Malpensa Airport

Intercontinental airport located in the Province of Varese, busiest Italian airport for freight and cargo and second-busiest in terms of passengers. It consists in two terminals served by many railway lines and motorways from and to Varese, Milan, Como and Switzerland.

The first industrial airport was opened in 1909 near Cascina Malpensa, an old farm, by Giovanni Augusta and Gianni Caproni to test their aircraft prototypes. This airport was opened for civil operation in 1948 as "Airport of the City of Busto Arsizio" after Second World War reconstruction period, when the airport runway was damaged by German troops on retreat. The airport was then conducted by some local industrials and politicians.

Four years later the Municipality of Milan entered the Busto Airport Society and took control over the airport. Due to the distance from the City of Milan, the Municipality decided to keep only intercontinental routes on Malpensa Airport. Since 1962 with the opening of the main motorway Milano-Varese, both terminals are served by many transport links.

The Airport is reachable thanks to the Malpensa Express Train by Trenord and Line S40 (Varese, Switzerland, Como). It is also linked to the two nearby airports of Linate (MI) and Orio al Serio (BG) with extraurban shuttles. Upon the completing of the construction of Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda a direct link will be possible among the provinces of Varese, Bergamo, Como and Monza-Brianza.