Coach & Minibus Hire in Italy

From Civitavecchia to Rome, at Your Own Pace

Your ship says Rome, but it docks at Civitavecchia, a separate town on the coast. With a minibus and a driver waiting at the port, a family or a group of friends can still make a relaxed day of the capital.

Rome is a drive away, so choose your sights

Piazza Venezia lies about 71 km from the port entrance, roughly an hour and twenty minutes in light traffic and longer when the roads are busy. The round trip takes close to three hours on the road, so most small groups pick one area, say the Colosseum or the Vatican, and keep the rest of the time for lunch and a walk.

Size matters in Rome. Up to eight passengers fit in a car with driver. With more than nine seats including the driver, the vehicle counts as a bus, so the city's tourist-bus zones and permits apply to it, and the operator sorts those out before the day.

Minibus rear seating and luggage space
Minibus rear seating and luggage space

Through the port gates

Private cars cannot drive onto the cruise quays. Anyone arriving by taxi or car gets out at the port gates, then rides the free port shuttle, which runs between every berth and Largo della Pace, the passenger hub by the entrance.

Any vehicle going beyond the gates into the terminal areas, a car with driver or a minibus included, needs its own pass from the company that runs the terminals. The firm supplying your vehicle requests it. Where exactly you meet your driver depends on that permit, so the operator confirms the spot with your booking.

Where the ships tie up

  • Largo della Pace, at the port entrance near the old town, is the passenger service hub, not a terminal: free port shuttle buses run from there to every cruise berth
  • The terminal operator gives a capacity of up to 40,000 passengers a day across the cruise berths
  • Terminal Donato Bramante: the newest terminal, inaugurated in November 2025 according to the port authority
  • Terminal Amerigo Vespucci: opened on 18 May 2018, about 11,000 square metres, with check-in on the first floor and passenger boarding bridges (fingers)
  • The cruise terminals stand at the cruise berths of the port of Civitavecchia and are run by the port's cruise terminal concession company

Arriving from Fiumicino, or leaving with your cases

Fiumicino airport is about 66 km away, around an hour by road. On embarkation day everyone and every case travel together from arrivals to the port.

The terminals keep no left-luggage room. If you would like a few hours in Rome between the ship and a late flight, the bags stay in the vehicle's luggage space. Say how many cases you have, because a minibus with every seat taken has limited room behind the last row.

What travellers ask us

Could part of our group take the train instead?

Yes. The railway station is roughly half a kilometre from the port gate, with an average of two departures an hour for Rome; trains call at San Pietro, Trastevere, Ostiense, Tiburtina and Termini, among other stations.

Which terminal will our ship use?

Your cruise documents name the berth. The port's newest terminal, the Donato Bramante, opened in November 2025, and the Amerigo Vespucci terminal has passenger boarding bridges.

Is there a bus stop near the port?

The closest regional bus stop is a hundred metres or so from the southern gate, in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, which helps anyone travelling on alone.

More places for your group

Other vehicles with a driver