Rail transport in Italy high-speed train was the Italian ETR 200, which in July 1939 went from Milan to Florence at , with a top speed of . With this service, the railway was able to compete with the upcoming airplanes. The Second World War stopped these services. After the Second World War, Italy started to repair the damaged railways, and built nearly of new tracks. Nowadays the rail tracks and infrastructure are managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), while the train and the passenger section is managed mostly by Trenitalia. Both are Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) subsidiaries, once the only train operator in
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 Italy was represented by quartet Ricchi e Poveri, with the song '"Questo amore", at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 April in Paris. Broadcaster RAI chose the song and performers internally. On the night of the final Ricchi e Poveri performed third in the running order, following Norway and preceding Finland. Prior to the contest observers had rated "Questo amore" as one of the better songs in what was considered an exceptionally weak line-up. However, on the night the group gave a very mediocre vocal performance, not helped by