1961: The Formal Opening of a Major Italian Airport Named After a Legendary Renaissance Man

January 15, 1961

Italy’s Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport, located about 19 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Rome in the town of Fiumicino, was officially opened. This international airport, which replaced Rome Ciampino Airport as the region’s main airport, was named in honor of someone regarded by many as the ultimate Renaissance man.

Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) achieved lasting fame for his formidable accomplishments in a wide range of fields that included painting, sculpting, architecture, engineering, and science. Among his aviation-oriented contributions were designs for flying machines. These designs encompassed images of proto-helicopters.

Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport had in fact been in use starting in August 1960, when it helped relieve air traffic that overwhelmed Rome Ciampino Airport during the Summer Olympics in Rome. Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport is the busiest airport in Italy and the eighth busiest in all of Europe. In addition, it is the world’s 39^th busiest airport. (The accompanying photo of Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport was taken in 1964.)

Photo Credit: FOTO:FORTEPAN / Holenár Csaba és Edina (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

For more information on Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport, please check out https://www.turismoroma.it/en/places/leonardo-da-vinci-international-airport

Additional information on airports in Italy is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_Italy