When I was thinking we were going to do an Italian vacation many years back (lost my job at the time so it didn't happen - hey - should start thinking about it again) I was big on the TRAINS forums.

I remember reaching out there and getting a couple Italian railroad workers who wrote to me and said to contact them when I came to Italy.

Now - I can't say I know they were legit, but when I went to India the people I met on line turned out to be real Indian railfans who were amazingly helpful.

So my advice is this, go find some Italian/Europe railfan forums and join and start posting (Yahoo Groups, Train Orders, Trains/Kalmbach, RailEurope, etc.)

Don't meet strangers in private places though. I met the folks in India at a McDonalds at a major RR station with some Indian friends who could tell right away that they were genuine railroad buffs and not anything else.