Transport in Italy
Italy has a well developed transport infrastructure. The Italian rail network is extensive, especially in the north, and it includes a high-speed rail network that joins the major cities of Italy from Naples through northern cities such as Milan and Turin. Italy has 2,507 people and 12.46 km per kilometer of rail track, giving Italy the world's 13th largest rail network. Italy's road network is also widespread, with a total length of about 487,700 km. It comprises both an extensive motorway network (6,400 km), mostly toll roads, and national and local roads. Because of  its long seacoast, Italy also has many harbors for the transportation of both goods and passengers. Transport networks in Italy are integrated into the Trans-European Transport Networks. Railways. The Italian railway system has a length of , of which standard gauge and electrified. The active lines are 16,723 km. The network is recently growing with the construction of the new high-speed rail network. The narrow gauge tracks are: A major part of the Italian rail network is managed and operated by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, a state owned company. Other regional agencies, mostly owned by public entities such as  regional governments, operate on the Italian network. The Italian railways are subsidised by the government, receiving €8.1 billion in 2009. Travellers who often make use of the railway during their stay in Italy might use Rail Passes, such as the European Inter-Rail or Italy's national and regional passes. These rail passes allow travellers the freedom to use regional trains during the validity period, but all high-speed and intercity trains require a 10-euro reservation fee. Regional passes, such as "Io viaggio ovunque Lombardia", offer one-day, multiple-day and monthly period of validity. There are also  saver passes for adults, who travel as a group, with savings up to 20%. Foreign travellers should purchase these passes in advance, so that the passes could be delivered by post prior to the trip. When using the rail passes, the date of travel needs to be filled in before boarding the trains. High speed trains. Major works to increase the commercial speed of the trains already started in 1967: the Rome-Florence "super-direct" line was built for trains up to 230 km/h, and reduced the journey time to less than two hours. This is the first high -speed train line in Europe, as its operations started in 1977. In 2009 a new high-speed line linking Milan and Turin, operating at 300 km/h, opened to passenger traffic, reducing the journey time from two hours to one hour. In the same year, the Milan-Bologna line was open, reducing the journey time to 55 minutes. Also the Bologna-Florence high-speed line was upgraded to 300 km/h for a journey time of 35 minutes. Since then, it is possible to travel from Turin to Salerno (ca. 950 km) in less than 5 hours. More than 100  trains per day are operated. The main public operator of high-speed trains ("alta velocità AV", formerly Eurostar Italia) is Trenitalia, part of FSI. Trains are divided into three categories: Frecciarossa ("Red arrow") trains operate at a maximum of 300 km/h on dedicated high-speed tracks; Frecciargento (Silver arrow) trains operate at a maximum of 250 km/h on both high-speed and mainline tracks; Frecciabianca (White arrow) trains operate at a maximum of 200 km/h on mainline tracks only. Since 2012, a new and Italy's first private train operator, NTV (branded as Italo), run high-speed  services in competition with Trenitalia. Even nowadays, Italy is the only county in Europe with a private high-speed train operator. Construction of the Milan-Venice high-speed line has begun in 2013 and in 2016 the Milan-Treviglio section has been opened to passenger traffic; the Milan-Genoa high-speed line (Terzo Valico dei Giovi) is also under construction. Today it is possible to travel from Rome to Milan in less than 3 hours (2h 55') with the Frecciarossa 1000, the new high-speed train. To cover this route, there's a train every 30 minutes. Intercity trains. With  the introduction of high-speed trains, intercity trains are limited to few services per day on mainline and regional tracks. The daytime services ("Intercity" IC), while not frequent and limited to one or two trains per route, are essential in providing access to cities and towns off the railway's mainline network. The main routes are Trieste to Rome (stopping at Venice, Bologna, Prato, Florence and Arezzo), Milan to Rome (stopping at Genoa, La Spezia, Pisa and Livorno / stopping at Parma, Modena, Bologna, Prato, Florence and Arezzo), Bologna to Lecce (stopping at Rimini, Ancona, Pescara, Bari and Brindisi) and Rome  to Reggio di Calabria (stopping at Latina and Naples). In addition, the Intercity trains provide a more economical means of long-distance rail travel within Italy. The night trains ("Intercity Notte" ICN) have sleeper compartments and washrooms, but no showers on board. Main routes are Rome to Bolzano/Bozen (calling at Florence, Bologna, Verona, Rovereto and Trento), Milan to Lecce (calling at Bologna, Rimini, Ancona, Pescara, Bari and Brindisi), Turin to Lecce (calling at Alessandria, Voghera, Piacenza, Parma, Bologna, Rimini, Pescara, Bari and Brindisi) and Reggio di Calabria to Turin (calling Naples, Rome, Livorno, La Spezia and Genova). Most portions  of these ICN services run during the night; since most services take 10 to 15 hours to complete a one-way journey, their day-time portion provide extra train connections to complement with the Intercity services. There are a total of 86 intercity trains running within Italy per day. Regional trains. Trenitalia operates regional services (both fast "veloce RGV" and stopping "REG") throughout Italy. Regional train agencies exist: their train schedules are largely connected to and shown on Trenitalia, and tickets for such train services can be purchased through Trenitalia's national network. Other regional agencies have separate ticket systems  which are not mutually exchangeable with that of Trenitalia. These "regional" tickets could be purchased at local newsagents or tobacco stores instead. In addition to these agencies, there's a great deal of other little operators, such as AMT Genova for the Genova-Casella railway. Rapid transit. Cities with metro systems: Cities with commuter rail systems: Rail links with adjacent countries. Italy has 11 rail border crossings over the Alpine mountains with her neighbouring countries: six are designated as mainline tracks and two are metre-gauge tracks. The six mainline border crossings are: two with France (one for Nice and  Marseille; the other for Lyon and Dijon), two with Switzerland (one for Brig, Bern and Geneva; the other for Chiasso, Lugano, Lucerne and Zürich), and two with Austria (one for Innsbruck; the other for Villach, Graz and Vienna). The two-metre-gauge track crossings are located at the border town of Tirano (enters Switzerland's Canton Graubünden/Grisons) and Domodossola (enters Switzerland's Locarno). There is a railway line connecting Italy's northeastern port of Trieste to Slovenia, but no passenger or freight services operate on this track. Consequently, there is no direct connections between Trieste and Ljubljana, the capital  of Slovenia, despite the proximity of both cities. The Vatican City is also linked to Italy with a railway line serving a single railway station, the Vatican City railway station. This line is used only for special occasions. San Marino used to have a narrow gauge rail connection with Italy; this was dismantled in 1944. Stations. Italy's top ten railway stations by annual passengers are: Roads. Italy is one of the countries with the most vehicles per capita, with 690 per 1000 people in 2010. Italy has a total of 487,700 km of paved roads, of which 6,758 km  are motorways with a general speed limit of , which since 2009 was provisioned for extension up to . The speed limit in towns is usually and less commonly . Waterways. Italy has of navigable waterways for various types of commercial traffic, although of limited overall value. In the northern regions of Lombardy and Venetia, commuter ferry boats operate on Lake Garda and Lake Como to connect towns and villages at both sides of the lakes. The waterways in Venice, including the Grand Canal, serve as the vital transportation network for local residents and tourists. Frequent shuttle ferries ("vaporetta") connect different points on  the main island of Venice and other outlying islands of the lagoon. In addition, there are direct shuttle boats between Venice and the Venice Marco Polo Airport. Air transport. Airlines. Italy's largest airline is Alitalia, which was privatised in 2008. Its main hub is Rome Fiumicino Airport. Alitalia also operates a regional subsidiary under the Alitalia CityLiner brand. An important regional airline is Air Dolomiti, owned by the German Lufthansa Group. Charter and leisure carriers include Neos, Blue Panorama Airlines and Poste Air Cargo. Major Italian cargo operators are Alitalia Cargo and Cargolux Italia. Airports. Italy is the fifth  in Europe by number of passengers by air transport, with about 148 million passengers or about 10% of the European total in 2011. Most of passengers in Italy are on international flights (57%). A big share of domestic flights connect the major islands (Sardinia and Sicily) to the mainland. Domestic flights between major Italian cities as Rome and Milan still play a relevant role but are declining since the opening of the Italian high-speed rail network in recent years. Italy has a total as of 130 airports in 2012, of which 99 have paved runways: Airports - with unpaved runways  in 2012: Busiest airports. This is a list of the top ten busiest airports in Italy in 2017. Bus. There are long-distance intercity buses run by local companies, but the services are infrequent during the week and usually provide a secondary link to railway services. Italy does not have a nationwide coach operator. However, in 2015, the British company Megabus (Europe) launched daily intercity bus services on several domestic routes This makes a daily total of 12 services in each direction between Rome and Bologna. Flixbus, a company founded in the course of the opening of the German intercity  bus market also serves routes in Italy both domestic and international. Airport shuttle. Airport shuttle buses, however, are highly developed and convenient for rail travellers. Most airports in Italy are not connected to the railway network, except for Rome Fiumicino Airport, Milan Malpensa Airport and Turin Caselle Airport. In Bologna, a light-rail track has been constructed and inaugurated in November 2020, connecting Bologna Airport to the main railway station, while Line 1 of Naples Metro is set to finally reach Capodichino Airport and connect it to the central station and the city center in 2024. Local bus. Local buses  are usually divided into urban ("urbano") and suburban ("interurbano" or "extraurbano") lines.