Milan: three airports, and one of them shrank

Malpensa is the airport for most arrivals in Milan, with 31,385,585¹ passengers in 2025 and second place nationally, while Bergamo Orio al Serio was the only large Italian airport to lose traffic that year.

Three fields, three different jobs

Malpensa (MXP) recorded 31,385,585¹ passengers in 2025, up 8.6% on 2024, second in Italy. Linate (LIN) recorded 11,131,764², up 4.5%, eighth nationally. Bergamo Orio al Serio Il Caravaggio (BGY) recorded 16,937,976³, down 2.4%, third nationally.

Malpensa and Linate belong to SEA. Bergamo belongs to SACBO and sits in another province, which is the fact that airline booking pages tend not to spell out.

Read the ranking and the direction of travel together. Bergamo was the only large Italian airport in decline in 2025, in a year when Malpensa added 8.6% and the national system grew. A route map drawn on 2023 traffic is already out of date at Orio al Serio.

Bologna is 1 hour 4 minutes away, and that is the point

Milano Centrale to Bologna Centrale takes 1 hour 4 minutes on the fastest direct high speed train (timetable in force September 2026), and Bologna is where the Italian high speed network crosses: the Turin to Milan to Naples axis meets the branch towards Venice there.

That hour decides how a northern itinerary is built. From Milan you are 1 hour 4 from the junction, 1 hour 54 from Firenze Santa Maria Novella, 2 hours 27 from Venezia Santa Lucia, 2 hours 55 from Roma Termini and 4 hours 33 from Napoli Centrale.

Sample sizes are worth knowing: 17 direct Frecciarossa were counted on the Florence route, 13 on the Venice route, 46 on Rome, 27 on Naples, all on Tuesday September 8, 2026, direct services only. Those samples may be incomplete, and none of them is confirmed by a second source.

The Venice line is not high speed the whole way

Milano Centrale to Venezia Santa Lucia takes 2 hours 27 minutes at best, with a median of 2 hours 27 and a slowest direct service at 2 hours 32, because the Brescia to Verona to Padova stretch is still being upgraded.

Compare that with Florence, 1 hour 54 over a longer distance on a purpose built line, and the shape of the network becomes legible. Eastwards from Milan you are on a mixed railway; southwards you are not.

The narrow spread between fastest and slowest on the Venice route, 2 hours 27 to 2 hours 32, has a practical upside. There is no bad train to Venice, so book on price and departure time rather than hunting for the quick one. See getting to Venice.

Rome and Naples: the medians matter

Roma Termini is 2 hours 55 minutes from Milano Centrale at best, but the median across 46 direct Frecciarossa is 3 hours 15 and the slowest direct service in the sample took 7 hours 13.

That spread is why a booking screen sorted by price will quietly cost you two hours. Sort by duration first, then by price.

Naples runs 4 hours 33 at best and 4 hours 45 at the median across 27 direct trains. Italo covers several of these routes and its times are not verified here, so treat this page as the Trenitalia picture and check the other operator yourself. The whole national timetable is rewritten in mid December. More at trains in Italy and where to stay in Milan.

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