page_title: Economy of Italy
section_title: Transport
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Italy / Infrastructure / Transport
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Der Flughafen Rom Fiumicino und eine Maschine der Air France
context_page_description: The economy of Italy is the third-largest national economy in the European Union, the eighth-largest by nominal GDP in the world, and the 12th-largest by GDP. Italy is a founding member of the European Union, the Eurozone, the OECD, the G7 and the G20; it is the eighth-largest exporter in the world, with $514 billion exported in 2016. Its closest trade ties are with the other countries of the European Union, with whom it conducts about 59% of its total trade. The largest trading partners, in order of market share, are Germany, France, the United States, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Spain.
  In the post-World War II period, Italy was transformed from an agricultural based economy which had been severely affected by the consequences of the World Wars, into one of the world's most advanced nations, and a leading country in world trade and exports. According to the Human Development Index, the country enjoys a very high standard of living, and has the world's 8th highest quality of life according to The Economist. Italy owns the world's third-largest gold reserve, and is the third-largest net contributor to the budget of the European Union.
context_section_description: Italy was the first country in the world to build motorways, the so-called "autostrade", reserved for motor vehicles. The Milano-Laghi motorway, connecting Milan to Varese and now parts of the A8 and A9 motorways, was devised by Piero Puricelli, a civil engineer and entrepreneur. He received the first authorization to build a public-utility fast road in 1921, and completed the construction between 1924 and 1926. By the end of the 1930s, over 400 kilometers of multi- and dual-single-lane motorways were constructed throughout Italy, linking cities and rural towns. Today there are 668,721 km of serviceable roads in Italy, including 6,661 km of motorways (mostly toll roads, national and local roads), state-owned but privately operated mainly by Atlantia company.
  The railway network is also extensive, especially in the north, totalizing 16,862 km of which 69% are electrified and on which 4,937 locomotives and railcars circulate. It is the 12th largest in the world, and is operated by state-owned Ferrovie dello Stato, while the rail tracks and infrastructure are managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. While a number of private railroads exist and provide mostly commuter-type services, the national railway also provides sophisticated high-speed rail service that joins the major cities. The Florence–Rome high-speed railway was the first high-speed line opened in Europe when more than half of it opened in 1977. In 1991 the TAV was created for the planning and construction of high-speed rail lines along Italy's most important and saturated transport routes (Milan-Rome-Naples and Turin-Milan-Venice). High-speed trains include ETR-class trains, with the Frecciarossa 1000 reaching 400 km/h.
  There are approximately 130 airports in Italy, of which 99 have paved runways (including the two hubs of Leonardo Da Vinci International in Rome and Malpensa International in Milan), and 43 major seaports including the Port of Genoa, the country's largest and the third busiest by cargo tonnage in the Mediterranean Sea. The national inland waterway network comprises 1,477 km of navigable rivers and channels. In 2007 Italy maintained a civilian air fleet of about 389,000 units and a merchant fleet of 581 ships.
caption: Rome Fiumicino Airport in 2014 was the eighth-busiest airport in Europe.
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