Rome’s ordinarily unremarkable Ostiense train station took on an unexpected modernist glamour when a host ushered me into a private waiting room and served a glass of Champagne with hot hors d’oeuvres. I’d arrived on a sunny June morning to board the new La Dolce Vita Orient Express for a two-night round-trip tour from Rome to Venice and Portofino. Twelve different itineraries are currently offered, including an autumn truffle-themed jaunt to Piedmont, two golf routes and two forays into Sicily. I chose this trip to see how the company would handle places that I know extremely well (and love).

Ever since the first Orient Express train pulled out of Paris’s Gare de l’Est station in 1883, this travel marque has epitomized the mystique of riding the rails. Relaunched in 1982 as the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, it was eventually acquired by Belmond, a hotel and hospitality company owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH). Belmond is unaffiliated with La Dolce Vita Orient Express, which is operated by French hotel brand Accor, but somewhat confusingly, LVMH is an investor.

My traveling companion was not a train buff like I am and had chosen to stay behind in Rome, which fortuitously meant that I was traveling with a single carry-on bag. Neither the 75-square-foot Deluxe Cabins nor the 118-square-foot Suites have much room for luggage. While listening to live jazz in the stylish lounge while waiting to board, I fell into conversation with a couple from Connecticut. They told me they’d chosen the train because it would offer them the pleasure of gazing out the window at a variety of beautiful Italian landscapes without the stress of Italian driving.