This happened to my son on Sunday night. Stuck in a tiny little village in the mountains of Maremma, Tuscany on the way to Florence, because the train was broken. He did not ring Mum to save him - yes I have trained him to be a man... I found out accidentally by a casual remark from his sister!! Well what do you do in these situations? Cash helps - to offer to pay someone to drive you half an hour or a wonderful friend in need who from the goodness of their heart drives out an hour there and back to pick you up.
(Mum was more worried than he was- (he thought it was a great adventure with the wonderful positive nature of youth ... "don't worry Mum I will just sleep on the bench at the station" - "like hell you will"!! ). However as a lot of us reading this are not youthful.....!!! read on!!
If all else fails... head to the nearest B&B or hotel until morning. Yes a credit card is always handy when you have run out of alternatives but wait - a lot of little places in Italy don't take credit card so head for that ATM if the village has one and it might be broken. Well then... you pray to La Madonna in the photo to help!! Give them your watch or any other valuable for guarantee until morning if it is good enough!! Speak in the most polite way you can in your language and with your hands - the Italian way and most Italian people are very kind and will help you out especially in the country areas.
I once met a doctor in Rome who running out of petrol, on his vesper in an isolated place at 4.00 am in the morning, gave his watch to the homeless, sleeping under the bridge, in exchange for a loan of some cash for petrol. He went back the next day and did the swap again. It was such a great story - a wealthy doctor borrowing money from the homeless!! but there you go, it was probably one of his most interesting nights he had spent and the homeless even gave him breakfast - fish caught straight out of the Tevere river Roma, under the bridge.!! There you go - the joys of life!! Serendipity!!
I am writing all these things just so you know about Italy as Passion for Italy knows it well and we are here to save you from all these stressful situations that you might find yourself in if you book yourself.
