Night train to Sicily

I was getting the night train again, this time the 22.50 from Campo di Marte station (to the east of central Florence) to the port of Milazzo in Sicily. This train had come from Venice via Bologna, and when I got into my compartment the other people were already in bed so I was as quiet as I could be so as not to disturb them. Again, not a brilliant night's sleep on the train.
When I woke up properly at about 7am, we were most definitely in the South. The landscape is much drier and harsher than Tuscany, and the towns we passed looked poorer and less cared for. We were late again, and arrived at the train-ferry terminal of Villa San Giovanni an hour late. Here the train was divided up; one portion carried on down to Reggio di Calabria right at the 'toe' of the Italian boot. The rest of it was shunted onto the train-ferry to Messina. This is always interesting, and you can go 'up top' once the train is secure and get some fresh air and see the spectacular views along the Strait of Messina. On a clear day (which this wasn't particularly) you can see Etna, which dominates this corner of Sicily.
The ferry only takes about 25 minutes, then the train is shunted off and divided again, one half (which I was on) heading along the north coast towards Palermo, the other along the east coast towards Catania and Siracusa. They must allow a fair bit of 'slack' time at Messina, because as we left we were now only 30 minutes late. I had considered getting off the train at Villa San Giovanni to get on the ferry as a passenger and then take a bus from Messina to the port at Milazzo, but in the end decided against it because I thought we might make up some time, as indeed we did.
From Milazzo station, I took a local bus into the town (the station is about 3km from the port) and bought my hydrofoil ticket to Salina. There are two companies that operate the hydrofoils from Milazzo to the Aeolians, Ustica and Siremar. Both have websites with timetable information – the Ustica one is much more user-friendly. I'd checked earlier and was aiming for the 13.15 departure with Siremar, but shortly before my departure from Britain this seemed to have vanished from the schedule, so I was unsure if it was running or not. When I got to Milazzo, it seemed that it was running, but for Salina I needed to change at Lipari.