If Naples is on your November list, plan around this: the city's airport will close to all air traffic for the entire month as crews carry out a €30 million overhaul of the runway and taxiways.

The closure is a full resurfacing and modernisation project rather than a quick patch-up. Along with repairs to the runway and connecting taxiways, engineers will replace the airport's visual aids lighting — the runway, taxiway and illuminated signalling systems that guide pilots during take-off, landing and taxiing, especially in poor visibility. To cram the work into a single month, crews will operate around the clock, seven days a week, and the timing was deliberately chosen for one of the quieter periods in the flight calendar.

So how do you actually get there? Several airlines will shift their November schedules to Salerno Costa d'Amalfi e Cilento, the smaller airport down the coast. Ryanair, easyJet and Vueling will operate domestic routes linking Salerno with Bergamo, Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate, Genoa, Turin and Trieste. International connections run further afield — expect flights to and from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Casablanca, Dubai, Düsseldorf, Madrid, Paris, Sharm el-Sheikh and Stuttgart.

Ground transport is being beefed up too. Extra buses will run between Naples Piazza Garibaldi and Salerno Airport throughout November, and services to Salerno's railway station are increasing. Existing bus routes to Potenza, Eboli, Battipagia and the Amalfi Coast continue as normal. If you'd rather skip public transport, a trial shared-taxi service with fixed fares covers two routes: Salerno Airport to Naples Central station, and Salerno Airport to Salerno Central station.

Why does this matter? Naples is the gateway to Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and Campania more broadly, so a month-long airport shutdown affects a lot more than the city itself. If you already have November flights booked, check with your airline — some tickets may now land in Salerno, roughly an hour from Naples by road or train. If you're still booking, look at flying into Rome and taking the high-speed train to Naples, which is often a smooth alternative. And if you do arrive via Salerno, consider it a bonus: you're already on the doorstep of the Amalfi Coast and the Cilento coast, one of southern Italy's underrated stretches of shoreline.

The airport is expected to reopen in December with a rebuilt runway and modern lighting, so any trip after November should be unaffected by the works.