An Italian news magazine has reported that Rome’s international airport, Fiumicino, is totally unguarded between the hours of 01:00 and 03:00. It says the first security personnel appear two hours before the departure of the first flight at 05:40.

A journalist from the weekly magazine L'espresso said he broke into the airport on several different occasions and wandered around for hours in the international departures hall without being stopped. He said offices were left open, check-in desks unmanned and metal detectors switched off.
 
He described the departures hall as “an amusement park” open to everyone, even to people carrying weapons or explosives. Photos published in the magazine showed him passing through a metal detector and sitting in an office, behind a check-in desk, and at a car rental counter.

Fiumicino is the country’s biggest airport and is used by 33 million passengers every year.

So far, airport officials have not responded to the story. However, an airport source said the Italian aviation authority, ENAC, has ordered an investigation. 

L'espresso video clip of Fiumicino at night (in Italian).