Can anyone tell me about driving on Sicily? Do you need the high priced A-Z insurance coverage that you need on the mainland? Appreciate any information anyone has. Thanks!
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Mainland? Sicily is connected to the rest of Italy, but sometimes seems that it isn't, that's probably what you meant. For what it's worth, here's what Rick says in his book about driving in Italy:"Driving in Italy can be scary--a video game for keeps and you only get one quarter."Anyway, driving in the country there is about the same as the rest of Italy, challenging but survivable for a confident driver. Driving in the towns or in Palermo is challenging for American first timers because of the surprisingly narrow streets. GPS and CDW, and a car with retractable sideview mirrors.Space below reserved for those braggarts who can't resist writing in to tell us: I drove in Sicily and it was soooo exciting.
Posted by
Atlanta
800 posts
We drove in Sicily and it was great! (sorry Kent, couldn't resist).
Actually - it really was great - new, wide freeways that really zipped us along. We were there in June of last year and they were empty - very little traffic. The worst part was getting out of Palermo but even that wasn't worse than any other European city - just the normal confusion to get headed the correct way out of town. We used Auto Europe to book our car with EuropeCar. Yes, we needed to pay the high insurance as neither our own car insurance nor our credit card would cover us in Italy.
We drove from Palermo to Marsala area, then over to Acireale (halfway between Catania & Taormina). We drove to Mt. Etna and this was the only place were the roads were VERY narrow and windy as well so we got pretty close to some of the parked cars.
We took the car to Messina to cross over to continue up the coast (stopping in Tropea) and onto Tuscany. Really the other towns in Sicily were nowhere near as bad as Palermo and in general I thought the drivers were also less agressive than someplace like Rome. We enjoyed the drive very much.
Posted by
Italy
247 posts
Even theft insurance is mandatory on car hires in Italy. Get the smallest car to meet your needs. It makes parking and maneuvering the narrow streets easier. Better to avoid driving in Palermo, but if you plan to drive in Palermo, be sure to have the pass for the LTZ (Limited Traffic Zones).
Posted by
Wodonga, Australia
440 posts
Sorry Kent, I sooooooooooooo loved driving in Sicily, and will do so again next year. Solo, no GPS. I did avoid the major cities other than easily getting out of Siracusa. Sicily (I am splitting hairs I know) is actually separated (by the 3km wide Messina Straits) from the mainland, so not quite connected. Sicily is by far my favourite region of Italy, closely followed by Puglia.