Rome Urbe Airport (, ) is a small civilian

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, situated in the northern part of the city, between

Via Salaria The Via Salaria was an ancient Roman road in Italy. It eventually ran from Rome (from Porta Salaria of the Aurelian Walls) to ''Castrum Truentinum'' ( Porto d'Ascoli) on the Adriatic coast, a distance of 242 km. The road also passed throu ...

and the

Tiber River The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...

, about 2.7 NM (5 km, 3.1 mi) inside the Greater Ring Road (Italian:

Grande Raccordo Anulare Autostrada A90 or Grande Raccordo Anulare () or GRA is a ring-shaped ''autostrada'' (Italian for "motorway") long in Italy located in the region of Lazio that encircles Rome. It is a part of the E80 European route. GRA is one of the most impo ...

or GRA), the circular motorway around the city. Roma_Urbe_01

Torre di controllo ENAV aeroporto Roma-Urbe

The airport offers services to

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

and

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

flights, as well as a

heliport A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, powered lift, and various types of vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also hav ...

. The airport facilities host the Rome Urbe weather station, the Aeroclub of Rome and the AvioNews press agency. Since 2021, the military area of the airport has been home to the Italian Air Force Band.

History

The airport was inaugurated in

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

's presence in 1928, with the name "Littorio Airport" (the name was chosen by Mussolini himself). Until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was the main civilian airport in Italy, and the base for the Italian national airline

Ala Littoria Ala Littoria S.A. was the Italian national airline that operated during the fascist regime in the 1930s and 1940s. History ''Ala Littoria'' was formed by a merger of Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM), Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (S ...

. Inside the perimeter also a

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

was constructed, named Autodromo del Littorio ("Littorio Racetrack"). In 1931 a car/plane challenge took place on the racetrack inside the airport: Vittorio Suster, piloting a Caproni Ca.100, defeated

Tazio Nuvolari Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari (; 16 November 1892 – 11 August 1953) was an Italian racing driver. He first raced motorcycles and then concentrated on sports cars and Grand Prix racing. Originally of Mantua, he was nicknamed ("the Flying Mantuan") ...

, who drove an

Alfa Romeo 8C The Alfa Romeo 8C was a range of Alfa Romeo road, Auto racing, race and sports cars of the 1930s. The 8C designates 8 cylinders, and originally a straight-8, straight 8-cylinder engine. The Vittorio Jano designed 8C was Alfa Romeo's primary raci ...

2300. Heavily damaged by bombardments during the war, the airport was reactivated with the current name in the first postwar years. But just a few years later the commercial activity was transferred to the

Ciampino Airport G. B. Pastine–Rome Ciampino Airport is the secondary international airport serving Rome, the capital of Italy, after Leonardo da Vinci–Rome Fiumicino Airport. It is a joint civilian, commercial and military airport situated south southeas ...

. Since that moment the Rome Urbe Airport turned mostly into a facility for

flying club A flying club or aero club is a non-profit organization, not-for-profit, member-run organization that provides its members with affordable access to aircraft. Many clubs also provide flight training, flight planning facilities, pilot supplies and ...

activity, touristic flights and

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

. It is currently the base for the Aeroclub di Roma (Rome's flying club). In 1995 FAR Airlines carried out several trial landings with a

de Havilland Dash 7 The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. Variants were built with 50–54 seats. It first flew in 1975 and remained in producti ...

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...

airliner acquired from

Tyrolean Airways Tyrolean Airways, legally ''Tyrolean Airways Tiroler Luftfahrt GmbH'', was an Austrian regional airline based in Innsbruck with its hub at Vienna International Airport and its homebase at Innsbruck Airport. It was owned by the Lufthansa Group ...

. Their plan to link Urbe to several Italian cities failed when the company ceased operations shortly thereafter. In 2010, thanks to the investment of €800.000 by the

ENAC The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), (also known as amiloride-sensitive sodium channel) is a membrane-bound ion channel that is selectively permeable to sodium ions (). It is assembled as a heterotrimer composed of three homologous subunits α ...

(the civil aviation authority of Italy, that manages the airport) a new terminal was opened for

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s. On 18 September 1997 the airport was the scene for a U2 concert, part of their

Pop Mart Pop Mart is a Chinese toy company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company is known for selling collectable 'designer' toys, often sold in a ' blind box' format. They offer toys of their in-house IPs, such as Labubu, Pucky, Molly ...

Tour: a 70,000 audience attended the event

Access

The Rome Urbe Airport can be reached with public transport by

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

or by

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

: the ''Nuovo Salario'' Station ( FL1 line) is from the airport.

Gallery

File:Nuova Aerostazione Aeroporto di Roma-Urbe.jpg, Façade of the new airport terminal. File:CFS Aeroporto Roma-Urbe.jpeg, Base of the

State Forestry Corps The State Forestry Corps (Italian: ''Corpo forestale dello Stato'' or ''CFS'') was a national police agency in Italy. It was established on 15 October 1822 by Charles Felix of Sardinia as Amministrazione forestale per la custodia e la vigilanza ...

. File:Aeroporto dell'Urbe, Roma, ingresso.jpg, Airport entrance on

File:Sede ENAV via Salaria 716 - in atterraggio a Roma-Urbe.jpg, View of the airport. On the right, the

ENAV ENAV S.p.A. is an Italian government-controlled joint-stock company which operates as an exclusive supplier of civil air navigation services in the Italian airspace. As an air navigation service provider (ANSP) it is responsible for the provisio ...

headquarters. File:Roma Urbe 02.jpg, An

AgustaWestland AW109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to b ...

under tow. File:Roma Urbe 03.jpg, An AgustaWestland AW109 landing. File:Roma drone show 2016 Aeroporto di Roma-Urbe.jpeg, Roma Drone Expo&Show 2016.

References

{{authority control Airports in Italy Airports in Rome Buildings and structures in Lazio