By James Whitfield · Last updated: 22 October 2026 · 11 min read
In This Guide
- Quick Facts: Strikes in Italy and France (Winter 2026/27)
- When are the next transport strikes in Italy?
- Will the 30 October general strike stop flights and trains?
- Is there a train strike in Italy, and which trains still run?
- Which flights still fly during an Italian air strike?
- Are there days when strikes are not allowed in Italy?
- Do taxis run during a strike in Italy?
- What strikes are coming up in France?
- How much warning do you get before a strike?
- How do you get from the airport on a strike day?
- What are your rights if a strike cancels your flight?
- Book the airport transfer before the strike day
- Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. On 22 October 2026, Italy's official strike calendar lists national strikes on 30 October, 20 to 21 November and 4 December, plus air traffic control stoppages on 6, 21 and 22 November. France has a national SNCF rail strike on 5 November. Each one hits trains, buses, flights or taxis. Italy's calendar lists no strike by private-hire drivers, so a transfer booked before you fly isn't on it.
This page covers the strikes filed for this winter that a traveller would notice, what still runs on each one, and how to get from the airport to your hotel when the train doesn't. It's rebuilt from the official calendars each month. This version was read on 22 October 2026.
Quick Facts: Strikes in Italy and France (Winter 2026/27)
| Question | Short Answer |
|---|---|
| Next national strike in Italy? | Friday 30 October 2026 (USB general strike), contested for transport |
| National rail strike in Italy? | 21:00 Friday 20 November to 20:00 Saturday 21 November 2026 |
| Next strike in France? | SNCF national rail strike, Thursday 5 November 2026 |
| Which Italian trains still run? | Regional trains 06:00 to 09:00 and 18:00 to 21:00 on weekdays; a published list of Frecce and Intercity |
| Which Italian flights still run? | Departures 07:00 to 10:00 and 18:00 to 21:00, plus international arrivals within 30 minutes of those bands |
| Strike-free days in Italy (air)? | 18 December to 7 January, and 30 October to 5 November, among others |
| Do taxis strike? | Sometimes: the 30 October filing includes taxis from 00:01 to 23:59 |
| Warning in Italy? | At least ten days, by law |
Sources: Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport strike calendar (22 October 2026), ENAC, Trenitalia, Law 146/1990, Sortiraparis.
When are the next transport strikes in Italy?
The next one that matters is Friday 30 October.
Italy publishes every transport strike in advance on the Italian transport strike calendar run by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, at scioperi.mit.gov.it. On 22 October 2026 it held 27 strikes running to 15 January 2027. Most are a single bus company in a single city. These are the ones a visitor flying in would feel:
| Date | Who strikes | Hours | What it hits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 28 to Thu 29 Oct | Trenitalia station staff, Bologna, Reggio Emilia AV Mediopadana, Rimini | 21:00 to 21:00 | Emilia-Romagna rail |
| Fri 30 Oct | USB, national general strike | Rail 21:00 on 29 Oct to 20:59; air and taxis all day | Trains, flights, taxis, local transport (contested, see below) |
| Fri 30 Oct | Pisa and Florence airport staff | All day | Pisa and Florence airports |
| Fri 6 Nov | ENAV, Bari control centre | 13:00 to 17:00 | Flights in southern Italy |
| Fri 13 Nov | ATM, Milan | 24 hours | Milan metro, trams, buses |
| Fri 13 Nov | ATVO, Venice | 24 hours | Venice buses, including airport links |
| Mon 16 Nov | ANM, Naples | 11:00 to 15:00 | Naples metro and buses |
| Fri 20 Nov | CGIL, national general strike | Whole working day | Public and private sectors |
| Fri 20 to Sat 21 Nov | CUB Trasporti and SGB, all rail companies | 21:00 on 20 Nov to 20:00 on 21 Nov | Every train in Italy; local transport in Turin, Naples (EAV) and other cities on the 21st |
| Sat 21 Nov | ENAV, national | 13:00 to 17:00 | Flights across Italy |
| Sun 22 Nov | ENAV, Milan Malpensa | 00:01 to 24:00 | Malpensa flights |
| Sun 22 Nov | Security staff, Venice Marco Polo | All day | Venice airport queues |
| Fri 4 Dec | CUB, SGB, SI-COBAS and others, national general strike | Rail 21:00 on 3 Dec to 21:00 on 4 Dec | Trains, motorways, local transport; air not yet stated |
| Mon 14 Dec | Aviation Services, Rome Fiumicino and Ciampino | All day | Rome airport ground handling |
| Tue 15 Dec | ENAV, Bologna | All day | Bologna flights |
| Fri 15 Jan 2027 | ENAV and Techno Sky, national | 24 hours | Flights across Italy |
Read the table for the weekend of 20 to 22 November first. A Friday general strike, a Friday-night-to-Saturday rail strike, a Saturday afternoon air traffic stoppage and a Sunday at Malpensa sit back to back, and anyone flying into Italy for a long weekend lands in the middle of it.
Fridays are the pattern, not an accident.
Nine of the sixteen rows fall on a Friday, and rail strikes usually begin at 21:00 the evening before, so a Thursday night train is part of a Friday strike. The left-hand date is the day the strike is named for. The hours column is what decides whether your train runs.
Will the 30 October general strike stop flights and trains?
Nobody can say for certain yet, and that's the honest answer.
The USB union filed a national general strike for Friday 30 October covering flights all day, trains from 21:00 on 29 October to 20:59 on 30 October, and taxis from 00:01 to 23:59. The catch is the date. 30 October to 5 November is one of Italy's protected periods around All Saints, when transport strikes aren't allowed, and on 13 October the Commissione di Garanzia, the authority that polices strikes in essential services, recalled that window and asked USB to leave transport out.
USB refused. Its own notice of 15 October "conferma lo sciopero generale in tutti i settori, trasporti compresi", confirming the strike in every sector, transport included. On 22 October the ministry calendar still lists the full row with its air, rail and taxi hours.
Plan as if it goes ahead.
If you fly in on 30 October, book the ride from the airport now, and check the Trenitalia and airline pages on the 29th. Three other unions also called general strikes that day, but all three exclude transport, so they won't touch your journey.
Is there a train strike in Italy, and which trains still run?
Yes, and some trains still run on every one of them.
Trenitalia, the state operator, runs regional trains in two guaranteed bands on every strike day: 06:00 to 09:00 and 18:00 to 21:00 on weekdays, and 07:00 to 10:00 and 18:00 to 21:00 on Sundays and holidays. Long-distance trains, the Frecce such as the Frecciarossa, and Intercity, have no time band. Instead Trenitalia publishes a list of named trains it guarantees, and Italo publishes its own.
A train already moving when the strike starts keeps going to its final stop if it can get there within one hour of the start. If it can't, it may terminate at an earlier station, which is how people end up in Bologna at 22:00 wondering where Florence went.
The two guaranteed bands are built for commuters, not for arrivals.
Land at Rome Fiumicino at 07:30 on a weekday strike and a regional train into Rome is inside the morning band. Land at 13:30 and you're between bands, in a taxi queue that the whole terminal has also joined.
Which flights still fly during an Italian air strike?
Flights scheduled to depart between 07:00 and 10:00, and between 18:00 and 21:00.
That's the rule ENAC, Italy's civil aviation authority, publishes for every air strike: two three-hour bands of departures, plus international flights arriving within half an hour of the end of each band. It's the departure time that counts. Figures that circulate widely say any flight departing or arriving inside the bands is protected, and a domestic arrival at 09:30 that left at 08:15 is, but only because it departed inside one.
The first strike in any dispute can last no more than four hours, and later strikes in the same dispute up to a full day. Both shapes are on this winter's list: four hours from 13:00 to 17:00 on 6 and 21 November, a full day at Malpensa on 22 November and nationally on 15 January 2027.
A four-hour air strike still wrecks a whole afternoon. Aircraft and crews end up in the wrong cities, and the evening rotation inherits the gaps.
Are there days when strikes are not allowed in Italy?
Yes. For flights, these are the protected periods ENAC lists:
| Protected period | Why |
|---|---|
| 18 December to 7 January | Christmas and New Year |
| Thursday before Easter to Thursday after | Easter |
| 24 April to 2 May | Liberation Day and May Day |
| 27 June to 4 July | Start of summer holidays |
| 27 July to 5 September | Summer holidays |
| 30 October to 5 November | All Saints and All Souls |
| Around national and regional elections | Voting days |
Read it against your dates. The last two airport strikes of the year fall on 14 and 15 December, just before the Christmas window opens, and ENAV's next national strike comes on 15 January, a week after it closes. A flight between 18 December and 7 January can't legally be hit by an Italian air strike.
The 30 October to 5 November line is the one to watch this year, because it's the window the USB strike sits inside.
Do taxis run during a strike in Italy?
Usually, but not always, and not on 30 October if USB's filing holds.
Taxis have their own row on the ministry calendar, and the USB general strike lists taxis from 00:01 to 23:59. A rail strike is filed for rail staff only, so taxis aren't part of it, and the rank fills with everyone who meant to take the train. The queue at Fiumicino or Malpensa on a strike afternoon is long, and the cars arrive one at a time.
A pre-booked private transfer works on a different licence.
In Italy it's NCC, noleggio con conducente, hire with a driver, and the ministry calendar tracks it as its own sector, separate from taxis. On 22 October 2026 there's no NCC strike anywhere on it. That's why a transfer booked before you fly is the one airport ride that isn't on the strike list: the driver is waiting in arrivals with your name, whatever the trains are doing. Ride apps are a separate question; our guides to Uber in Rome and Uber in Milan cover them.
What strikes are coming up in France?
A national rail strike on Thursday 5 November 2026.
All four main SNCF unions, CGT-Cheminots, UNSA-Ferroviaire, SUD-Rail and CFDT-Cheminots, have called rail workers out over pay, bonuses and conditions. It falls on the same day as a national strike and demonstration over wages and the 2027 budget, so TGV, Intercités and TER trains are all at risk. On 20 October no RATP notice had been filed for that day, so the Paris metro and the RATP-run RER A and B weren't affected yet.
SNCF publishes its train plan the evening before.
That plan is built from the strike declarations rail staff must file 48 hours ahead, so the night of 4 November is when you'll know whether your TGV runs. For flights, no French air traffic control strike had been filed for November or December when this page was last updated.
How much warning do you get before a strike?
In Italy, at least ten days.
Law 146 of 1990, which governs strikes in essential public services, says the notice "non può essere inferiore a dieci giorni", cannot be less than ten days, and operators must tell passengers how services will run at least five days before. A date that isn't on the ministry calendar ten days out is very unlikely to become a legal transport strike.
In France, the timing is tighter.
Since a law of 28 December 2023, every French air traffic controller who intends to strike has to tell the DGAC, the civil aviation authority, by noon two days before each strike day. The DGAC then sets the strike-day roster by 18:00 that same day, and that's when airlines learn how many flights they must cancel. In practice, a French controller strike becomes a cancellation list about 48 hours out.
How do you get from the airport on a strike day?
Book the ride before you fly.
Land at Fiumicino at 18:30 on Friday 20 November with a carry-on and you'll be on a train into Rome before the rail strike starts at 21:00. Land at 21:30 the same evening with two suitcases and a child, after the rail strike has started at 21:00, and the trains have stopped while every other passenger heads for the taxi rank.
Here's what that looks like airport by airport:
- Rome Fiumicino. A Fiumicino to Rome city centre transfer is booked against your flight number and landing time. The Rome Fiumicino airport page covers Civitavecchia and the other runs.
- Milan Malpensa. 22 November is a full-day air traffic strike there, and Milan's ATM strikes on 13 November. A Malpensa to Milan transfer or a direct run to Lake Como skips both the train and the change in Milan.
- Naples Capodichino. Naples has its own local strikes on 28 October and 16 November. From the Naples Airport, a pre-booked car reaches Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast without a train or a bus change.
- Pisa and Florence. Both airports have a staff strike on 30 October. A Pisa Airport to Florence transfer doesn't need the rail link at all; the Florence Airport page covers Siena and Chianti.
- Paris Charles de Gaulle. On 20 October nobody could yet say how the 5 November strike would hit the RER and Transilien lines. A Charles de Gaulle to Paris transfer takes the motorway instead.
- Nice Airport. TER trains along the Riviera are at risk on 5 November. From Nice Côte d'Azur, a car reaches Cannes, Antibes or Monaco door to door.
Skiers flying into Lyon or Grenoble on 5 November face the same rail gap to the resorts; the Lyon Airport page lists the direct runs.
What are your rights if a strike cancels your flight?
Under EU rules, a refund or a new flight, your choice.
When a flight is cancelled, the airline must offer you one choice of a refund, re-routing at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing at a later date. While you wait it owes you food and refreshments, and a hotel and transport to it if you're moved to the next day. Compensation on top depends on whose strike it was. A strike by the airline's own staff doesn't count as an extraordinary circumstance, so compensation can be due. An air traffic control strike is outside the airline, and usually isn't.
None of that gets you from the airport to the hotel.
If your flight is rebooked, send the carrier the new flight number and landing time as soon as you have them.
Book the airport transfer before the strike day
Strikes in Italy and France are filed days or weeks ahead, which is exactly enough time to take the airport ride out of the equation. On TransferBnB you post the trip once, with your flight number, bags and group size, and verified local carriers send their offers. You choose one, and the driver meets you in arrivals whether the trains run or not.
Whether you're landing in Rome for a long weekend or in Milan on the way to the lakes, the strike calendar is one tab to check, and the ride from the airport doesn't need to be on it.
Post your airport transfer request
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there transport strikes in Italy in November 2026?
Yes. As of 22 October 2026, Italy's ministry calendar lists a CGIL general strike on 20 November, a national rail strike from 21:00 on 20 November to 20:00 on 21 November, an air traffic control stoppage from 13:00 to 17:00 on 21 November, and a full-day air traffic strike at Milan Malpensa on 22 November. Local strikes hit Milan's ATM and Venice's ATVO on 13 November and Naples' ANM on 16 November.
Is there a strike in Italy on 30 October 2026?
One is filed, but it's contested. USB called a national general strike including flights, trains and taxis, while the strike authority asked it to exclude transport because 30 October to 5 November is a protected holiday period. USB confirmed the strike anyway, and the ministry calendar still listed it on 22 October. Plan as if trains and taxis may be affected, and book airport transport in advance.
Which trains run during a train strike in Italy?
Trenitalia regional trains run from 06:00 to 09:00 and 18:00 to 21:00 on weekdays, and from 07:00 to 10:00 and 18:00 to 21:00 on Sundays and holidays. Frecce and Intercity trains run only if they're on Trenitalia's published list of guaranteed trains, and Italo publishes its own list. A train already moving when the strike begins finishes its journey only if it can arrive within one hour. Landing outside the bands, a transfer booked ahead doesn't depend on any of these lists.
Which flights are guaranteed during a strike in Italy?
Flights scheduled to depart between 07:00 and 10:00 or between 18:00 and 21:00, plus international flights arriving within 30 minutes after either band ends. The departure time decides it, not the arrival time. ENAC, Italy's civil aviation authority, publishes the rule. The first strike in a dispute can last at most four hours.
Do taxis run during a strike in Italy?
Usually, but taxis can strike too: the USB general strike filed for 30 October 2026 includes taxis from 00:01 to 23:59. A rail strike is filed for rail staff only, so taxis aren't part of it, but airport queues grow long. Hire with a driver (NCC) is a separate sector on the ministry calendar, and no NCC strike was listed on 22 October 2026.
Is there a train strike in France in November 2026?
Yes. The four main SNCF unions called a national rail strike for Thursday 5 November 2026, on the same day as a national strike over wages and the 2027 budget. TGV, Intercités and TER trains are at risk. SNCF publishes its train plan the evening before. A pre-booked transfer from Paris Charles de Gaulle or Nice Airport avoids the rail gap entirely.
How much notice is given before a strike in Italy or France?
In Italy, at least ten days by law, and operators must publish how services will run at least five days ahead. In France, rail staff declare 48 hours ahead and SNCF publishes its plan the evening before. French air traffic controllers must declare by noon two days before each strike day, and the DGAC sets cancellation levels by 18:00 on that same day, two days before the strike.
Are there days when flights can't be hit by strikes in Italy?
Yes. Italy bans air strikes from 18 December to 7 January, from the Thursday before to the Thursday after Easter, from 24 April to 2 May, from 27 June to 4 July, from 27 July to 5 September, from 30 October to 5 November, and around elections. ENAC publishes the list. A flight over Christmas and New Year can't legally be hit by an Italian air strike.
This page lists strikes as filed on the official calendars and is rebuilt every month. Strikes can be withdrawn or moved, so check the ministry calendar and your operator the day before you travel.
Sources and Data
- Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti, transport strike calendar - every Italian strike date and hour on this page, read 22 October 2026
- USB Trasporti, notice of 15 October 2026 - the Commissione di Garanzia resolution of 13 October and USB's confirmation of the 30 October strike
- ENAC, minimum guaranteed services in air transport - guaranteed flight bands, the four-hour first strike, protected periods, 2026
- Trenitalia, guaranteed trains during strikes - regional bands, long-distance lists and the one-hour rule, 2026
- Law 146 of 12 June 1990, article 2 - ten-day notice and five-day passenger information
- Loi n° 2023-1289 of 28 December 2023, Légifrance - French air traffic controllers' declaration by noon two days ahead
- Sortiraparis, SNCF strike of 5 November 2026 - unions, the interprofessional strike, RATP status and the SNCF plan timing, updated 20 October 2026
- The Local Italy, November 2026 strike calendar - ATVO airport bus links on 13 November
- Your Europe, air passenger rights - refund, re-routing, care and the strike rules for compensation
