By ship
See also Ferries in the Mediterranean
There are several ferries departing from Greece, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia. Most of them arrive at Venice, Ancona, Bari and Brindisi.
Some regular ferry services connect the island of Corsica in France to Genoa, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples and North of Sardinia. Barcelona is connected to Civitavecchia and to Genoa.
Some regular ferry services connect Sicily and Naples to some North African harbours.
There is a hydrofoil service running from Pozzallo on the south-eastern coast of Sicily to Malta.
There is a year-round service between Trieste and Albania and summer services between Trieste and Piran Slovenia and Porec and Rovinj in Croatian Istria. The service between Trieste and Rovinj takes less than 2 hours which is quicker than the bus service.
By bus
With Eurolines (http://www.eurolines.it/i...). There are regular buses between Ljubljana, Slovenian coastal towns and Istria Croatia and Trieste Italy. These services are cheap and from Trieste onward connections with the rest of Italy are plentiful. There are also a bus that goes from Malmö, Sweden via Denmark, Germany and Switzerland and then goes through the country and then back to Sweden.
By plane
Italy has a national airline, Alitalia (http://www.alitalia.com), as well as several smaller carriers, such as Meridiana (http://www.meridiana.it/I...) or Air One (http://www.flyairone.it/en/). In January 2009 Air One and Alitalia merged, and Air One now flies only a limited number of flights, only out of Milan. As a result of this merger, Germany's Lufthansa started an Italian subsidiary (http://fly-lufthansa-ital...) that tries to become a main rival for Alitalia with a hub in Milan.
Italy is one of the main battle grounds for European low cost airlines several routes to/from and within Italy are offered. The larger airports are, of course, served by the major European airlines.
Intercontinental airlines mainly arrive in Rome and Milan, with Rome being the main international gateway into the country.
Most of mid-range international flights arrive to the following Italian cities:
Rome - with two airports: Fiumicino FCO - Leonardo Da Vinci and Ciampino CIA for budget airlines
Milan - with two airports: Malpensa MXP and Linate LIN; in addition, Bergamo BGY - Orio al Serio is sometimes referred to as "Milan Bergamo"
Bologna BLQ â Guglielmo Marconi
Naples NAP - Capodichino
Pisa PSA - Galileo Galilei
Venice VCE â Marco Polo; in addition, Treviso TSF - Antonio Canova is sometimes referred to as "Venice Treviso"
Turin TRN â Sandro Pertini
Catania CTA - Vincenzo Bellini
Bari BRI - Palese
Genoa GOA - Cristoforo Colombo
By car
Italy borders on France, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia. All borders are open without passport/customs checks, but cars can be stopped behind the border for random checks. Switzerland is now part of the Schengen zone, and ended systematic identity checks for travellers on land borders from December 2008.