Few still recall the existence of a railway line from Cremona, via a number of nearby towns, including Soresina and Soncino, to Iseo, continuing towards the Val Camonica and Edolo. It was a railway assigned under a concession to a private operator, S.N.F.T, running beside the road for long distances, resulting in a number of problems with interference between the road network and the railway. The average speed finally achieved in 1955, when modern diesel railcars were in service, was only 36 km/h. And yet the line was particularly important for the local population for almost four decades. It was important for the trading of goods between the fertile plains of the areas around Cremona and Brescia and the Val Camonica, and even more important for the movement of people, and for banishing ancient prejudices and enduring sedentary lifestyles. This was especially true in the second half of the ‘30s, when the habit of taking a “vacation” (at the beach, in the mountains, or by the lake) became a mass phenomenon in Italy, as elsewhere, and even more so after the war, in the early ‘50s, when the railway line took thousands of people from Cremona into the mountains.
The railway service stopped in 1956, due to excessive costs and gradually declining use. It was replaced by a bus service, initially operated by S.N.F.T. and then by other privately owned operators.