In contrast to Germany, the railway in Italy works. While in Germany everything has been catastrophically cut back over the last 25 years and almost every train is late and one in four has a technical fault, you can travel well by train in Italy. I was amazed. I travelled the same route as Peter about 6 years ago, from Milan to Rome, when I was in Italy on business.
Incidentally, the European Championship proved it. The English fans had to wait 4 hours in Gelsenkirchen for the journey home because the station was blocked by a broken train. The Austrian fans didn't make it from 10am at the German border to kick-off at 9pm in Düsseldorf. 15,000 Austrian fans didn't arrive at the stadium until the 70th minute of the game.
I've been to Japan twice and travelled on the Shinkansen several times. That is a level of timetable punctuality, comfort and courtesy that we will never achieve with our German railway in the next 200 years.
