controlled railways. In late March 1944, during the allied bombing of Rome in World War II, the Vatican discovered a German munitions train parked on the line by the Vatican railway station. Pope John XXIII, on 4 October 1962, became the first pope to use the