• A major step in the project to upgrade the new Terminal 1, which involves a total investment of €500 million
• Almost 25,000 m² with 22 gates for an additional 6 million departing passengers each year and a new baggage reclaim system with an additional capacity of 3 million passengers a year
• Thanks to the collaboration with the Religious Buildings Fund of the Ministry of the Interior, departing passengers will be able to admire Bernini's latest work, the 'Salvator Mundi', the spiritual testament of the great artist
• Possibility to listen to a podcast on the arrival destination by scanning a QR Code directly at the boarding gate 

Less than a year after the inauguration of boarding area A of Leonardo da Vinci, the new boarding area of Terminal 1 was reopened today, with a capacity of 6 million departing passengers every year to national and Schengen destinations.

It is a state-of-the-art infrastructure, equipped with 22 gates, more than half of which are equipped with boarding piers. In line with the investments made by ADR, the focus was also on quality, sustainability and innovation for this project. Specifically, the interventions carried out concerned all the structural and plant components, for a design aimed at maximising the spaces dedicated to passengers and facilitating their orientation. In this logic, a great novelty is the possibility for passengers, by framing a QR code positioned on the lead walls of the boarding gates, to listen via podcast to a guide to the destination of arrival with curiosities and places not to be missed that can be downloaded and taken even in flight. The podcast produced is the result of the collaboration between Aeroporti di Roma and Chora Media, and is part of the joint "Audioporto di Roma Fiumicino" project, which aims to disseminate news, stories and art thanks to various series of thematic podcasts.

In the new boarding area, with a total area of almost 25,000 m², there are 12 new loading bridges for direct boarding onto the aircraft, 44 self-boarding gates, as well as digital columns integrated into the structures. In addition, a new baggage handling system was installed in the arrivals area, with 3 new baggage carousels for an additional capacity of an additional 3 million passengers a year. The infrastructure was built by adopting the most modern environmental protocols, without carrying out any excavations or increasing the existing infrastructure by a single cubic meter and reusing construction materials, also testifying to Italian excellence from an engineering and architectural point of view . Thanks to these interventions, it will be possible to obtain optimal energy performance and reduced consumption compared to the past.

The opening of the new infrastructure to the public adds a further and fundamental element to the redesign of the entire new Terminal 1, with a total investment of €500 million, which also provides for the opening of former boarding area C, expected before the summer and the renovation of the former Boarding Area D, which will be started in the coming months.

Today's inauguration saw speeches, amongst others, by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini,  by the Undersecretary for Culture, Vittorio Sgarbi, by the President of ENAC, Pierluigi Di Palma, by the Chief Executive Officer of  Ita Airways, Fabio Lazzerini, the President of the Lazio Region, Francesco Rocca, the Mayor of the Metropolitan City and Municipality of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, the Deputy Mayor of Fiumicino, Ezio di Genesio Pagliuca and the Prefect Fabrizio Gallo Director of the Ministry of the Interior's Worship Buildings Fund. For the Group, the Chairman of Mundys Giampiero Massolo, the Chairman of ADR, Claudio De Vincenti and the Chief Executive Officer of ADR, Marco Troncone, spoke.

“Today” declared the Chief Executive Officer of Aeroporti di Roma, Marco Troncone “we celebrate the conclusion of a further milestone of the Terminal 1 expansion and redesign project, which follows the opening of Pier A last year. A major step in ADR's large investment programme worth €10 billion by 2046 - €2.5 billion of which have already been completed - which has brought Fiumicino into the global elite in terms of service quality, supporting Italy's international connectivity and fuelling the socio-economic induced: in this sense, it is the testimony of a company that keeps its promises and exceeds expectations. With this enhancement, we are preparing ourselves in the best possible way for the next major international events, firstly, the 2025 Jubilee. We continue to invest with the ambition of representing, including abroad, an airport model in which, in addition to quality, innovation and sustainability in all their forms, the commitment to enhance the historical and artistic heritage emerges of the nation, represented, on this occasion, by an extraordinary masterpiece by Bernini”.

“Like Mundys, we are deeply committed to supporting ADR's development plan which, to date, has transformed the capital's airport into one of the most popular airports in the world” declared the President of Mundys, Giampiero Massolo. “Fiumicino - he continued - represents for us a symbol of the way we want to manage infrastructure, combining technological innovation and attention to the environment to offer the best possible service to our passengers. Globally, we are implementing a five-year investment plan, worth over €10 billion, the aim of which is to innovate our infrastructures present in 24 countries, acting in a logic of integrated mobility. In this sense, collaboration with Governments and other local institutions, as well as regulatory stability, are fundamental requisites for tackling the new challenges of modernity and launching a revolution in the infrastructure sector which, from Italy, looks to the rest of the world. Our goal, over the next 5 years, is to become the leading operator of integrated mobility globally and I am delighted that the new pier and the expansion of the departure area A represent the first investment that, like Mundys, we are making available to our passengers from today”,  said the President by Mundys, Giampiero Massolo.

Passengers were welcomed by the work, donated to Aeroporti di Roma, entitled 'LEO' by Marco Lodola, an artist who, on the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, wanted to depict him with luminous LEDs in many different colours, as a tribute to his genius light.

Thanks to the long and fruitful collaboration with the Teatro dell'Opera and the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, passengers and guests were also entertained by two musical performances during the event.

Operations will start tomorrow: the first flight will be the ITA AZ2010 at 07.00 to Milan Linate.

The renovation

The infrastructure, opened in 1991, was closed in July 2020 following the effects on air traffic induced by Covid-19. The renovation, which began in October 2022, resulted in an optimisation of the operating spaces with the aim of increasing the general comfort of the terminal. It is with this in mind that the functional setting of the area has been rationalised, guaranteeing larger spaces at the gates, technological improvement and new commercial areas. The completed interventions allow for an increase in the visibility of the passenger services, an increase in the brightness of the rooms thanks to the use of natural light and greater heights of the false ceilings.

The “green” footprint

The architectural concept of the area was created through the use of the most advanced building technologies and the best standards of environmental protection. All design and development is “Made in Italy”, supervised by the ADR Engineering team of architects and engineers according to the Building Information Modelling (BIM) methodology, which allows a real-time dialogue between the various project components with a view to reducing the possibility of error and maximize the quality of the design.

The ‘Salvator Mundi’: Bernini's final work

Thanks to the collaboration with the Religious Buildings Fund of the Ministry of the Interior, departing passengers will be able to admire Bernini's final work, the ‘Salvator Mundi’, the great artist's spiritual testament, created around 1679 and coming from the Basilica of San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura. The exhibition is part of the more general strategy of the Leonardo da Vinci hub to promote local and national art and culture among Italian and foreign passengers. The work was intended for Queen Christina of Sweden, to whom Bernini was bound by deep esteem and friendship. Following the queen's death, the bust was donated to Pope Innocent X, but after further passages, traces of it were lost. It was found in the Roman church only recently, about twenty years ago. The sculpture depicts a half-length Christ blessing: the face of Christ, adorned with long hair, turns to the right and has an expression of great serenity and majesty, whilst the right hand in the act of blessing approaches the chest to the left. A rich drapery envelops the bust and contributes, with deep folds that create a strong contrast between light and shadow, to create a sense of movement accentuated by the light contrast of the body. The work is charged with spiritual intensity which, in the original project, was accentuated by the presence of an underlying base consisting of two kneeling angels who support the simulacrum with both hands, so that the image of Christ was carried in triumph. The sculpture of 106 cm high x 105 wide and 65 thick is the spiritual testament of the great artist who now at the end of his life wanted to deliver his reflections on life and death to the world.