Italy's national civil aviation authority ENAC on Friday ordered a probe into an alleged security lapse at Rome's Fiumicino international airport during the night.  The action came after the weekly Espresso published a cover story by a reporter who was able to penetrate the international terminal on two separate occasions to find that not only were all security devices turned off, but the departures area was also a nighttime shelter for a community of homeless people.

The company which operates Italy's busiest and most important airport, AdR, issued a statement Friday afternoon saying that it would carry out its own investigation into the allegations made by the weekly and present its results to authorities. AdR added that the magazine article was rightly cause for concern and hurt the image of the company and Italy's airport system in general with the public. Despite the findings of the article, AdR insisted that its security system "responds to the highest standards" and that in the article made it clear that the reporter was unable to penetrate into "sensitive" areas. Police have yet to comment on the Espresso story.

The Espresso reporter, Tomamaso Cerno, claimed that between 1am and 3am the airport - which handles 90,000 passengers a day and some 50 million a year - is practically an open house, including to anyone wanting to place a bomb or sabotage the facility. The magazine article was accompanied by photographs, with video footage on Espresso's website, of metal detectors at entrances to sensitive areas, that the government wants to replace with high-tech body scanners, which had been turned off. Inside the terminal, Cerno found that many airline offices were very accessible, their alarm system apparently turned off for the night. Computers were easy prey for any hacker wanting to gain access to the lists of passengers. The reporter wrote how he was able to turn on several, noisy luggage carousels without anyone noticing, and stroll around the customs area. AdR, the article noted, boasts about its security setup on its website, stating that three monitoring centers were "constantly" manned by police and other security personnel. On December 31, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told Italian TV that the government had stepped up security at the nation's airports amid growing concern of possible terrorist actions in Italy and elsewhere. This came after the failed Christmas attack on a Europe to Detroit flight.

''There are very serious signs of a resurgence in terrorist activity globally and disturbing signs in Italy as well. That's why we've stepped up investigations and are deploying every means at our disposal to prevent or pre-empt these actions,'' he said. In a visit to the airport's only all-night bar, Cerno said he met airport staff having coffee who not only knew about the community of homeless people sleeping on the terminal benches and using the bathroom. but even had nicknames for the apparent 'regulars'. The airport begins to return to normal around 3:30am, the article said, with the arrival of the first passengers and security personnel, who begin to turn on alarm systems and metal detectors. After leaving the airport Cerno said he stopped at a nearby roadside bar where he found police having coffee at the end of their shift and saying there was nothing to report that night.