Transport strikes in Italy today: live map

How to read the map

Each marker is a strike and its colour says where it stands:

• Red, pulsing: under way now.
• Amber: starts later today.
• Blue: announced for the coming days.
• Orange, in the centre of Italy with a dashed halo: national strike, affecting the whole country.
• Grey: ended less than six hours ago; it stays visible a little longer.

The symbol inside the marker is the type of transport. Where a marker sits depends on how the strike was announced: a provincial strike on the provincial capital, a regional one in the middle of the region, a national one in the centre of Italy. Air transport strikes sit on the airport named in the notice. The position is indicative: it tells you the area, not the address. The traffic light at the top sums up the day: green if nothing is under way or planned for today, amber for local or regional strikes, red if air transport or a national strike is affected today.

Where the data come from

There is a single source and it is the official one: the calendar of the Observatory on trade-union disputes in transport of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, published at scioperi.mit.gov.it (in Italian). Every transport strike must be notified there by the unions that call it, with date, time, sector, area and category of workers. Dates, times and unions are shown as the source gives them. Descriptions of the workers involved stay in Italian.

Why transport strikes are known in advance

Transport is an essential public service and strikes in it are governed by Italian law no. 146 of 1990. A strike in essential services must be announced at least ten days in advance, with its duration and form, to the company and the competent authority. That is why almost every strike on the map was announced one, two or three weeks earlier. The Commission for the guarantee of strike law in essential public services checks that announcements are regular, can ask for a strike to be withdrawn and can penalise those who break the rules: a strike can therefore disappear from the calendar before its date.

Guaranteed time bands

Even on strike days the service does not stop completely: sector rules set time bands in which the main services are guaranteed.

• Air transport: flights scheduled between 7 and 10 and between 18 and 21 are guaranteed, together with links to the islands, State flights and emergency flights. The list of guaranteed flights is published by ENAC before each strike.
• Rail: on working days the guaranteed bands are 6 to 9 and 18 to 21, with a list of regional and long-distance trains that run anyway. Railway operators publish the list of guaranteed trains in the days before.
• Local public transport:each operator sets its own bands, usually two a day of three hours at peak times. Notices such as "from 8.45 to 12.45" are the hours outside the guaranteed bands.

There are also periods in which strikes cannot be called, such as the Christmas and Easter holidays, the summer exodus and general election days, with dates that differ by sector. If you see few strikes in August or at the end of December, that is why.

Flight strikes: what you are entitled to

If your flight is cancelled because of a strike, EU Regulation 261/2004 applies. The airline must offer you the choice between a refund of the ticket within seven days and an alternative flight as soon as possible, and care while you wait: meals, drinks and, if needed, a hotel with transfer.

Financial compensation, from 250 to 600 euros depending on distance, is a separate matter and depends on who is striking. The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that a strike by the airline's own staff is not an extraordinary circumstance, so compensation is due; a strike by people outside the airline, such as air traffic controllers or airport ground staff, is an extraordinary circumstance and compensation is generally not due. The card of each strike shows the category of workers involved, which is what makes the difference.

If you have a travel policy, check its Conditions of Insurance to see whether and when a strike is among the events covered for cancellation or delay. A strike that has already been announced when you book is the typical case of an exclusion. If you live in Italy, see our travel insurance for residents of Italy.

Train and local transport strikes

For trains, start from the list of guaranteed trains published by the railway operator in the days before: if your train is on the list, it runs. If a train is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund of the ticket or to travel on the first suitable train, under the operator's conditions of carriage. Rail strikes often last 23 or 24 hours and start the evening before, usually at 21:00: always check the time window on the card, not only the date. For buses, trams and metros what counts is the guaranteed band in your city, published by each operator on its website.

Road freight stoppages and motorway strikes

Road freight strikes, known as "fermi", concern lorry drivers working for third parties and do not directly stop people travelling by car; effects show after a few days in deliveries, and multi-day regional stoppages can slow ports and freight hubs. Strikes by motorway staff touch toll booths and monitoring: barriers stay open, but staffed toll booths may be short of operators. Drivers with an electronic toll tag usually notice nothing.

Email alerts

Email alerts for your city and the nearby airports are currently available in Italian only. You can activate them on the Italian version of this map.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Observatory on trade-union disputes in transport, strike calendar (scioperi.mit.gov.it)
• Law no. 146 of 12 June 1990 on the exercise of the right to strike in essential public services, as amended
• Commission for the guarantee of strike law in essential public services: provisional rules for air transport and local public transport; national agreement on minimum services in the rail sector of 23 November 1999
• Regulation (EC) no. 261/2004 on air passenger rights in case of denied boarding, cancellation or long delay
• Court of Justice of the European Union, judgment of 23 March 2021, case C-28/20 (Airhelp v SAS), on strikes by the airline's own staff