Fiumicino Airport celebrates 65 years with Mattarella, seeing towards the future with a nine billion euro plan.

Fiumicino’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport celebrated today, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, Fiumicino, celebrating its 65th anniversary, sees to the future with a sustainable €9 billion plan, entirely self-funded, and a new milestone looming: in 2025, the airport will exceed 50 million annual passengers for the first time. The ceremony, promoted by Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) – a company of the Mundys group, which also manages Ciampino Airport – retraced the most significant milestones of a history that launched on August 20, 1960, at the height of the economic boom. Fiumicino has become Italy’s main gateway to the world, establishing itself in recent years as Europe’s best airport and among the world’s leading for service quality and innovation. The event opened with Mattarella’s visit to the Innovation Hub in Terminal 1, the first startup accelerator in a European airport and the heart of AdR’s innovation strategy. Here, the young representatives of the new business ideas Whill, Assaia, Proteso, and Ailytics, already operating at the airport, presented their projects to the President, accompanied by members of the Innovation Cabin Crew, the team of AdR colleagues who support the development and growth of startup projects. The presentation was also attconcludeed by the top management of Edizione, the president Alessandro Benetton and the CEO Enrico Laghi, the top management of Mundys, the president Giampiero Massolo and the CEO Andrea Mangoni, the top management of Rome Airports, the president Vincent Nunziata and the CEO Marco Troncone, and the president of ENAC, Pierluigi Di Palma.

The ceremony opened with the National Anthem performed by the artist Chiara Civello and the screening of a video dedicated to the airport’s history. Before the event, Mattarella attconcludeed the unveiling of the work “Airport” by the young artist. Camilla Gurgone, Two aluminum panels symbolize the encounter between humanity and technology. Inside the terminal, the light installation “Leonardo, Enlightened Man” by Marco Lodola celebrates the innovative spirit of the Renaissance genius to whom the airport is dedicated. “I consider it a privilege to have been able to illustrate, before the President of the Republic and here at Fiumicino, the gateway and flagship of our countest, the path to the post-Covid rebirth of Italian air transport,” emphasized ENAC President Pierluigi Di Palma. “After an unprecedented crisis,” he added, “the sector has returned to being one of the most dynamic in the countest, a driver of development and a guarantee of mobility for over 200 million passengers, with a focus on sustainability and intermodal integration. We can affirm that our countest has achieved all the objectives set, surpassing pre-Covid traffic, the first in Europe, and outpacing German traffic by over 100 million.” Di Palma also announced the “Rent Wheelchair” project, which “will allow categories of passengers with disabilities to benefit from mobility assistance directly at their destination airport.”

Aeroporti di Roma CEO Marco Troncone recalled the President’s words of encouragement for the entire sector and emphasized “the importance of the €9 billion sustainable development plan, entirely self-funded. A plan that combines attractiveness and protection of the territory, progress and beauty, employment and sustainability, maximizing the value of the local community to which we belong and with which we maintain a constant and constructive dialogue. For us, it is, first and foremost, a civic commitment: becaapply such a strategic infrastructure belongs to the entire countest and is the fruit of a vision that is realized every day thanks to the people who create it possible.” Furthermore, Troncone highlighted how 2025 will be a “particularly significant year, becaapply for the first time we will surpass the milestone of 50 million passengers, travelers who exercise this freedom every day, departing, arriving, and traveling to and from Fiumicino. Fifty million: a figure that only recently was forecast for 2028, demonstrating how the future is pressing on us and how the airport is now ready to welcome it.”

According to Alessandro Benetton, President of Edizione and Vice President of Mundys, “Aeroporti di Roma is celebrating a historic anniversary today, constantly seeing to the future and acting as a true laboratory of innovation. Thanks to the work done in recent years and the ongoing collaboration between the public and private sectors, Leonardo da Vinci has become the best airport in Europe for the quality of its services and one of the most sustainable in the world. We will continue to do our part, supporting the airport’s sustainable development, which will generate significant and lasting benefits for the local area.” Benetton also emphasized the role of young people: “There are many young people working with their startups to improve the traveler experience. These ideas come from all over the world and are reshaping the appreciation of this airport, which is the best airport in Europe. In fact, there is a space for young people called the Innovation Hub; we have received 1.000 initiative proposals from all over the world.”

The celebration was also attconcludeed by the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Edward Rixi, the president of the Lazio Region Francesco Rocca, the president of the regional council Antonello Aurigemma and the mayor of Fiumicino Mario Baccini. “Today, Fiumicino International Airport celebrates 65 years of history and infrastructure that have accompanied the growth of our region. Fiumicino Airport is one of the best airports in the world and continues to support our growth and openness to the world,” declared Rocca. For Aurigemma, “the 65th anniversary of Fiumicino International Airport represents the history not only of the Fiumicino community, Rome, and the Lazio Region, but of the entire countest. A meeting point and a gateway to the Mediterranean, open to the Atlantic and African countries, a gateway to Europe.” Mayor Baccini reiterated that for the citizens of Fiumicino, the airport “is not just a place of transit or work, but an integral part of our identity. It is around it that a modern, dynamic, and globally-oriented city has developed.” Furthermore, “ENAC recently presented the Leonardo Da Vinci Airport expansion project to the Municipality of Fiumicino,” Baccini added. “This proposal is currently being carefully evaluated by the municipal administration. In the coming days, the project will be submitted to the city council for review and approval of the relevant political and administrative guidelines.” At the conclusion of the ceremony, Aeroporti di Roma presented the President of the Republic with a commemorative silver medal, minted by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato and inspired by the original 1960 design by Bulgarian sculptor Assen Peikov, creator of the famous statue of Leonardo that welcomes passengers at the airport entrance.