The port of Civitavecchia, founded by the Emperor Trajan in 108 AD. as the gateway to Rome, it represented for many centuries the hub of exchanges and contacts between the peoples of the ancient "Mare Nostrum". Even today, the airport retains this privileged position, so much so that it plays a role of primary importance within the Lazio network.

The port of Civitavecchia, a model in the Italian infrastructural panorama for the methods and timing of the works envisaged by the new port master plan, has been divided into two macro areas: in the south, in the historic port, the one dedicated to tourism and pleasure boating, with the creation of one of the most suggestive and fascinating Marina Yachting in the Mediterranean; to the north, the area for commercial traffic, fishing and cabotage. All "defended" by Christopher Columbus, transformed into one of the longest cruise terminals in the world. Today, Civitavecchia is the second largest cruise port in Europe and the first in Italy and has daily or weekly sea connections (so-called Motorways of the Sea) for the transport of passengers and trucks to Spain, Sardinia, Sicily and Tunisia.

As for the cruise sector, 2019 ended with a new record. Over 2.6 million cruise passengers passed through the major Lazio airport; a figure that, according to forecasts, will also grow in 2020 and subsequent years.

Furthermore, within a couple of years, the opening to the south of the port of Civitavecchia will finally become a reality. The reopening of an access already existing in the past will lead to the creation of "two ports", one for pleasure boats and maxi yachts and another, larger and extended to the north, which will continue to serve cruise ships, ferries and commercial ships. The main objective, in fact, is to operate the separation between the historic port and the commercial port with the consequent recovery of the historical, cultural and archaeological values ​​of the port of Trajan.

With reference to the Motorways of the Sea, the port of Civitavecchia is a candidate as a national and European leader. The AdSP of the Central-Northern Tyrrhenian Sea intends to face the challenge of new markets with a strategy that aims, on the one hand, an intense territorial marketing activity and, on the other, the doubling of its infrastructural accommodation capacity.

In addition to the intention of making the Barcelona-Civitavecchia "route" increasingly competitive, also due to the environmental advantages, the AdSP of the ports of Lazio will, in fact, promote interventions aimed at the development of strategic shipping lines with North Africa , in particular with Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. To face this challenge and satisfy the needs of end customers, it is necessary to complete port infrastructural works such as the new “ferry” dock which will allow further development, in an eco-sustainable key, of the Motorways of the Sea. With the realization of these infrastructural interventions, the port of Civitavecchia will be able to become a real hub of the Ro-Ro and Ro-Pax segments (mainly line connections with Tunis and Barcelona) of Central Italy, as well as of the "automotive" traffic and of that of perishable goods (fresh fruit and agri-food) thanks also to the synergy with the Centro Agroalimentare Romano (CAR). Furthermore, recently (September 2019), the port of Civitavecchia was awarded an additional non-repayable loan from the European Commission, foreseen in the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) tender, of the EU TEN-T networks, for the upgrading of the last railway mile that will make it possible to adapt the railway infrastructures within the Lazio airport to European standards.

The goal is to make the various operating cycles connected to the various commodity activities as independent and efficient as possible, an objective that can only be achieved through the logistical integration between the railway infrastructure, the adjacent areas and the reference road network, in order to effective and efficient management of both rail and road traffic. "Fast Track to the Sea" (this is the name of the project) is therefore fully part of the European intermodal programming, demonstrating once again the relevance and importance of the port of Civitavecchia in the international economic and maritime chessboard and Motorways of the Sea.

Today the port of Civitavecchia can count on about 2,000,000 square meters of quays, 34 operational berths from 100 to 400 m in length, for over 16 km of berths, with draft up to 18 meters and rocky bottoms.

A natural port that finds protection in the Gulf of the same name stretching from the Circeo promontory to Cape Miseno, it boasts a territory of ancient origins whose first settlements date back to the 9th-10th centuries BC.

The origins of Gaeta's name are still shrouded in legend: Diodorus Siculus linked Gaeta's territory to the myth of the Argonauts, deriving the city's name from Aietes, the mythical father of Medea, Circe's niece. Virgil, in the Aeneid, found its origin in the name of Aeneas's nurse, Caieta, buried there by the Trojan hero during his voyage to the Latian coast; Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy confirmed the event.

During the Roman period, Gaeta became a popular holiday resort, frequented by emperors, rich patricians, consuls and famous senators of the time. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Gaeta gradually became a castrum: the town was fortified with city walls and a castle was built on the upper part of the ancient medieval village to defend the town. In the 9th century, the city became autonomous from Byzantine imperial authority; the Duchy of Gaeta gradually gained its independence and remained in existence for over two centuries, during which time Gaeta had its own military solidity, political autonomy, jurisdictional autonomy, its own civic legal institutions, its own currency, the 'follaro', and considerable economic development through maritime trade. In the period between 839 and 1140 Gaeta can also be considered a Maritime Republic in its own right. 

Gaeta suffered fourteen sieges that coincided with important and often crucial historical events, from the defeat of the Duchy of Gaeta, with its annexation to the Kingdom of Sicily, to the last siege, by the Savoy troops, after which the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on 17 March 1861.

The Port Authority of the Northern Central Tyrrhenian Sea's area of competence in the Municipality of Gaeta extends along the eastern coast of the city, on land and sea, from Punta Stendardo to the boundary with the Municipality of Formia, for a total surface area of approximately 5 million square metres, of which approximately 4.450 million square metres of water surface and approximately 550 thousand square metres of land areas.

It extends both to the north and to the south well beyond the limits of the Port Regulatory Plan in force, being, for large stretches, an integral part of the urban and city fabric. It includes, in addition to the commercial port, the oil wharf, the fishing port, the Flavio Gioia nautical base, the US and Italian Navy bases and the Guardia di Finanza naval base. Total cargo traffic amounts to almost 2 million tonnes per year, of which 1.4 million tonnes of oil products and about 600,000 tonnes of solid goods. With a resolution of the Regional Council in 2006, the Variation to the Port Regulatory Plan of 1959 of the Port of Gaeta was definitively approved, defining the current structure. In 2008, with funding from the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport, co-participated by the Port Authority, work began on the construction of a further section of the current Cicconardi quay, equal to approximately 320 ml, for the construction behind the reclaimed water basin and for the dredging of the seabed in front of the entire port area to 10 m, for a permitted draught of 8.70 m. In 2014, the work financed by the CIPE (Interdepartmental Committee for Economic Planning) was started, and is still in progress, for the completion of the commercial port, with the dredging of the seabed in front of the Cicconardi quay to a depth of 12 metres, which has ensured the docking of vessels with a draught of up to 10.20 metres. Upon completion of the works, scheduled for autumn 2020, the port of Gaeta will have, in addition to the current xx ml of quay and xx sq.m. of yards, an additional xx sq.m. of yards for a total surface area of over xx sq.m. Over the years, various ordinary and extraordinary maintenance works of common parts have been carried out in the district and, in synergy with the municipal administration, a process of redevelopment of the entire city waterfront has been initiated with the arrangement of common green areas, the construction of two city roundabouts, as well as the redevelopment of the Caboto Promenade currently underway. In addition, a number of interventions have been carried out in the fishing sector, in the fishing port in Porto Salvo, aimed at improving the conditions for the safe mooring of fishing units: cleaning of the sea bed, installation of bollards for mooring, electricity and water columns, conversion of public lighting to LEDs, and the construction of video surveillance systems, as well as the construction of a structure for the retail sale of fish products.

The process of rationalisation and redevelopment of the shipbuilding sector is currently underway, which envisages the construction of a slipway to the north of the commercial port, in which to relocate certain shipbuilding activities currently insisting in the port area and adjacent to the fishing port and the town centre, both of which are in conflict with the current town planning instruments.

The proposal under consideration would ensure the completion of the PRP, with the completion of the Riva quay and the construction of the dock for the Guardia di Finanza's naval units, which are currently still housed in the port of Formia, as well as giving new impetus to the shipbuilding sector with a view to relaunching one of the excellences of the territory's production system.

During 2018, the AdSP signed two important Memoranda of Understanding: one, with the Consorzio per lo Sviluppo Industriale del Sud Pontino (Consortium for the Industrial Development of South Pontine), aims to encourage the redevelopment and development of the shipbuilding, fish farming and cruise offer sector through the promotion of the territory; the other, with the Port System Authority of the Southern Adriatic Sea, to finally develop the intermodal corridor Central Tyrrhenian-Southern Adriatic through the ports of Civitavecchia/Gaeta and Bari/Brindisi, with the promotion of road, rail and logistic connections between the Central-Northern Tyrrhenian Sea and the Southern Adriatic Sea.

For centuries Port of Rome Caput Mundi, the close link of Fiumicino with the Tiber and the Tyrrhenian Sea has allowed the development of port activity; the ports of Claudius and Trajan, which supplied the capital of the empire, date back to the classical Roman age. The current name of Fiumicino, referring to the Trajan pit, originates from the toponym Flumen micinum (small river). Currently the port of Fiumicino is a canal port that develops along the quay banks of the terminal section of the navigable canal obtained with the extension towards the sea of ​​the ancient Traianea pit where the most important fleet of fishing boats of the Lazio Region is sheltered.

Since 2002, the Port Canal of Fiumicino has been part of the network of ports of Rome and Lazio, now managed and administered by the Central Northern Tyrrhenian Sea Port System Authority.

 With the entry into the network of the Ports of Rome and Lazio, in the pursuit of continuous improvement of the infrastructures and institutional services offered, the ambitious planning for the construction of a new commercial port has begun.

The new Fiumicino port regulatory plan was approved by the Lazio Regional Council in July 2012 and the technical-functional adaptation for better use of the docks and for greater safety of inland navigation is in the process of being approved. The new Commercial Port of Fiumicino represents the node for the completion of a strategic logistic system for the whole country, not only for its geographical position, at the gates of Rome, but above all for the importance of the existing settlements and infrastructures, such as the International airport. “Leonardo da Vinci”, Cargo City, Commercity, the interport, the new Fiera di Roma, the motorway junction between the Tyrrhenian corridor and the GRA, which make the area the intermodal hub for the whole of Central Italy.

The project ensures sufficient depths in relation to the planned activities and maneuvering spaces for ships with a rotation basin of 500 meters in diameter.

The fishing fleet will be located in the dock adjacent to the south pier of the new port where, traditionally, the socio-economic life of the inhabitants and operators of Fiumicino takes place. Proceeding northwards, the areas for shipbuilding will follow, where it is planned to relocate the shipbuilding activities currently located in the Darsena involved in a larger redevelopment project of the city waterfront in synergy with the local administration, ensuring the at the same time better conditions and greater opportunities for the development of the sector.

An interconnection area is planned between the port and the city which will favor a better urbanistic relationship between the building fabric and the new port infrastructure with collective public and private services.