Plagued, as of late, by corruption, mafia, debt, poor infrastructure, a pothole crisis and garbage spilling onto the streets, Rome apparently does have one functioning facility: its airport. And not just functioning, but even at the top of its game: for the second year in a row, the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport has been nominated the best airport in Europe for the quality of services offered, by ACI (Airport Council International), an international association that measures, through passenger interviews, the quality perceived in 300 airports around the world with more than 40 million passengers annually.

The ‘Best Airport Award 2018’ was assigned to the Roman airport during the annual meeting of the ACI in Brussels. A panel of aviation industry experts, including representatives from the European Commission, Eurocontrol, the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and the European Travel Commission, were called to judge on the performance of the airports. Finalists included Barcelona – El Prat, Copenaghen, London Heathrow and Oslo.