Passengers to be able to check-in baggage in Italy's main railway stations before boarding their flight in Rome.

Italy's state railway and Rome airport management company signed an agreement on Thursday to develop integrated ways to link rail and air travel for passengers flying through Fiumicino airport.

The ambitious plans would see direct high-speed rail services between the Rome airport and Naples in the south, as well as accelerating current rail services between Fiumicino and Florence, Bologna and Pisa to the north of the Italian capital.

The direct rail link would mean that inbound travellers could reach Fiumicino by train without having to take a connection from the capital, bypassing Termini station.

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The agreement between Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) also includes plans to allow air passengers to carry out check-in operations - including their baggage - directly in the train stations connected with Fiumicino.

The airport's train station would increase its existing three tracks to five, along with plans to develop new rail connections via S. Pietro and with the port at Civitavechia.

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Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, described the agreement as "a real intermodal train-to-air offer, which enhances Fiumicino's role as a smart hub" and makes it "more ready for the recovery of tourism and, more generally, for a future of growth."

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Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri hailed the "forward-looking strategic" plans which "allow us to act in synergy, to better grasp opportunities of extraordinary importance such as the Jubilee 2025 and the challenge of Expo 2030.”

Gualtieri's remarks were echoed by the president of the Lazio region Nicola Zingaretti who said the agreement represents a "further leap forward in strengthening rail connections and enhancing Fiumicino airport, Italy's most important gateway to the world."

Photo credit: Nataliya Pylayeva / Shutterstock.com.