Driving in Italy. My experience

Where did you drive in Italy? Rome? Rural Tuscany? I think it would make a huge difference, just like there's a big difference between driving in NYC and rural Kansas.

I've never wanted to drive in Italy and never have - I find the trains get you almost everywhere, and I love trains anyway. If I ever spend time in Tuscany or maybe the Amalfi Coast, I might consider renting a car but only as a last resort.

I second that where you specifically drive can drastically affect your perceptions.
Cannot say the same statement as a blanket statement for all of Italy driving.

Someone who only drives in Naples or Palermo might think it worse than any 3rd world country.
Someone who drives in Rome or Florence might share your opinion.
Others that drive on the freeways in the northern part of the country or main back roads in the north might think your opinion is totally off base.

Florence, then Empoli to Laspezia about a 2 hour drive one way. I’ve found Italian drivers to be very aggressive and the motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic makes it more stressful. Although that’s not exclusive to Italy. I wouldn’t have rented a car had it not been for our rural place we’re staying at.

We drove through northern Italy, Tuscany, and Umbria one year. I wouldn't call the roads 3rd world. Nor would I say the same for France. Certainly they are different from the US; but the US doesn't have a lot of cities and towns with 500+ year old sections with narrow and confusing streets either. That doesn't make them 3rd world.

But yes, city driving in Italy is undeniably stressful. Which is why we took the train any time we were visiting them.

First I’ve driven in LA, Chicago, New York, Germany, all over.
I can definitely say driving in Italy was by far the most stressful. It was physically and emotionally exhausting.
The easiest way to explain it is the UK and Germany have a modern inner city roadway system, while France and Italy are closer to 3rd world. Having been to a 3rd world country.

I’d like to hear all opinions, agree and disagree.

Welp...we're heading out there in a couple of weeks and I've already made plans to drive (Tuscany / SR222) for a day to see the countryside.

I guess I'll find out soon enough. I've driven to those cities you listed as well .... and I'll also add Manila, Riyadh, Kuwait City, Brisbane and London. And Riyadh right now is on my top spot of the most stressful/dangerous place I've driven.

Germany’s inner cities were largely destroyed during WW-II bombing and rebuilt after the 1950’s.

Italian inner cities were largely built between 753 BC and the XIX century at the latest. Florence, which you mentioned as one of your driving destinations, had road systems built between 59BC and the mid 1860s AD, when it was partially “renovated” to become the capital of the newly unified Italy.

So you are basically proposing that Italians bulldoze those ancient streets and buildings in all ancient large cities of millions of people (and cars), to make room for some country folks with limited city driving skills.

I’m not proposing anything, I love ancient Italy that’s why I’m here. I hope they don’t change their roads. I’m just warning future people they might want to rethink driving in Italy because it is very different and stressful depending where you drive.

France has third-world roads? That's news to me...

My experiences in driving in Italy and France are different. To be sure, cities and towns are difficult to navigate, and the scooters and trucks are awe inspiring (not always in a good way). The autostradas and autoroutes, however, are really great. Even the smaller roads through the countryside were always well paved and maintained. Where you were driving has everything to do with your perspective on the driving conditions.

I have driven in Italy and yes, there is a different mindset. I have not been to what I would consider a 3rd world country, so have no way to compare them to Italy.

I found Italian roads in general to be better maintained than their US counterparts.

The motorbikes were at first disconcerting, but soon learned as long as I maintained a steady predictable pace they found their way around me and I could pretty much not worry about them, just keep an eye on them like any other traffic.

It was after my second day of driving that it fully sunk in what I had been told about Italian drivers. Drivers in the US and many other places are used to a military march of orderliness, whereas Italians see driving more like moving around on a dance floor. Lots of weaving and rarely a collision. In the week I had a rental car I cannot recall seeing a collision or the aftermath of one. Had I done that much driving in the US, I am sure I would have seen at least one.

Well, you are free to express your ideas, but before talking about third world, have a look to traffic in India.

We saw an accident involving a motorbike that looked pretty bad on the way home from Laspezia last night. Which didn’t help my nerves any.

I learned you have to leave your American mannered driving at home and be as aggressive as the Italians are to keep up etc. That helped alittle.

French Autoroutes are so good and so easy to use that I willingly pay large amounts of toll money to use them rather than the free freeways in Belgium. In France (except on mass migration days around annual holidays and school holidays) I just sit back, set the cruise control at 134, and let the car do the rest. Hard to imagine that elsewhere. Not really third world by my measure.

It is definitely about expectations. I think "aggressive" is a good one-word description for alerting US drivers to the realities of driving in Italy. Of course it's not true aggression toward other drivers, it's more about impatience, but for someone not used to it, if could well feel like aggression. It's much the same here in Israel. Back in the late 70's, a law was passed here requiring all new cars to be equipped with air-conditioning (which made them a whole lot more expensive), the idea was that if drivers were more comfortable in their cars, they would be less impatient behind the wheel. I don't know if it reduced impatience, it certainly didn't eliminate it.

I've driven twice in Italy, once on the Amalfi Coast (read about it here) and once in Sicily. I was actually surprised in Sicily that drivers were very patient in slow-moving traffic (Palermo and Catanya) and no one honked! One thing I learned years ago was to be as considerate as possible. If others want to go faster than I do, I do my best to let them pass me, including pulling over. And I watch out for motorcycles, expecting them to take advantage of their small size. And I took get really impatient with a driver in the left lane who is going not just slower than the flow of traffic, but slower than the speed limit.

I also drove in Burgundy and Alsace and thought French drivers were as good as anywhere else. On the other hand, my experience as a rider and pedestrian is that Manhattan drivers are crazy aggressive.

We haven't driven in Italy, but have twice in France (north and south) with another car rental coming up next month for Provence. Never had any issues with the roads - found them pretty good.

As for motorbikes weaving between cars - that happened in LA when we drove there - talk about nerve wracking - waiting to see if someone was going to change lanes and take one of those bikers out...

If you want to see motorbikes, try Taipei. If you want congestion, try Bangkok or Mumbai. How about oxen carts and camels mixed in with car and truck traffic? Have you experienced that?
If you want to see bodies literally laying in the street and traffic driving around them, Taiwan, China..etc.... I've seen bodies dragged off the road so that traffic can proceed...have you seen that in Italy?
There is no comparison to Italy... Italian roads are in good shape, the roads are well marked, there are rules to follow and there is a local driving style. It's manageable. Stay out of the big cities and it's actually very enjoyable. I love driving in Italy...
You do note that you are commenting on "your experience"....you should probably chose not to drive there again...the public transportation is good enough that you shouldn't have to..unless you decide to visit some out of the way places.

We just got home from 10 days in Italy and we drove from Rome (the airport) to and around the hill towns of Tuscany and then on to the Riviera (Santa Margherita and the Cinque Terre) before dropping our car at the Florence airport. We have also driven extensively in France. Italy was by far the worst driving experience- very stressful!! I agree that it is physically and emotionally exhausting. My husband even said that maybe the train would be better for our next trip. Both France and Italy have narrow ancient roads crammed with mopeds and speeding cars. The signs can be tricky to read while driving and sometimes you'll stop seeing signs for a destination, think you've gone the wrong way, and then the signs pick back up again. The French drive fast; the Italians drive fast and recklessly. We actually saw a guy get knocked over on his moped from a car trying to swerve around him and met someone who saw a pedestrian get run over by a car in Rome. We purposely avoided driving in the cities of Rome and Florence since we knew it would be too crazy. Most cities and towns in Italy have ZTLs where you are not allowed to drive so it's important to know what the sign looks like that tells you when a ZTL begins, otherwise you'll come home to a hefty fine. Driving through the Tuscan hill towns was not nearly as bad as the busier towns/cities. My tip is to download Google Maps for the areas you will be driving. This was a lifesaver for us since our cell service came and went in places. We always bring paper maps too and print out the driving directions for places we plan to visit but having GPS was so much easier on this trip than previous trips where we were trying to follow printed directions and/or paper maps. Rick Steves gives some good driving advice in his guidebooks- one nugget that helped us a lot while parking in the Tuscan hill towns was that the parking spots outlined in yellow are for locals only (need a permit), the white ones are free spots and the blue need to be paid for at a nearby meter. Another tip, there is a picture of a flag on the parking meters that allows you to change the language on the meter, especially helpful for those of us who can't read Italian. ;-) All of this is not to deter people from driving but to provide some insight. You can't get to many of the hill towns that make up the "heart of Tuscany" without a car and this is an area not to be missed. It's also the least stressful place to drive in Italy (in our experience).

I totally disagree with the 3rd world comment about the roads in France and Italy. All the roads we have driven on in France and Italy are far superior to those we drive on in the US. They are better maintained with none of the physical deterioration of so many of the roads, especially the interstates, in this country. I'd choose the roads in France and Italy over those in Louisiana, Utah or Idaho, just 3 of many examples, any day.

I'm not sure that driving style is all that different, either. If you're driving on an interstate whose speed limit is 80 mph or a 40 mph street in town, you have to be assertive. You also have to pay attention. The cost of not paying attention is high. My husband also calls that the process of natural selection.

Having said that, a friend of mine lived in Vicenza when her husband was stationed there. One of the things she learned was to never make eye contact.

Our daughter lived in Sicily when her husband was stationed at the NATO base there. She did all the driving and it wasn't limited to Sicily. She adapted to the driving style quite well. She never got any kind of a ticket in the 3 years they were there.

I think the bad rep the Italians have about driving is not deserved, but I have noticed that Italians sometimes make fun of themselves about it, along with a few other aspects of Italian culture. As in this little clip, or maybe this one. Playing these with sound equals a more delightful experience.

Try New England if you think the road of France and Italy are inferior. I could agree that the secondary road of Italy need attention, but otherwise I think you need more experience. By and large, Italians are not personally aggressive - you need to re-calibrate your cultural perceptions.

I think it has to do with what you are used to. I learned how to drive in an urban environment of a large densely populated metro area (Florence) and moved to San Francisco Bay Area where I worked in San Francisco and Oakland (and driven in Manhattan several times on business) and find driving in those cities no different than driving in Florence or Rome. I don’t find it stressful to drive in city traffic, but when stuck in traffic I get impatient.

But I can imagine that if one is used to driving primarily in the rural prairies of Ohio, might find it intimidating to drive in Manhattan or Florence or Rome. I have Italian friends who live in rural Tuscany up in the Appennine Mountains who, when they go to Florence, park the car outside the city limits and proceed by bus. They also are not used to city driving and find it stressful. On the other hand I’m not as comfortable as they are driving in curvy mountain roads. I don’t drive as fast as they do on those types of roads, especially in winter conditions, because it’s not the environment I’m used to driving most of the time, like they are.

My father started his career at ATAF (Florence Municipal bus company) as a bus driver, before then, before getting married he was in the Army, driving Army buses and trucks in Rome, and obviously he was very comfortable driving a car in the city, as you can imagine. But whenever my father got on the Autostrada (freeway) he was sweating bullets and became so nervous and stressed it was scary for also me and my mother. So as soon as I got my license, as a teenager, he would pass the wheel to me every time we had to go somewhere that involved freeway driving. He simply couldn’t take being around traffic driving over 100km/h (60mph) on the autostrada, it wasn’t his natural environment, but put him in the worst Florence traffic, and it would be a piece of cake for him.

I recently rented a car twice in Florence to visit the Tuscany region and Umbria. Roadway systems ARE NOT 3rd world. I heard it takes two to drive in Italy and on some routes I would agree it is helpful to have a navigator.

Yesterday I drove to Siena and my experience was different than driving from Florence. Like previous mentions it depends where you drive. If you avoid medium to big size cities you should be ok.
And I said the inner city roadways, where it’s a little bit of a free for all is more like 3rd world than first. Not the highways and small towns.

I wonder if saying 3rd world is fair. You seem to be comparing places in the "new world" that were mostly built after cars were common and before that when most people used wagons or carriages to get around everywhere. Most European cities "grew up" when most people traveled only on foot and most "streets" only had to be wide enough for a fully-laden donkey.

Chicago's downtown has wide streets in good part because the Chicago fire destoyed most of it. I don't know San Francisco's history that well, but I suspect a good bit of the center was rebuilt after the '06 quake and resulting fires destroyed most of it. And San Francisco is the city I least want to drive in. Who plans roads on a grid system on very steep hills? I remember one intersection with a 4-way stop; when you're stopped and look straight ahead all you see is the sky above. Scary.

Another thing I noticed was the 55MPH speed limit on some highways and 35 closer to the city.

Another thing if somebody could explain. How if there is a speed camera and people go way above that they don’t get caught? I was driving the speed limit and people were passing me going pretty fast. Do Italians not care or do those speed cameras not always work?

Until very recently, I would have said that one of our local interstates in the US was worse than the road to Monteverde in Costa Rica. YMMV, of course, but I've found that drivers in other countries know what they are doing. They may drive differently than in the US, but that doesn't make it wrong. Just different.

I find these threads amusing and instructive since so much depends on where a person has driven before and what their experience is in driving period and driving overseas.

I have driven in many of the larger cities of SE Asia including Bangkok, Singapore, KL and Bali as well as Cambodia where I lived, and Sri Lanka. Add to that most of Europe, Egypt, Morocco and others.

So here is my perspective: 1. the roads in France are great, better in many cases than those in the US.

I have been driving in Italy now for almost a month through many small towns and down streets I had to pull in BOTH mirrors to make it thru. There isn’t really a good reason to drive in the large Italian cities. Before that i spent 13 days driving in France from Normandy to Burgundy. They are different for sure in many ways but both are easy compared to many places. And really less stressful than the average beltway around a major US city.

I have found for the most part, and I know this goes against perceived wisdom, Italian drivers to be fairly polite and easy to get along with. Many stop for us when we are attempting to cross a street on foot and many yield in situations where it is unclear who has the right of way. I do not find them particularly aggressive as in the US where people have no lane discipline and try to bully you with their vehicles. They do drive fairly fast, park in unusual ways and places and tend to follow you closely. But not to my mind in an aggressive way.

I enjoy driving in Europe. I enjoy the different cars and roads and all of the experiences of driving like getting gas and stopping along the way at small places where almost always something great is eaten or happens.

I encourage those thinking about it to try it and don;t let negative posts about driving in Europe scare you off. You may just find it’s the best part of your vacation. But be smart about it. Don’t pick up a rental car in the center of a large city or a tourist hot spot like Florence.. Give yourself an extra day on the return. Take a really good European Map of the area. And just take it easy and have fun.

France and Italy are closer to the rest of Europe than the 3rd World.

If you think driving is bad in Italy, try driving in the Middle East or Egypt.

Last summer I traveled Italy mostly by train, but I rented a car for three days in Tuscany--alone, with Google Maps as my navigator. The only thing I found stressful about driving in Italy vs. other unfamiliar locales was that, after all the warnings I had read, I was nervous about speed cameras and ZTLs. But enjoyed the freedom to stop along a roadside and admire a field of sunflowers or the view to a hilltop, and to wander among the hill towns as I chose. I did a lot of reading in advance to learn the "rules of the road," both formal and informal, and maybe that's one reason I felt comfortable for the most part.

Keim.
Generally (unless otherwise posted) speed limits are:

50 km/h in town/built up zones

70 km/h in two lane highways outside built up zones, although there may be stretches where 90km/h is allowed but also dangerous curvy stretches where lower limits are posted.

110 km/h on 4 lane divided highways. These are the toll free motorways which Italians call “superstrada”. Examples are the Florence to Siena “superstrada” or the Firenze Pisa Livorno (FIPILI superstrada) via Empoli. The Siena Bettolle Perugia Assisi is another such example. Some of these freeways have a lower posted limit of 90km/h instead of 110km/h.

130 km/h on the Autostrada (toll 4 to 8 lane divided freeways).

SPEED CAMERAS
Fixed speed cameras machines are sometimes not operating, or just abandoned empty shells. Locals know where the functioning machines are, but out of towners don’t, so the people you see speeding are usually locals who know where they can speed reasonably safely. If you use Waze app it will warn you of all fixed machines.

Of course nobody is totally safe because there are also those operated aboard patrol cars which can be moved anywhere.

Thanks for that! I was wondering why people were speeding past speed cameras like nothing. It sucks because as you mentioned a tourist has no idea which ones work so you have to drive the speed limit. Which means getting passed by 80% of traffic.

One more thing I discovered that the scenery does change an hour south of Siena and gets more mountains and slightly more scenic for anybody wondering where to stay.

We drove all around Tuscany and I loved it. We drove from Rome FCO to our agriturismo just outside Greve. From there we as far west as Volterra and as far south as Montepulciano.

I studied up before we left and had a clear understanding of the rules of the road, including Tudor, automated cameras and ZTL.

Siena was the biggest city in which I drove. We elected to take the bus into Florence and Rome. From what I saw, I would not have been comfortable driving in either and in both cities a car is more of a nuisance than a help. When we were in Scotland, we did the same thing, taking commuter trains into Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Driving the speed limit on the Autostrada and country roads was no problem. There were locals who wanted to go faster, so I just took the first chance I got to pull over and let them by. We usually exchanged friendly waves. Driving the Autostrada is actually better than US Interstates, because everyone stays right except to pass, unlike idiot Americans who park themselves in the leftmost lane even when going slower than the flow of traffic. If you really want to see aggressive drivers, go to YouTube and watch American dashcam videos.

By all means choose your comfort level. If you are a timid or aggressive driver, driving in Italy may not be a good fit. If, however, you are a confident, defensive driver smart enough to follow basic, well published rules, driving in Italy can lead to wonderful adventures not readily accessible any other way.

My twos cents (may not be worth even THAT much!): I have driven in Italy on trips and I have used buses and trains exclusively on other trips. There are pros and cons to both. I don't rent a car anymore, not because driving is difficult in some areas, but because petrol is expensive and parking is hard to find and expensive. Letting someone else do the driving is less stressful and I can enjoy the passing scenery. I don't like to be stressed out on vacation! The only time that using buses and trains "backfired" on me was during a train strike on one trip where we got caught in the station in Verbania and had to wait until it was over to continue on to Verona.

The roads in Italy especially the highways are far better maintained than their US counterparts. The driving style is different, but once you get the hang of it, it is a breeze and allows you much more flexibilty than train travel especially in the countryside. There is no need for a car in the big cities.

It’s not just the tourists from out of the country but also locals from out of town who don’t know where the machines are. My late father (who was the slowest driver on planet earth), several years ago, was caught by a speed camera 35 miles away from his house in Florence (in his native village, of all places). He wouldn’t qualify as a tourist, yet he got ticketed.

Italians don't have any concept of death. They believe that the Pope with protect or figure then at death. Keep that in mind when you drive there. I have given many hours/days/weeks in Italy with that guidance. You will be OK.
enjoy
John

I have just returned from a trip in Italy and France where I drove in both places.
Over the past thirty years my wife and I have been to both France and Italy many times, driving on all occasions.
I agree that Italy has some of the worst roads that I have ever encountered. The major highways are full of cracks and areas in which the asphalt pavement has been sheared off. I find this not to be the case in France. Their roads are very nice and their highways, while they are mostly toll roads, are excellent.
Also the road signs indicating the highway that you are on and directional signs as to where you are headed are easy to spot in France while almost nonexistent in Italy.
I would not hesitate to describe Italian roads as 3rd. World but would not equate France in that way.

We are renting a car for 2 days in Tuscany and hopefully it will be manageable, but I'm glad to get your perspective. The absolute worst driving conditions I've experienced were in Venezuela. There were compact-car-sized potholes in the streets in Caracas, and multiple Venezuelans told me how "everyone" gets carjacked and held for ransom at one point or another, to the point where nobody stops at traffic lights for fear of getting carjacked. I've traveled to a lot of places and Venezuela was the scariest place I've been. Our hotel room locked from the outside! In other words, you needed a key to get OUT.

@Chris
I don't know where in the 3rd world you have been driving...Nigeria, Cambodia, Egypt?

Well I have and I can say with absolute assurance that the roads in Italy have nothing in common with them.

Further I have been driving (this time) in Italy for almost a month and the roads are fine, many very good. Not as good as the French ones but still much much better than much of the US interstate system in many places.

It's too easy to throw out terms like 3rd world in posts like these and it is truly an unfair comparison.

Currently have a rental car in Siena and drove out of Florence to Siena and have driven in parts of Tuscany and Chianti. No stress whatsoever other than the Italian drivers that tailgate you for going too slow. Doesn’t bother me because they’ll eventually just drive around you. Tomorrow I’ll be making my first drive on the autostrada and I look forward to be able to drive faster :-D.

Defining Italy’s roads as third world only highlights the fact that those who say these things have actually never been in the third world. I haven’t traveled to the third world myself much, but I have been to South America, Mexico and Central America, and I can say that Italy’s highways are way better, not even comparable. I can only imagine how roads would be in Africa or parts of Asia. Actually most Italian freeways are better than many interstates we have in California, which are often full of potholes.

The challenge in Italy is that many city streets are ancient, built before cars existed, therefore very narrow. In the countryside, aside from major highways built basically after the 1960s, all others connecting small towns, are basically repaved versions of ancient country roads that often followed the watersheds of hills to reach the approximately 70,000 towns and villages that dot every hill of Italy. Those roads also tend to be narrow and curvy, albeit with good paving. Italy has an extensive network of such roads for a total of over 800,000km (half a million miles). That is approximately 2.5 times the entire road network of California, a state slightly larger than Italy and not much smaller in terms of size of the economy. Those stretches that get widened are those that have a sufficient volume of traffic to justify the expense. Others, which only receive traffic from the occasional local car, and maybe the tourist family headed to an Agriturismo, get to stay narrow like they were centuries ago. Just consider yourself blessed they are paved nowadays.

Gabriel,
AUTOSTRADA RULES
- Keep right and use the left lane only for passing.
- If while passing in the left lane, a faster car arrives behind you, complete your passing quickly and move to the right lane as soon as safely possible.
- Do not pass a car from their right flank like it is permitted in America. Always use the lanes to the left of the car you are passing. Passing a car from the right lanes is prohibited on freeways and also dangerous because they wouldn’t expect such a move and they might move to the right lane without looking while you are passing.
- Beware of the huge number of semis on Italian freeways, especially when you are about to pass them. They switch lanes and start passing other trucks without warning and they don’t give a damn if you are already passing them in the left lane. I guess that’s the way they drive in Eastern Europe (90% of Italian truck drivers are Eastern European immigrants).

Well, I guess even in America, driving styles vary from city to city, and even from neighborhood to neighborhood. Many are not insured, even though it's legally required in many states. Some aren't even licensed. I was once rear-ended by a senior woman in her Mercedes S-class sedan. She lived near my area in a $2-3 million house (that was more than a decade ago). When the police came to question her, guess what? She didn't have auto insurance!

Well, much of Germany and the UK were destroyed in WWII, and hence wider roads were built to facilitate modern traffic. Many parts of Italy are preserved to maintain their historical charm and character. Back in those days when their roads were built, there were no autos! However, I recall a Northern Italian friend claiming that he would not drive in Southern Italy, including Rome.

We have been driving in Italy for many years, from one end of the country to the other and never have had any problems. I don’t get all the fear. The autostradas are like US interstates.

Hi
I’ve driven in Italy dozens of times and never been as stressed the OP was. I’ve certainly experienced some heavy traffic in Milan or Bologna, but nothing worse than the “big” cities here in the U.S.

Just returned from a trip to Italy in mid-June and drove through Tuscany (picked up in Florence) and then drove all over the Chianti region, dropping the car off in Siena. I did not find driving in that region more stressful than driving near home in San Francisco. I have also driven in England, Scotland, Wales, and France multiple times and I did not see an issue with the quality of the Italian roads that we were on compared to the other places that I have driven.

I will say that for me, parking is always more stressful, especially when you are traveling with 6 people and have to park a van in a small parking space. It is a running joke now when I travel with my family or work colleagues that we will get a parking ticket or into a parking accident when I drive—but no moving violations :)

Sandy