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 1979 Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 Italy was represented by the group Matia Bazar, with the song '"Raggio di luna", at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 31 March in Jerusalem. The song was chosen internally by Italian broadcsaster RAI. On the night of the final Matia Bazar performed second in the running order, following Portugal and preceding Denmark. The pre-contest betting had rated "Raggio di luna" as the favourite for victory. However, on the night the group gave what is often mentioned as one of the worst vocal performances ever heard in a Eurovision final,