Several major Italian airports keep their smoking areas past security — Rome Fiumicino’s enclosed booths, the ventilated rooms at Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Venice and Palermo, and Milan Bergamo’s open-air areas, among others detailed below — so transit smokers there never leave the secure zone. At other airports, including Naples, Bologna and Catania, smoking is landside only, in the open air outside the terminal before security.
Italy was one of the first European countries to ban indoor smoking comprehensively. The 2003 Sirchia Law (Legge n. 3/2003) closed indoor smoking everywhere — restaurants, bars, offices, and airports — well before the UK (2007) or Germany (2007). Twenty years later the pattern is a mix: the law permits separately-ventilated smoking rooms, and a few hubs run them airside, some keep open-air airside areas, and many airports are landside-outdoor only.
How Italian Airport Smoking Works
The 2003 ban prohibits indoor smoking in all enclosed public spaces; separately-ventilated smoking rooms are the permitted exception. In practice:
- Airside options where they exist: enclosed rooms (Fiumicino, Linate, Malpensa, Venice, Palermo, Bari, Lamezia Terme), open-air areas (Bergamo, Pisa, Turin, Olbia), or a designated area whose layout the airport does not describe (Verona)
- Landside: outdoor smoking outside terminals — often marked “Area Fumatori,” and permitted in the open air under Italian law even where a spot isn’t formally signed
- Marked with clear signage in Italian and English, free to use
- The general terminal interior is smoke-free everywhere
- Mediterranean climate keeps the outdoor areas usable most of the year
Italian law leaves indoor vaping to venue operators; most airports apply the same rule to vapes as to cigarettes, and Pisa’s own rulebook states the e-cigarette rule explicitly. Use the airside rooms at Fiumicino, Linate, Malpensa, Venice, Palermo, Bari and Lamezia Terme, the open-air airside areas at Bergamo, Pisa, Turin and Olbia, Verona’s designated airside area, or the open air outside any terminal.
The Major Hubs
Rome Fiumicino (FCO). Italy’s primary international gateway, named after Leonardo da Vinci. Passenger flights run through two operating terminals: Terminal 1 (Schengen and short-haul, boarding areas A, B, C and D) and Terminal 3 (long-haul and intercontinental, the E gates). Around a dozen enclosed smoking booths sit airside near the gates across both terminals, which connect past security, plus outdoor areas before security.
Milan Malpensa (MXP). Milan’s main international airport, busier of the two. Smoking rooms airside in Terminal 1, plus outdoor areas outside the departures entrances of both T1 and T2 (the compact terminal for easyJet and other budget carriers) — see the airport page for exact room locations.
Milan Linate (LIN). Milan’s city airport, primarily for short-haul European flights. Enclosed ventilated smoking room airside near Gate A16, plus outdoor areas landside.
Milan Bergamo (BGY). Milan’s low-cost base at Orio al Serio and a Ryanair mega-hub. Open-air smoking areas airside near the gates, plus outdoor areas outside the terminal.
Other Major Airports
Naples (NAP). Outdoor areas at Level 1 departures and Level 0 arrivals, landside. Gateway to the Amalfi Coast. Compact single terminal.
Venice Marco Polo (VCE). Ventilated indoor smoking lounge after security on the top floor of the terminal, near the food hall, plus outdoor areas landside near the water-bus dock. Compact single-terminal design.
Catania Fontanarossa (CTA). Sicily’s busiest airport and the gateway to Etna and the Ionian coast. Outdoor areas outside the Terminal A and Terminal C entrances, landside only.
Palermo Falcone Borsellino (PMO). Sicily’s second hub. Enclosed ventilated smoking room airside opposite Gate A18 (it can close for maintenance), plus outdoor areas landside.
Bologna Marconi (BLQ). Emilia-Romagna’s gateway. Designated outdoor areas outside the renovated terminal, landside only — no airside smoking area.
Lamezia Terme (SUF). Calabria’s main airport. Smoking area in the boarding lounge immediately after security; open-air smoking outside the terminal, landside, is also permitted under Italian law.
Brindisi Salento (BDS). Run by Aeroporti di Puglia alongside Bari. Outside the terminal building, landside, where Italian law permits open-air smoking — no airside smoking area.
Treviso Antonio Canova (TSF). Marketed as “Venice-Treviso,” a separate airport from Venice Marco Polo. Outside the terminal building, landside, where Italian law permits open-air smoking — no airside smoking area.
Turin (TRN). Piedmont’s main gateway, officially Sandro Pertini Airport. Open-air smoking terrace airside on the upper level of the departures area, near the Kids Area; outside the terminal building, landside, Italian law permits smoking in the open air.
Olbia Costa Smeralda (OLB). Gateway to Sardinia’s northeast coast. A small open-air Smoking Garden airside, beyond security in the departures pier; outside the terminal building, landside, Italian law permits smoking in the open air.
Verona Villafranca (VRN). Also known as Catullo Airport, gateway to Lake Garda. A designated smoking area airside, past security in Terminal 1, which the airport does not describe as a room or an open-air space; outside the terminal building, landside, Italian law permits smoking in the open air.
Rome Ciampino (CIA). Rome’s Ryanair-focused second airport, run by the same operator as Fiumicino. The operator lists no airside smoking area; outside the single terminal building, landside, Italian law permits smoking in the open air.
Bari Karol Wojtyła (BRI). Puglia’s main gateway. Smoking room in the boarding area after security; outside the terminal building, landside, Italian law permits smoking in the open air.
Pisa Galileo Galilei (PSA). Tuscany’s busiest airport. Its Regolamento di Scalo permits smoking only outside the terminal building — airside past security, or landside before it.
Cagliari Elmas (CAG). Sardinia’s main gateway. SOGAER’s Smokers Points sit outside the terminal at both arrivals and departures, landside; the operator lists no airside smoking area.
Florence Peretola (FLR). Tuscan capital airport, smaller than Pisa. Outside the terminal building, landside, Italian law permits smoking in the open air; the airport lists no airside smoking area.
Tips for Smokers at Italian Airports
- Look for “Area Fumatori” signs, common at many Italian airports; even unsigned, open-air smoking outside a terminal is legal under Italian law
- Fiumicino, Linate, Malpensa, Venice, Palermo, Bari, Bergamo, Pisa, Lamezia Terme, Turin, Olbia and Verona keep airside smoking areas — easy transit smoking; Naples, Bologna, Catania, Cagliari, Florence, Brindisi, Treviso and Rome Ciampino are landside-only
- Rome Fiumicino is the busiest; expect crowded smoking booths at peak times
- Mediterranean climate makes Italian outdoor terraces pleasant most of the year
- Cigarettes in Italy are mid-priced for Europe (~€6-7/pack) — duty-free competitive
- Vapes and IQOS use the same designated smoking areas as cigarettes — the airside rooms where they exist, otherwise the outdoor spots
- Northern Italian airports (Milan, Venice) can be cool/rainy in winter — bring a jacket
Italy Airports Compared: Indoor, Outdoor & After Security
At a glance — which Italy airports let you smoke after security, in an indoor room, or in an outdoor area: