Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) Flights & Information

Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) is Italy’s busiest airport and also the country’s primary international gateway. Also sometimes referred to as Leonardo da Vinci Airport, FCO is the hub of Italian flag carrier ITA Airways.

Both ITA and a constellation of global carriers link Rome to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americans via FCO, where passengers can connect to a variety of European and domestic Italian routes. Though I’ve always found FCO to be a pretty intuitive airport, I do have some tips to share.

How to get to and from FCO

Fiumicino is home to what I consider one of Europe’s most convenient airport trains, though a variety of private car options might end up suiting you better.

For most travelers, the Leonardo Express is the best way to Rome and beyond. Departing and arriving several times per hour, the service connects to Rome’s central Termini Station in just 30 minutes.

From here, you can connect to Rome’s Metro Lines, which will take you to accommodations both within central Rome and on the other side of the Tiber River near Vatican City. Some travelers prefer to go the rest of the way from Terminal to their hotel via taxi or Uber.

You can also connect onward to local and high-speed trains. Local Trenitalia trains are best for nearby destinations in surrounding Lazio state, while high-speed services operated by both Trenitalia and its competitor Italo can whisk you off to cities like Naples, Venice, Florence and Milan.

As a general rule, I only take a taxi or Uber if I plan to travel with a lot of luggage, or if I arrive or depart in the middle of the night. In some instances, such as if I’m staying at a hotel with a free shuttle or transfer service, I will avail it.

Navigating security lines at FCO

The process by which you make your way through FCO will depend upon your destination. Are you traveling within Europe’s Schengen area or outside of it?

If you’re traveling within the Schengen area, you’ll simply need to proceed through a security check. I generally find this to be slightly more stringent than you’d experience in the US, particularly since Italy doesn’t have any equivalent to TSA Precheck.

On the international side, you’ll need to pass first through security and then through passport control, which is very fast for people with European passports (who can use kiosks) and often very slow for non-Europeans.

A possible exception to this is the Fast Track, which unlike lanes at other airports is available to any passenger who pays a nominal cash fee. Some types of travelers, including first- and business-class passengers and people with handicaps, can use the lane on a complimentary basis.

However, I personally find the ability to pay outright extremely useful. If I can’t or won’t cough up thousands for business class, spending a small amount for a premium way through the tedious security and immigration processes is a nice way to treat myself.

Airline lounges and alternatives

FCO is home to a variety of lounges, including those operated by ITA and other airlines, as well as communal lounges accessible to passengers of any airline. Both Schengen/domestic and long haul travelers can access many of the airport’s lounges.

Flying outside of Europe from Terminal 1 and part of Terminal 3, premium passengers on ITA and SkyTeam partners like Delta and Virgin Atlantic can access the ITA’s lounges. My personal favorite of these is the Hangar Lounge in Terminal 1, which is exclusively available to non-Schengen passengers. I especially love the craft cocktails they serve at the bar

Passengers on Star Alliance carriers such as United and Lufthansa can enter the branded Star Alliance lounge. Like locations in Los Angeles and Seoul, this lounge is actually operated by the alliance itself, rather than any one member airline.

If you’re flying on American Airlines or another oneworld airline, the British Airways lounge is where you’ll go. Emirates operates its own lounge for its own first- and business-class passengers. In my experience, this is probably the best airline-operated lounge at FCO, with plentiful food and drink options, as well as Emirates’ signature over-the-top design and warm service.

I personally find the FCO lounges accessible to Priority Pass credential holders to be excellent, and in some cases better than the airline lounges.

This is particularly the case for the stylish Prima Vista Lounge in Terminal 3, where I love to stop for one last Italian espresso every time I leave the country. The airport is also home to several Plaza Premium Lounges, which are on par with similarly branded lounges in other countries.

As a general rule, I find the lounges within the Schengen zone of Terminal 3 to be less impressive. However, this isn’t dire, given that flights within the bloc tend to be so short. There’s less of a need to kick and relax before flying if you’re only going to be on the plane for an hour or two!

Luggage storage at FCO

Unlike many other airports in the world, Fiumicino Airport offers an extremely simple luggage storage solution. The airport itself operates a counter in the Arrivals area of Terminal 3, where it stores bags for a flat fee billed every 24 hours.

You don’t need to reserve a spot (you can’t actually); and you don’t need to pay until you pick up the luggage, which is great if you’re dropping your bags on a long layover and don’t want to waste any time heading into the city.

Car rental at FCO

If you’ll be taking an Italian road trip and starting immediately upon arrival at Fiumicino, the good news is that all rental car lots are located on the airport’s grounds. Unlike other airports, you won’t need to ride a shuttle or public bus to get there.

I do have a couple of recommendations for renting a car here. First, use a recognized American or global brand, rather than a local Italian one. Although I usually like to support local businesses, this is often a recipe for getting scammed when it comes to renting cars in Italy. Trust me, a brand you know is worth a few extra euros!

Secondly, don’t drive into or within Rome! The roads are too narrow, and parking is too difficult. Instead, travel into Rome by train to do your sightseeing, then come back to the airport, rent your car and set off.

Rome airport hotels

If you have an overnight connection at FCO but don’t want to head into Rome, you have a couple of convenient accommodation options. If you’ll be staying an entire night, the Hilton Rome Airport is located on-site and offers serviceable rooms.

Alternatively, if your timing is tighter and you simply need to shower, work or enjoy a few hours of shut-eye, consider hourly room rental at the HelloSky Arrival lounge. This could be a nice option if you only need to kill 6-8 hours and don’t want to pay for a full overnight stay at the Hilton or elsewhere.

Transfers at FCO

Another thing I love about FCO? Although it is home to two separate terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, you need only about 8-10 minutes on foot to connect between them, assuming you even need to.

Schengen or domestic to international transfer

Many travelers don’t. For example, if you’re arriving on a flight from within the Schengen area and flying to the United States on a US airline, both your arriving and departing flight will use Terminal 3.

Obviously, of course, you’ll need to clear a secondary security check and passport check before boarding your US-bound flight. A good rule of thumb is to leave at least two hours between the arrival of your domestic flight and the departure of your international one.

International to domestic or Schengen transfer

If you’re arriving on an international flight and connecting to a domestic or Schengen destination, you’ll first need to clear immigration. You can then proceed to domestic/Schengen check-in and security, which always leaves from Terminal 3, even if you arrived at Terminal 1.

Here, I also recommend leaving a two-hours gap, in order to account for the possibility of immigration processing delays.

Connecting between FCO and CIA, Rome’s low-cost airport

You might’ve noticed that there’s not a Terminal 2 in Rome; this is intentional. Though the now-defunct Terminal 2 once hosted Rome’s low-cost carriers, some of them have now moved across town to Rome Ciampino (CIA). (The others just moved to Terminals 1 and 3.)

I generally prefer to avoid flying on these carriers, which currently include Ryanair and Wizz Air, when connecting to or from an international flight. This is in part because they tend to use inconvenient secondary airports like CIA.

If you’ve booked such a connection, however, do make sure and give yourself 30-45 minutes to ride the bus between the airports. Then, give yourself an additional 45 minutes to clear security and immigration.