have a connecting flight that leaves me one hour to get from alitalia to international continental (home) is this enough time?

Perhaps not if you must exit the secured area and re-enter through security. That's the first question you really need to ask - because if you can avoid re-screening, you could make it perhaps. The second question is, do you need to re-check your luggage? If you do, you'll have to exit security anyway.

And if you can avoid re-checking luggage AND going back through security, also have to ask where the Alitalia flight would land and where your international flight would depart from. It's a huge airport; unlikely that they'd depart within 5 minutes walk of each other.

When I flew back to the states out of Rome (FCO) a few years ago, I arrived two hours early mid-morning, when the airport - a zoo! - was very busy. I had to wait in a long security line (really a mob that filtered into several security lines), then take a shuttle to my terminal, then a bus out to my plane! We were boarding by the time I finally go to that point, so two hours was BARELY enough for me! Next time I'd give myself an extra half hour for sure.

I recently had the same concern taking an alitalia flight in from Genova and connecting to Delta to the US in less than an hour -- and it turned out the gates were practically on top of each other, which I learned by calling Delta. So the transfer was no problem. Delta often codeshares with Continental.

Got Skype? Call Continental at FCO Rome. 800 296 230.

If the code share is with Delta, the number is 800 477 999

Delta won't be codesharing with Continental after October.

I think you should consider rebooking this. If you come in on Alitalia, you could come in at Terminal A, B, or C... or if you are on a local Alitalia shuttle, even AA. Then, all US-Flagged planes require passengers to depart from Terminal 5... so it appears you WILL have to leave security in orde to go through the T5 "special" security. Once through there (check in and security)you are taken by shuttle bus out to the C Terminal Satellite departures Terminal.... this is SEPARATE from the C Terminal.

I've never tried to go from C to Satellite C in the last year. A few years ago, yes, you could do this. But since they built the new T5, the rules (and the security) have all changed.

Last year, (after the opening of T5) I was heading back to the US, sitting at the Satellite Terminal C and figured I would "explore." I rode the sky bridge into Terminal C, figuring I could go back the same way.... NOPE! I was "escorted" by some unhappy security folks back to the satellite terminal...

Long story short - CALL Continental! See if you can avoid having to go to T5 and go directly to the Satellite terminal from the Alitalia flight. If you cannot, you will MOST LIKELY NOT make your Trans-Atlantic flight.

rinr,

I really think you don't know what you're talking about, I know someone who just last Monday had a one hour connection from a domestic Alitalia flight to a US-bound flight and had NO PROBLEM making the connection.

Yes, call Continental But call the office at FCO and don't decide ahead of time you are re-booking the flight until you hear what they have to say.

zeppole, it really depends on how the ticket was booked... that's why I advise The OP to call Continental and verify. I have flown in and out of FCO about 50-60 times so I have a that experience to draw from. And I've had to wait on 35-40 parties so I've had plenty of "time to kill" (and explore) FCO. I can only speak from that perspective.