On British Airways, Continental, TWA, Lufthansa, Air France and Northwest.
Restrictions: Purchase non-refundable tickets seven days in advance but no later than March 31. If seating is available at this fare, you must depart by March 31 and return within a month. Travel days and minimum-stay requirements vary by airline and by booking code. (It sometimes happens that the same ticket price can come with different restrictions, depending on the fare-basis code.) No blackout dates. No stopovers (on international flights, a layover of more than four hours) permitted.
Other fares to the Eternal City:
$390: On British Airways. Non-refundable tickets must be purchased seven days in advance but no later than March 31, for departures April 1-30. Travel Friday-Sunday on the international sector, stay over a Saturday night, and be back within a month. No blackouts, no stopovers.
$498: On Lufthansa, US Airways, KLM, Delta, Alitalia, Sabena, Northwest and United. Purchase non-refundable ticket seven days in advance, but no later than March 31, for departures April 1-May 31. Stay over a Saturday night, and return within a month. Depending on the routing of connecting flights, there may be further travel-day restrictions.
$2,292, plus $10 in security surcharges: On Delta, KLM and Northwest. This is an unrestricted Economy fare, which need not be purchased in advance for departures before Dec. 16.
Non-stop options: There are no non-stop flights between Chicago and Rome. Air France routes through Paris. KLM through Amsterdam. TWA through New York JFK. British Airways through London Heathrow.
Flight length: With a single change of planes, it takes about 12 hours and 15 minutes to get from Chicago to Rome, depending on variables such as which connecting airport is being used, length of layover, flight patterns and weather. Return trips can take at least that amount of time or longer, depending.
