Every design for Fiumicino

Fiumicino sits on the northern side of the Tiber's mouth, with Ostia across the water and the Tyrrhenian Sea in front of it. Most of the world knows the name from Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, the busiest in Italy, which lies in the town's north-eastern suburb. Yet the name means "little river", and the town grew from a fishing village by the Torre Clementina, one of the coastal towers the popes built along this shore.

The Area archeologica dei Porti Imperiali di Claudio e Traiano is a reminder that this coast was Rome's gateway long before any runway. Here stood Portus, the harbour built under Claudius and Trajan, and Trajan's hexagonal basin survives, along with the Darsena porto di Traiano and the Magazzini di Traiano where goods for the capital were stored. Between the branches of the Tiber lies Isola Sacra, and further north the pinewoods and wetlands of the Riserva Naturale Statale Litorale Romano give way to Maccarese, Fregene and open farmland.

The town still keeps a large fishing fleet and a seaside resort beside its airport. For anyone who has flown in and out a hundred times, the canal, the fish restaurants and the sea breeze are what tell you that you are back where you belong.