Rome: which airport, and how fast the trains are

Fiumicino is the first airport in Italy with 51,306,744¹ passengers in 2025, and the Leonardo Express links it to Roma Termini in 32 minutes for €14.00, with a departure every 15 minutes.

Two airports, and they are not comparable

Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci (FCO) handled 51,306,744¹ passengers in 2025, up 4.3% on 2024, which makes it the busiest airport in the country. Ciampino Giovan Battista Pastine (CIA) handled 3,987,517², up 3.3%, and sits 16th nationally.

Both belong to Aeroporti di Roma, and the difference in scale decides everything else. Long haul arrives at Fiumicino. Ciampino is a small field on the southeast edge of the city with a short apron and no rail station of its own.

If your booking engine offers you a fare into CIA, price the ground transfer separately before you take it. There is no equivalent of the Leonardo Express on that side of Rome.

The Leonardo Express: 32 minutes, no stops

The Leonardo Express runs Fiumicino to Roma Termini in 32 minutes with no intermediate stops, at €14.00 one way, departing every 15 minutes and every 30 in some bands (2026).

The service day is long: 4:50 am to 11:05 pm from Termini, 5:38 am to 11:27 pm from the airport. A four ticket mini group is €40.00 and a carnet of 10 rides €115.00³. Children under 4 travel free, and one child aged 4 to 12 goes free with each paying adult. Contactless TAP&TAP payment works on the platforms.

One honest gap: the regional FL1 trains, which are cheaper but call at Trastevere, Ostiense and Tiburtina rather than Termini, do not publish fares and times on a source we could verify. We do not print a figure for them.

Rome is the hinge of the high speed network

From Roma Termini the fastest direct high speed trains reach Napoli Centrale in 1 hour 13 minutes, Firenze Santa Maria Novella in 1 hour 35, Bologna Centrale in 2 hours 3, Milano Centrale in 2 hours 55, Venezia Santa Lucia in 3 hours 59 and Torino Porta Nuova in 4 hours 25 (timetable in force September 2026).

Medians tell you more than best times. Naples runs at a median of 1 hour 18 across 45 direct Frecciarossa, Florence at 1 hour 41 across 48, Milan at 3 hours 15 across 46, and Turin at 4 hours 55. Many Frecciarossa call at Torino Porta Susa a few minutes before the Porta Nuova terminus, which is often the stop you actually want.

All of this comes from a direct query of the Trenitalia booking system for Tuesday September 8, 2026, counting only journeys without a change. Italo runs several of the same routes and its times are not verified here. The national timetable changes in mid December, so re-check anything you plan for after that.

The south east is the exception

Roma Termini to Bari Centrale takes 4 hours 14 minutes on the fastest direct Frecciarossa, and only 6 direct Frecciarossa ran on the weekday we sampled. That is 45 direct trains to Naples against 6 to Bari.

The gap is not a scheduling accident: no continuous high speed line covers the route. We flag that as an inference from journey times and service counts rather than a figure read off an RFI network map, because that is what it is.

The practical consequence is a planning one. Naples and Florence work as day trips from Rome. Bari does not, and neither does anything beyond it. See Puglia and where to stay in Rome.

The regional train that reaches Molise

Isernia is the only town in Molise with direct trains from Rome: 5 regional services a day from Roma Termini, taking 2 hours 5 minutes to 2 hours 19, at €14.05¹¹ (2026). Departures on the weekday checked were 06:15, 09:07, 13:07, 14:35 and 20:07, on the Roma to Cassino to Vairano-Caianello to Isernia line.

That single line is the reason a roots trip into Molise starts at Termini and not at an airport. It was verified on one weekday, Tuesday September 15, 2026, filtering to direct Regionale services only, so counts move on holidays and after the December timetable change.

For the rest of the city, see Rome and things to do in Rome.

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