Italy

Driving in Italy

Italy is an easy country to drive in and a very easy one to be fined in, and the two facts have almost nothing to do with each other. On the open road there are no real surprises: 50 km/h in towns, 90 on rural roads, 130 on the autostrade, and a 0.5‰ alcohol limit that drops to zero for novice drivers. Motorway tolls are collected at the barrier as you leave, so there's nothing to arrange before you set off, and dipped headlights stay on outside built-up areas at all times. The difficulty is the ZTL, the zona a traffico limitato. Most historic centres have one, they're enforced entirely by camera, and nothing at the gate tells you that you've just been photographed. A wrong turn into the middle of Florence or Rome produces a fine that reaches your home address months later, often via your rental company with an administration fee attached — and because each gate is a separate offence, one confused loop can generate several. Milan layers a paid-entry zone on top of its low-emission one. Three other things worth knowing. Parking is colour-coded: blue is paid, white is free, yellow is residents or restricted. Motorways are watched by average-speed "Tutor" systems, which measure you across a stretch rather than at a point. And winter equipment is required on many routes from roughly mid-November to mid-April, with exact dates set locally rather than nationally — the Alps and Apennines are where it bites.