The interport reform opens a new phase for Italian logistics. More than thirty years after the previous legislation, the sector now has a framework that more clearly recognises the strategic value of interports within the national and European network.<\/p>\n
It is no coincidence that one of the most significant discussions on the future of the reform took place in Verona, at Quadrante Europa: Italy\u2019s leading interport and one of Europe\u2019s key logistics hubs.<\/p>\n
During the 19th National Convention of the International Propeller Clubs, hosted in Verona for the first time by Consorzio ZAI on 18 and 19 June 2026, institutions, operators and experts discussed not only the new law, but above all what needs to happen next: implementing decrees, rail investments, governance, digitalisation, new contractual instruments and greater integration between infrastructure and modes of transport.<\/p>\n
The discussion brought a fundamental question to the forefront: what role will interports play in shaping Italian logistics in the years ahead?<\/p>\n
The starting point is the change in perspective introduced by the new framework law.<\/p>\n
Interports are now recognised as strategic infrastructure of national importance, moving beyond a view of them as simply large areas dedicated to the exchange and handling of goods.<\/p>\n
The reform establishes the National Committee for Logistics and Intermodality, provides for a General Plan for Intermodality and sets a maximum limit of 30 interports across the country.<\/p>\n
This is accompanied by an initial total funding allocation of \u20ac25 million: \u20ac5 million for 2025, \u20ac10 million for 2026 and a further \u20ac10 million for 2027.<\/p>\n
But the scope of the reform goes beyond funding.<\/p>\n
The objective is to build a network in which interports increasingly serve as connection nodes between rail, road, ports and other elements of the logistics system, while hosting operational, administrative and economic activities as well as value-added services.<\/p>\n
This is particularly important for ports with limited space to expand their activities inland.<\/p>\n
The choice of Verona as the venue for the discussion therefore carries a precise significance.<\/p>\n
In terms of size and volumes handled, Quadrante Europa already represents one of the most significant examples of what an interport can become within an advanced intermodal network.<\/p>\n
The figures presented during the Convention illustrate its scale: 130 companies, 13,000 employees and 4 million square metres of warehouse space. In the last year, around 30<\/p>\n
million tonnes of goods were handled, with 15,000 trains and approximately 750,000 TEUs.<\/p>\n
These figures help explain why Verona can be considered a privileged vantage point from which to observe the transformation currently under way.<\/p>\n
The figures for Quadrante Europa show the scale reached by the Verona Interport, but today they can also be consulted and placed within a broader context.<\/p>\n
Through PortaleGenio\u2019s Genio WebApp<\/strong>, users can verify information about the infrastructure and understand its position within the European intermodal network, relating it to connections, facilities and operators.<\/p>\n It is an immediate way to understand, through data as well, why Verona is now a benchmark for Italian and European intermodality.<\/p>\n The value of data increases when it can be interpreted together with the relationships an infrastructure builds with the rest of the network.<\/p>\n One of the clearest concepts to emerge from the Convention was the need to move beyond analysing logistics through individual modes of transport.<\/p>\n Freight transport can no longer be viewed exclusively through a port-to-port logic. The port is one stage in a chain that continues inland and involves rail terminals, interports, logistics operators, and road and rail connections.<\/p>\n This is why interports are becoming increasingly central.<\/p>\n In Italy, according to figures presented by UIR \u2013 Unione Interporti Riuniti, the interport system covers a total of 35 million square metres, including 5 million square metres of warehouses and more than 4 million square metres dedicated to rail areas and terminals.<\/p>\n More than 3,000 companies operate within Italian interports, employing around 300,000 people. The system handles 70 million tonnes of goods and records approximately 30,000 vehicle entries every day.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n These figures make it clear that discussing interports means addressing a structural component of the country\u2019s logistics and industrial competitiveness.<\/p>\n The reform also addresses the tools through which interports will be able to develop.<\/p>\n Among the most innovative aspects discussed in Verona is the possibility of using civil-law instruments alongside those traditionally associated with administrative law.<\/p>\n One example is the surface right over public areas occupied by interports operating under agreements with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.<\/p>\n This approach can provide greater stability for private investment and time horizons better suited to the development of infrastructure and services.<\/p>\n At the same time, greater contractual freedom requires clear rules. Issues such as the selection of operators, contract definition, the responsibilities of the parties and the management of potential disputes become central.<\/p>\n For this reason, while awaiting the implementing decrees, the Verona discussion also highlighted the opportunity to develop shared rules and models that can become a reference point for Italian interports.<\/p>\n If interports are to become increasingly important nodes in the European network, a decisive part of the challenge inevitably concerns rail transport.<\/p>\n The objective highlighted during the Convention is to progressively adapt infrastructure to the European standard for 750-metre freight trains.<\/p>\n This is not merely a technical intervention.<\/p>\n Being able to handle longer trains means increasing rail capacity, encouraging additional traffic from ports and creating the conditions to shift a greater share of freight from road to rail.<\/p>\n Sustainability and competitiveness converge in this direction: a more rail-efficient interport system can help reduce heavy road traffic while increasing the ability of the national logistics system to connect with Europe\u2019s major corridors.<\/p>\n Alongside physical investment, however, there is a second infrastructure\u2014less visible, but increasingly decisive: the digital one.<\/p>\n The new era of interports also depends on the digitalisation of transport documents, data availability and the ability to make information about infrastructure easier to access.<\/p>\n Knowing an individual interport is useful. Understanding where it sits in relation to terminals, ports, airports, railway lines, Ro-Ro routes and TEN-T corridors provides a much broader view of its role.<\/p>\n This is one of the areas in which PortaleGenio and the Genio WebApp can provide valuable informational support.<\/p>\n The representation of interports belonging to the UIR \u2013 Unione Interporti Riuniti network within the European intermodal framework makes it possible to view these infrastructures not as isolated points on a map, but as parts of a system of relationships.<\/p>\n Through the WebApp, users can explore mapped facilities, verify their characteristics, analyse connections and identify the operators present, relating the interport system to the other elements of the European network.<\/p>\n This way of accessing information can also help communicate and broaden awareness of the role of interports among a wider audience of operators and companies.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most important point to emerge from the Verona discussion concerns the way logistics is now being considered at national level.<\/p>\n The new framework law has been described by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport<\/strong> as one of the first instruments of a genuine industrial policy for logistics.<\/p>\n Logistics is no longer viewed solely as an activity serving other production sectors, but as a sector capable of directly influencing the country\u2019s competitiveness.<\/p>\n Ports, interports, terminals and rail connections therefore become parts of the same architecture. The ability to coordinate, develop and make them understandable within European networks becomes a strategic factor.<\/p>\n The law has defined the new framework, but the implementing decrees and subsequent operational choices will determine its concrete impact: governance, investment, infrastructure standards, public-private relations, digitalisation and rail integration will be among the areas in which the effectiveness of the reform will be measured.<\/p>\n Quadrante Europa already has figures and characteristics that place it at the top of the national system and among Europe\u2019s leading nodes. For this reason, the city can become not only a place in which to discuss the future of interports, but also one of the areas in which their evolution can be observed in practice.<\/p>\n The direction indicated by the reform is clear: more integrated, connected and digitalised interports, embedded within a European vision of logistics.<\/p>\n A transformation in which physical infrastructure and digital information tools will increasingly need to move forward together.<\/p>\nThis shift in approach is significant.<\/h3>\n
The coming months will be decisive.<\/h3>\n
Verona starts from a distinctive position.<\/h3>\n