Essential Information for Driving in Italy

Driving in Italy is a hotly debated subject for tourists. I heard many suggestions that it was too chaotic and rule-less. So for several weeks, my husband and I debated the benefits of driving a car in Italy versus taking the trains. Here were the pros and cons for us:

Cons :

We heard driving in Italy is crazy
Theft or damage possibly
Tolls, parking fees and gas costs
Finding parking or getting parking tickets or traffic violations
The stress of finding new locations, driving unknown roads
One-way rentals are more expensive (Find our Venice to Rome Itinerary here)

Pros:

A place to keep luggage. We travel at breakneck speed and are in a different location nightly. Having to have luggage on the trains and seeing sights would hinder our sight-seeing experience.
A quiet space to decompress, listen to audio books, space for our kids to be loud or sleep. OUR SPACE
Stopping when are where we want, traveling at our pace and not the train schedule.
Freedom to go off the beaten path
One time rental cost, not having to pay every time we board the train.

Ultimately, although trains are probably slightly less expensive, we opted for a car. We love traveling on our own timetable and having a place to store our luggage as we are going to different hotels every night.

Honestly, even though we had some ‘bumps in the road’, I am SO glad we got a car as we got to see so much more on our own schedule than trains allow. However, if we had known the tips I’m about to offer you, driving a car in Italy would be amazing!

small blue can overlooking a small Italian village nestled in the Italian Alps — Look at our cute little rental car driving through the Italian Alps!

The MOST important thing to know

Driving in Italy can be costly if you don’t know or keep the laws. Italy has a system in place that tracks your driving with radars and cameras. Much like red light cameras in America that send you a ticket in the mail weeks after the infraction, Italy will mail you a bill for speeding, parking and traveling in limited use zones. In Italy, they can send you a ticket in the mail UP TO 1 YEAR after the violation. Using the cameras, your activity can all be tracked to your rental car and be fined. Not paying the fine in a timely manner increases the amount.

Getting a violation in a foreign country is even more expensive because you have to pay the (1)rental company to pull your info, (2)the actual ticket AND (3) the cost of a money order. The rental company charges $60-100 to pull your information to give the government. Then the ticket doesn’t get to you in America within the 5 day ‘lower rate’ zone, so typically the ticket doubles! Then the only way to pay the ticket is through a money order to a bank account (Which seems so sketchy to me). So you have to pay $40-80 for a money order.

Our Bad Experience

For example, we received a ticket for entering a limited traffic zone.

Limited Use Zone- if you don’t have a permit, DONT pass through this sign!

We drove about 50 feet in, realized our mistake and immediately backed out. We thought since there was no police around, we were safe from a fine. Seven months later we got a bill. It was $87 Euro if paid in 5 days. But through the mail system, the date was already passed, so it increased to 140 Euro. It took a while to translate Italian and figure out a way to pay it. but luckily, we paid it right before another increase was going to happen (up to 240 Euro!) We found a charge on our credit card for $60 from the rental company pulling our information. Then we paid $50 for a money order. A simple $87 fine, cost us $200. We got 2 of those tickets! And would have gotten more if we hadn’t read information half-way through our trip.

These tickets can add up fast. I read of stories of people accidentally entering a limited traffic zone several times within a few minutes and getting a ticket for each one!

Signs in Italy

In general on traffic signs when driving in Italy, Circles mean something is forbidden, or an instruction that is compulsory. Rectangles or squares are informational signs. Triangles are warnings.

Speed limits

The speed limits when driving in Italy are posted in Kilometers per hour so the translation to miles can be confusing. Just follow your car speed gauge and you’ll be fine.

a red circle outline with white center. limited traffic zone Italian sign — Limited traffic zones are shown with the red circle and white middle. Do not enter areas behind these signs, you will get a ticket.

Limited Traffic Zones

To me, these signs look innocent enough, but DO NOT cross them! We received 2 tickets for driving 50 meters past this sign. Some tourists have accidentally been caught on multiple cameras on the same infraction and received multiple tickets! Watch for these areas. Only cars with permits are allowed in these areas. It is mostly a pedestrian area, but there are limited cars, so don’t follow anyone in!

No Parking

We did understand this sign. We couldn’t read the instructions and thus, we received a parking ticket. It was all in Italian and figuring out how to pay it was challenging. But we knew that if we didn’t pay the fine would increase from $40. Luckily, we had some leftover Euro that our friends took to a local place to pay for us. Don’t park near these signs!

Camera for speeding tickets in Italy. — Be aware of these signs and drive below the speed limit to avoid Speeding tickets.

Camera Enforced Speed-Tracking

This photo of shows the sign for the speed detector. Usually, there is a warning sign that it is coming up and then there will be a box with this sign on it.

Make sure you are going the speed limit when you pass these signs. Especially driving through Tuscany. The speed limits are slow, but there is no one on the road so it’s tempting to go fast. Watch the locals; they will drive fast and then slow down at these signs. Only the foreigners get caught!

Best Practices for Driving in Italy

Toll road pay kiosk in Italy — Toll road pay kiosk. We were able to use credit cards for all our tolls.

Tolls, parking fees, and gas costs will make driving more expenses. Preparing for these fees will ease your mind as they come up. We made several wrong turns in which we had to pay extra on the tollways. Its all part of the experience so don’t sweat the small costs.
Pay any tickets you receive in Italy while you are still in Italy! You will be able to pay the lowest amount on the ticket and avoid a money order. Being able to pay in Euros will save you.
Download maps of the area every morning. Star the locations you’ll be visiting. Having a co-pilot to help you navigate will make driving a new country more enjoyable.
Make sure to carefully hide everything in your car every time you park. Theft rates are high and if you don’t show anything to steal, you are more likely to avoid an incident.
Driving in Italy was not crazy like we heard. Rome was a bit confusing and chaotic, but just dropped off our rental car and used public transportation in the big city. The rest of Italy was easy to navigate.

When we finally passed a year of being home from Italy, we relaxed. We ‘only’ spent $500 in tickets. I could have been much worse. I hope this article will help someone else avoid this unfortunate fate! Driving through Italy was an amazing experience and I would recommend it (with this information) to anyone. Our trip was incredible and having our own car really helped us get everywhere we wanted in a short time.

You can make the most out of your time in Italy with this week Itinerary.

Driving a car made it easy to get to Cinque Terre and the Italian Alps, my favorite stops on our trip.

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