Rome airport: getting out from Rome airports.
Getting to and from the main airport, Leonardo da Vinci,
commonly known as Fiumicino, about 30 miles southwest of the
city center is quite easy. But getting to and from Ciampino
airport, 20 miles southeast of the city center of Rome is not
that easy ,is time consuming and unconfortable by public
transport and buses run infrequently, finish early and do not
connect well with the metro trains. Many of Italy's major cities
have international airports, but the Leonardo da Vinci of Rome
is the country's busiest and is a hub for flights linking Europe
to the Middle East and Africa. Soon after the big Fiumicino
Airport opened in 1960, a new confortable motor road was built
to link it with the centre of Rome across the Magliana section.
Various big hotels for business travelers and conventioneers
grew up nearby. Negotiating Roman traffic by car is difficult
enough, but you may be taking your life in your hands if you
ride a motorcycle or moped in the city. The rule in Rome is to
look straight ahead to watch the vehicles in front and hope that
the vehicles behind are watching you. Most of the historic
centre of Rome is closed to normal traffic. Police controls some
entrances to the centre, while other entrances have electronic
gates. You are not allowed to drive to the centre of Rome from
6.30 am to 6.00 pm Monday to Friday and 2 pm to 6 pm Saturday,
unless you are a resident or have special permissions. All 27
streets accessing the so called " Limited Traffic Zone " have
been equipped with electronic access detection devices. To avoid
a fine, customers wishing to drive to hotels in these areas,
should first contact the hotel management who will fax
authorities with your number plate. Although Rome's traffic is
nowhere near as cahotic as that of Naples, some drivers,
particularly motorcyclists, do not stop at the red lights. And
do not expect them to stop at pedestrian crossing either.