Complete guide to Rome's public transport in 2026: how the metro, buses, and trams work, where to buy tickets, the most useful lines for tourists, the costs.
Rome's public transport has a worse reputation than it deserves, and a better one than it actually has. The metro is small in extent but punctual; the buses cover the whole city but are irregular; the historic trams are slow and romantic. This guide tells you how to use them without going crazy.
Roma ha due linee metropolitane operative nel 2026 più una terza (Metro C) in espansione:
Frequency: the metro runs 5:30-23:30 (Friday and Saturday until 1:30), with trains every 3-8 minutes at peak hours. The limit of the Roman metro: the network is minimal compared to other European capitals, Rome has 37 km of metro network vs the 402 of London, 219 of Paris, 95 of Milan. For everything not reachable by metro: bus or taxi.
Rome has 338 urban bus lines (ATM Roma, run by ATAC) that cover the whole city. The most useful for tourists: Bus 40/64 (Termini-Vatican, direct but overcrowded and a target for pickpockets, preferably use Metro A); Bus 23 (Piazza Risorgimento-Magliana, along the Tiber, useful for Trastevere from Prati); Bus H (direct Termini-Fiumara, passing through Testaccio). The Roma Mobilità app (www.romamobilità.it) and Google Maps show the schedules in real time, but the Roman buses have variable punctuality. The practical rule: always count 15-20 extra minutes for bus delays at peak hours.
| Type | Price 2026 | Validità | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| BIT (time-integrated ticket) | €2,00 | 100 min dalla obliterazione | Macchinette, tabacchi, app |
| Giornaliero (24h) | €7,00 | 24 ore dall'obliterazione | Macchinette, tabacchi |
| 2 days (48h) | €12,50 | 48 ore | Macchinette, tabacchi |
| 3 days (72h) | €18,00 | 72 ore | Macchinette, tabacchi |
| Settimanale (CIS) | €24,00 | 7 days | Macchinette, tabacchi |
Validation: the ticket is stamped at the metro entrance (in the yellow machines) or on the buses and trams (in the onboard machines). An unstamped ticket is invalid, the ATAC inspectors fine €50+ for unvalidated tickets. The tickets are bought at the automatic machines in the metro stations (they work with coins and credit cards), in the tabaccherie (with the ATM logo), or on the ATM Roma app (to download in advance with a connection).
Unfortunately yes, Rome has one of the highest percentages of breakdowns and service interruptions among European cities. The main causes: the network is older than the other European capitals; the extraordinary-maintenance works pile up; heavy rains cause infiltration in the tunnels. Metro A is historically more prone to interruptions than Metro B. The most frequent interruptions happen on weekends (when the works are scheduled) and in periods of heavy bad weather. How to handle them: the Roma Mobilità app sends real-time notifications about the interruptions; replacement buses are activated but aren't always prompt.
Rome's historic center is satisfyingly walkable, the distance between the Colosseum and Piazza Navona is 2 km (25-30 min); between the Trevi Fountain and the Vatican 3 km (40 min). If you stay in the historic center and your itinerary is concentrated on the central area, you might use transit only 1-2 times a day, in that case the single tickets (€2 each) cost less than the day ticket (€7). The day ticket is worth it if: you stay far from the center (neighborhoods like Prati, Flaminio, EUR), you want to visit peripheral sites (the Catacombs on the Appia Antica, MAXXI in Flaminio), or you use transit more than 3-4 times.
Every trip to Italy builds up layers of understanding that no guidebook can fully anticipate. But some things you can know before you leave, and they make the difference between a good trip and an extraordinary one. The practical notes that follow are the ones an Italian guide would give friends, not clients.
In some historic Italian trattorias (the most famous example is Trattoria Mario in Florence, Via Rosina 2) the system is shared tables, you don't get a private table but sit wherever there's room, even next to strangers. This isn't rudeness, it's the original system of the Italian osterie, where people sat wherever they found a spot. The upside: you often end up talking with the Italian diners, who are almost always happy to recommend dishes or tell you about the place. At trattorias with the shared-table system: come in, say how many you are, the waiter shows you a seat; start eating independently of the other diners. The one mistake to avoid: asking for a private table at a trattoria that only works with the shared system.
For tourists who want to take home quality Italian products at supermarket prices: Eataly (in the main cities, high-quality DOP/IGP products but at high prices); Esselunga (Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, the supermarket with the best food section for value); Conad (a national chain, good food sections); LIDL Italia (good for regional products at very low prices). For wines: the independent enoteche give personalized advice far better than the big retailers, search "enoteca" plus the city name on Google and pick the ones with the most reviews in Italian.
Italy is formally cashless-friendly (a POS terminal has been mandatory for everyone since 2022) but still dependent on cash in many situations. The rule of thumb: always keep €50-100 in cash for emergencies (parking, tips, markets, neighborhood bars). For withdrawals: the ATMs of national banks (Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit) charge no fees on withdrawals with Visa/Mastercard, the fees you pay are your own issuing bank's. Currency exchange at the airports: almost always unfavorable by 3-8% against the interbank rate. The fintech cards (Revolut, Wise) give the rates closest to the interbank rate with no fixed fees, they're the best option for travelers visiting Italy for more than a week.
The anti-inflation strategies: (1) Eat where Italians eat, the trattoria with the weekday set menu (first course + main + wine €12-18) costs half of any restaurant with photos of the dishes; (2) use regional trains for short routes, Rome-Orvieto: regional €8 vs high-speed €30+; (3) book museums for the first Sunday of the month (free entry); (4) sleep in family B&Bs instead of hotels, same quality, prices 30-40% lower; (5) buy food at the supermarket for snacks; (6) travel in April-May or September-October, hotel prices fall 25-40% compared with the peak summer months. A 10-day Italian itinerary is realistically plannable at €80-100/person/day (all in) if you follow these rules.
Italian taxis are regulated by the municipalities, each one sets its own fares. Official taxis are white (in the big cities) or other colors set by the municipality, with a mandatory meter and a license on display. How to get one: call the city's radio taxi number (in Rome: 06-3570, 06-4994, 06-88177; in Milan: 02-8585, 02-6969; in Naples: 081-202020); use the IT Taxi app (www.ittaxi.it, the official aggregator of Italy's radio taxis); look for the taxi ranks at the fixed points (train stations, airports, main squares). The fixed airport fares: Rome FCO to the center €50 (a fixed municipal fare, not negotiable); Naples Capodichino to the center €23 (fixed). The Uber and Bolt apps operate in Italy with NCC drivers (not taxis), legal but with some service differences compared with traditional taxis.
The golden hour (the first and last hour of daylight) turns any Italian subject into something extraordinary, but in Italy the golden hour has a particular intensity for the quality of the Mediterranean light. The best moments to photograph the main sites: the Colosseum (dawn 6:30-7:30, frontal light; sunset 18:30-19:30, side light); Piazza del Duomo in Florence (early morning 7:00-8:30 before the crowds); the Tuscan Val d'Orcia (morning with low fog, October-March); the Cinque Terre (sunset from the Corniglia or Manarola overlook). The best weather for Italian photography: the day after rain in summer (clean air, dramatic skies, shiny pavements); the autumn fog in the Po and Arno valleys; the rare snow on the historic center of Rome or Florence (an event about once every 5-10 years).
Northern Italian cuisine (Piedmont, Lombardy, the Veneto, Emilia-Romagna): fresh egg pasta (tagliatelle, tortellini, lasagne), butter and cream as fats, rice (risotto is a northern first course), polenta (the Veneto and Lombardy), beef and pork, fragrant white wines and structured reds. Central Italian cuisine (Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio): olive oil as the main fat, fresh and dry pasta, pork and game, pecorino, legumes (lentils, beans), robust red wines (Chianti, Brunello, Sagrantino). The cuisine of southern Italy and the islands (Campania, Puglia, Sicily, Calabria, Sardinia): olive oil, tomato, durum wheat, fish and seafood, Mediterranean vegetables (eggplant, peppers, artichokes), North African and Arab spices (in Sicily especially), buffalo and sheep dairy. The paradox that surprises tourists: the "Italian" food eaten outside Italy is almost always a southern version (pizza, spaghetti, oil and garlic), but the most famous cuisine within Italy is the Emilian one (prosciutto, parmigiano, tortellini).
The main Italian airports (Rome FCO, Milan MXP/LIN, Venice VCE, Naples NAP) saw a significant rise in delays during the 2022-2025 summer seasons, the main cause: European air traffic returned above pre-pandemic levels while the air-traffic-control infrastructure didn't grow accordingly. In case of a delay over 2 hours or a cancellation: immediately activate your right to a refund/rerouting (EU Regulation 261/2004); ask the ground staff for written confirmation of the delay (needed for the compensation claim). Tools for claims: AirHelp (www.airhelp.com), ClaimCompass (www.claimcompass.eu) handle the claim on your behalf, keeping a percentage (25-35%) of the compensation obtained, convenient if you don't want to handle the process yourself.