Layover in FCO without Schengen visa

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There are no hotels inside FCO's "airside" area.

Thus, If you want to stay in a hotel, you must pass Schengen Immigration, collect your luggage (if any), and pass Schengen Customs, then go to your hotel. The HotelSky facility is on the airport premises, but it is landside; other hotels are off the airport property.

Sources: while one can't prove a negative, FCO's official website, and secondary sources here and here support this conclusion.

Passing Immigration and Customs will require a Schengen visa, unless your citizenship qualifies you for visa-free entry into the EU.

The Sleeping in Airports website cited above contains reports from travelers who have spent the night inside the airport, both landside and airside.

Note that while it's apparently possible to stay overnight within the airport, whether you can actually do that on your itinerary depends on other factors not disclosed in your question. These "other factors" may require that you pass Immigration and Customs: if you must retrieve and then drop off your checked baggage while at FCO; if your arriving flight is on a different air carrier than your departing flight; if you must change terminals at FCO.

Upvote:5

FCO doesn't appear to have any airside sleeping accommodations

Some sources claim that as recently as March 2022 the airport is closed at night between 0:00 and 3:00 for Covid related cleaning. I wasn't able to verify this one way or another so I recommend checking with the airline if your layover is indeed over night. If you get kicked out, you need a Schengen Visa or equivalent.

You could consider buying lounge access, but I don't think any of the lounges is open all night.

Sources:

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