From 1901 to 1951, the Varese railway of the Rete Mediterranea from Milan via Varese to Porto Ceresio was equipped with a power supply of 650 volts direct current via a conductor rail. Passenger services began with 20 MAC^fc_e railcars, whose electrical equipment, including the four traction motors, came from General Electric. The car body was built by Officine Meccaniche in Milan and was based on the Interurban trams, which were very popular in the USA at the time. When the Italian State Railways took over operations in 1905, they were redesignated E.101 to E.120. After the railcars 5111 to 5130 followed five more powerful MCDU^fc_e with the numbers 5301 to 5305 and 16 lighter MAC^fc_{e[/ t] with the numbers 5131 to 5146. The use of the 5111 to 5130 ended in 1923 when the E.321 series locomotives went into service. The traction motors and other electrical equipment were used to build the six-axle E.620 series locomotives.}

While the two class 34 electric locomotives were procured for the transport of freight trains on the Ferrovia della Valtellina, which was electrified with 3,000 volts three-phase alternating current, five class 30 and 32 railcars were created. They consisted of a nearly 19 meter long car body and two bogies, whose four axles were all driven and were also manufactured by Ganz. Class 30 was divided into a saloon and a compartment with 24 first-class seats, in class 32, in addition to the first-class compartment, there was a third-class compartment with 32 seats and a room for mail and luggage. At the FS they were given the designations E.1 and E.2 with the serial numbers E.1-5 and E.21-25.

The inflexible three-phase system posed greater problems at the required speed, which was higher than that of the class 34. If the engines were designed for a higher maximum speed, it would not have been possible to generate sufficient starting power. This was solved by the fact that the inner motor on each bogie was only operated with 300 volts and was used for starting. Later it was switched to the outer motors, which received the 3,000 volts directly from the overhead line and were sufficient for up to 66 km/h. The number of poles in the motors has been switched for finer control. The power was initially picked up by trolley contacts, but since these were unreliable, they were soon replaced by contact strips. The engines were spring-mounted and power was transmitted via hollow shafts, which was remarkable for the time. The vehicles were stationed in Monza between 1914 and 1923 and were then used as passenger cars without a motor for a long time.

The ETR.300 was a luxury electric multiple unit popularly known as the “Settebello” (“Beautiful Seven”). It consisted of seven car bodies, each connected in three groups with Jakobs bogies. At both ends there were panoramic windows with the driver's cabs in the roof. With twelve traction motors in a total of 20 axles, an hourly output of 2,280 kW and a maximum speed of 160 km/h could initially be reached. Since being rebuilt in 1969, they made 3,144 kW and 200 km/h. The trains, which from 1956 consisted only of first class, were primarily used on the Milan-Naples mainline and later as a TEE. Their use ended in 1992 and the ETR.302 has been refurbished since 2020.

The ETR 460, 470 and 480 series are “Pendolino” express trains with tilting technology, which are considered the successors of the ETR 450 and were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The nine-car trains each are powered on one axle of both bogies in six of the cars. By distributing the power train, it was possible to achieve a low axle load of 13.5 tonnes, which allows the car body to be inclined by up to eight degrees without having to reinforce the structure of the tracks. The three series were created for suitability for different power systems.

The ETR 460 is the original model that was built ten times and is only used on the classic Italian lines with 3,000 volts DC. The ETR 470 is also equipped for 15,000 volts and 16⅔ Hz alternating current and is intended for cross-border traffic to Switzerland and Germany. The nine sets were initially deployed jointly by Cisalpino and, after their dissolution, divided between SBB and Trenitalia. The ETR 480, built 15 times, can be used not only with 3,000 volts direct current but also with 25,000 volts 50 Hz alternating current, which is used on some of the newer Italian high-speed routes. The ETR 470 is only certified for 200 km/h, the others for 250 km/h.

Most of the trains are still in use, only the SBB complained about a disproportionately high number of problems and retired the trains. Three were scrapped in 2015 and only one was leased to Trenitalia. The Italian examples were modernized from 2004 and some came to the Greek subsidiary of Trenitalia, where they are used on the Athens-Thessaloniki route. The ETR 480 used for this were already equipped for the 25.000 Volts 50 Hz power system and the ETR 470 still had to be converted. Similar trains based on the ETR 460, 470 and 480 were built in other countries: in the Czech Republic the CD series 680, in Portugal the CP series 4000 “Alfa Pendular”, in Slovenia the SŽ series 310 and in Finland the VR series Sm3. The British Class 390 is also based on the Italian Pendolino.

For the Florence-Rome high-speed line, which was completed in 1991, the FS procured the ETR 500 from a consortium called TREVI. This has power cars at both ends and is designed for a top speed of 300 km/h. Since this line is operated with 3,000 volts direct current and therefore the total transferable power is limited, the first series trains, known as “Monotensione”, only reached 250 km/h.

From the year 2000 onwards, additional power cars were built that are multi-system capable for new high-speed lines with 25 kV alternating current and are therefore referred to as “Politensione”. Some of these received the trailers of first generation trains, while the older power cars are used with conventional IC cars up to 200 km/h. The newer trains now run in the Frecciarossa train type.