My husband and I will be traveling in Italy (Piedmont and Tuscany) next month. We will have bicycles inside our rental car. If we stop in a small town/village like Barolo for lunch & a bit of sightseeing, is there much risk of thieves breaking into our car to steal the bicycles? We will not be in any major cities.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16243 posts
Risk is very low. Petty crime is minimal in small towns and villages.
However if your bikes are super expensive I'd try to cover the cargo area and park the car in a well lit place or a place that is not hidden from passers-by.
There has been a large influx of immigrants from poor countries to Italy in the last 25 years, including to more rural areas. Most of them work as caregivers for the elderly (esp. the women) or construction workers or factory workers (their husbands), but a very small minority, especially during these latest times of high unemployment and economic dire straits, have engaged in petty crimes. I know because I have property in some of those small towns in the Tuscan countryside and they arrested several migrants in the past few years for stealing in houses (including chickens). That was simply unheard of in those villages 30 years ago when I was growing up spending summers there in the country and no theft ever occurred.
However, in spite of that, those occurrences are still rare. Thirty years ago I would have told you that the possibility of theft would have been absolute zero. Today I would tell you that is simply very low (but not zero).
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Thanks, Roberto.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks so much for the info, Roberto.
Posted by
Carmel, CA, USA
2456 posts
No experience with this, but can you carry some type of cable lock that can lock the bikes to each other or to the interior of the car, so that no one could remove them from the car but you? In Sicily, I had been advised to not leave baggage in the car, even in a locked trunk, if the car would be parked on the street or in an unstaffed open parking lot.
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5837 posts
My limited experience having spent 10 days in a small Vicenza hill town reflects Roberto's assessment. I didn't see any "Roma-like" folks and the seasonal workers staffing our hotel all seemed to be hard working honest people. The biggest risk I experienced is complacency. When strangers helped me up after slipping on a patch of snow covered ice, I forgot to check if I still had my wallet. I still had my wallet. I suspect that the petty criminals are attracted to tourist areas where the pickings are easy and leave the towns that aren't even featured in the Lonely Planet guide alone.