[3] Fiumicino serves as the principal hub for ITA Airways, the Italian flag carrier and the largest airline in the country.

Opened in 1961, it is in Fiumicino, 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Rome, and is named for Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519).

[5] During the 1960s, former home-based Alitalia invested heavily in the new airport, building hangars and maintenance centres; in the same period a third runway was added (16L/34R).

In May 2006, Italy's Civil Aviation Authority announced that it took off the limitation of three ramp handlers in Rome Leonardo da Vinci airport.

Further improvement work was implemented in 2007 to enable the airport to handle 30 takeoffs/landings per hour, up from 10, in the event of thick fog.

Three runways presently operate at Leonardo da Vinci airport: 16L/34R and 16R/34L (separated by a distance of 4,000 m (13,000 ft)), and 07/25, used only westwards for takeoffs owing to the prevailing winds.

These include the construction of an environmentally-friendly cogeneration system, which would allow the airport to produce its own energy; the "Masterplan Fiumicino Nord", involving four new terminals and two new runways to be built in the future handling 100 million passengers per year.

[citation needed] Rome-Fiumicino airport has been hit twice by terrorist attacks: the first in 1973 (34 deaths) following the expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Jordan and the Jordanian-Palestinian civil war, and the second in 1985 (19 deaths +4 terrorists) part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, presumably linked to Abu Nidal Organization.

[citation needed] In January 2017, Terminal 5 was closed for renovations; a new central airside hall is currently being built in the middle section.

[11] Future plans include a new Terminal 4, expansion of runways, and new buildings for car parking, services, and airport facilities.

Arriving passengers are not permitted to take the train back, as they need to pass through a transfer security checkpoint to re-enter the departure area.