Originally Posted by
Perche
You spent years living and working in Italy and never experienced a strike? There was one last weekend.
"Protesters in Rome carry balloons featuring Prime Minister Matteo Renzi as Pinocchio. Published: 12 Dec 2014 12:07 GMT+01:00
Italy comes to standstill amid boisterous protests. Dozens of flights were cancelled or rescheduled and there was only a minimum or partial service on most forms of public transport."
And a month before that.
"Clashes erupt at Italy's anti-reform protests
Published: 14 Nov 2014 05:40
UPDATED: Clashes erupted between protesters and police in Milan and elsewhere in Italy on Friday, as demonstrators marched against government reforms and a nationwide strike shut down public transport."
And two weeks before that.
"Italian Transportation Strike
23 October, 2014 Italian General Strike
Black Friday, 24 October 2014 - 24 hours
Be prepared for the worst case scenario. Blocked roads to your airport, no trains to and from your airport, shortage of taxi's, extra traffic on the roads and Traffic jams."
That's three nationwide strikes in less than two months. Paralyzing traffic also happens.
The above was probably stressful, but manageable because Joanna2360 took the appropriate step of leaving very early, which is all that I'm suggesting. For an 8:50 departure I mentioned that if I was the OP I'd leave in a cab at 5:45, giving myself 3 hours, about what Joanna2360 did, which still left her only 30 minutes to spare. And I'm an Italian citizen traveling on an Italian passport, and get to use different passport lines.
It's only 17 miles from the Colosseum to FCO. When you leave early when there is no traffic you can make it in 25 minutes, less than the 31 minutes it takes the train. There is no problem with lights because most of the trip is on a highway. The Pantheon is only 18 miles from the airport but a little further from the highway, so it takes a little longer.
At the hour of the OP's flight it doesn't make sense to waste time taking a cab to the train station to wait for a train. Saving a few euros is the only possible reason. If OP is traveling with someone else and adds the cost of the cab to Termini from his hotel (10-15 euros) to the cost of the train (14 euros X 2) the difference is only a few euros compared to a cab (48 euros). For me at that hour, after a late night dinner and getting up on little sleep, not having to take a cab and wait for a train is worth a couple of euros. I might feel differently if I had a later flight that would put me in traffic, but that's not the OP's case.
Clearly you didn't fully read my last reply. I said "in Roma" I've never experienced a strike. You cite examples in Milan...I believe the OP is speaking about travel times to FCO....not MXP or LIN, so I have no idea why you chose to cite an article about Milano...?
I was in Italy four times throughout the Fall, most recently arriving at FCO on December 12th...departing Dec 17th. The only hiccup I experinced was a delay in arrival, due to the London air traffic computer shut down.....no strike. I had no problems with passport control. Intercontinental flights seemed to be running on time.
Anyone who is familiar with Italy, will know there are varying degrees in how
"paralyzing" strikes are. The OP posted a general question about travel times to FCO. It was never discussed how many are traveling in the party...or if he/she is alone. My point, there are many ways to FCO. Taking the costly taxi is not the only way...in fact, In my experience, cab rides from central Rome to FCO are on average 40-45 minutes, unless it's extremely early in the morning. Everyone knows GRA traffic is horrendous....less so now, due to the crisis.