Yes, you can smoke at Catania Fontanarossa Airport (CTA) — at designated outdoor areas outside the terminal, landside, by the departures and arrivals doors. The terminal is smoke-free and there is no smoking area after security, so smoke before you clear the checks or after you collect your bags.
Catania Fontanarossa is Sicily’s busiest airport and the fifth-busiest in Italy, handling around 12 million passengers a year as the main gateway to eastern Sicily, Mount Etna, and the Ionian coast. Knowing that all smoking is landside saves you a scramble on arrival or before a connection.
Where to Smoke (Landside)
Smoking at Catania is outdoors only, landside, at the designated areas outside the terminal entrances. Step out through the departures or arrivals doors, find a marked spot with ashtrays at the curbside, and you are clear to light up. This is the easiest option before you check in and pass through security.
Arriving passengers can smoke as soon as they leave the building, on the way to the bus stops, taxi rank, and car parks. The forecourt outside arrivals is the natural spot, and Sicily’s mild climate makes an open-air cigarette pleasant for most of the year.
After Security (Airside)
There is no smoking area after security at Catania. Once you pass through the security checks, the whole departures side — the gates, the shops, the cafés, and the “Angelo D’Arrigo” VIP lounge — is enclosed and smoke-free under Italian law. Travellers consistently report that the airport keeps no airside smoking terrace or room.
If you are connecting through Catania and want to smoke, you will need to exit through arrivals to reach the outdoor areas and then re-clear security for your onward flight. Because that means queuing through the checks a second time, give yourself extra time and do it well before your gate closes.
Terminals at Catania
Catania runs from more than one terminal, and the same rule applies at each: outdoor smoking landside, none airside.
Terminal A is the main terminal, handling most full-service and international flights along with the bulk of check-in. Its departures and arrivals doors front the main forecourt, where the outdoor smoking spots sit.
Terminal C is used by easyJet and other low-cost traffic. It has its own entrance, so smoke at the outdoor area by its doors before you go inside to check in and clear security.
Whichever terminal your flight uses, plan to smoke outside the building — there is nowhere to do so once you are past the checks.
Vaping
Vaping is treated the same as smoking at Catania. Italian law extends the indoor ban to e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco devices, so use the outdoor areas outside the terminal for vapes as well as cigarettes. Do not vape in the enclosed check-in hall, boarding gates, or restrooms.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor terminal | No | Enclosed spaces are smoke-free under Italy’s 2003 Sirchia Law |
| After security / airside | No | No smoking area at the gates — connecting passengers must exit and re-clear |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Designated areas outside the Terminal A and Terminal C entrances |
For Italy’s airport smoking rules and vaping law, see our Italy airport guide.