Italian traffic violations- can anyone help?

You must wait for the official notification, they have one year to send it from the date Europecar took your money.
I guess you entered in camera controlled areas, known as ZTLs, without giving prior advice to the local police that you are disabled.
I'm afraid italian cops can't distinguish a disabled permit issued in Washington from one issued in Hogwarts, while the cameras couldn't even "see" it.
If everything else fails you have the right to appeal by mail to a Judge.

Were those Italian police and parking people you talked to, not Americans before you left home? Their assurance should be reliable, although I believe there are specific handicap placards issued in Europe to be used in Europe. Has Europcar forwarded the actual citations, with a proper description of the alleged violation? That should let you know for sure whether the issues were related to disabled parking spots.

Gee Becky, that is really a tough situation, you certainly have my sympathy, speaking for many on this forum, I'm sure. You say "many" tickets are involved, and from previous posts by others, each one can be expensive, and authorities often actively pursue them, with increasing penalties, even in this country. Fortunately, I have not faced this situation personally, at least not yet. Others may respond with personal experiences. For my part, I see that you are in Seattle, and there is an Italian Consulate there. I would suggest you to try to meet with the Consul, hope for a sympathetic ear, and see if just maybe he or she would get involved on your behalf. The ideas of either trying to deal with each municipality separately, or ignoring the violations altogether, do not seem good. Also, you might think about renting from a different company next time, which probably would not have your situation in their system. And, you might try to research the Italian regs on these placards, and if you actually find something in writing that validates the guidance you received in Italy and your position, in Italian, put a prominent copy on your windshield when you drive in Italy. You may need to apply for some Italian placard or similar. I doubt that traffic officers in the US would recognize or honor placards from overseas with the details written in languages other than English.

The holder of a foreign disability permit wishing to drive in Florence ZTL is adviced to ask for a temporary permit. Please read how at http://en.comune.fi.it/OLD/mobility/driving.html - this way your license plate number is in the white list and photos shot at ZTL accesses are voided before issuing a fine.

This is only an example; every municipality has its own procedures and probably it would be better to research before arriving instead of disputing every single fine.

Who are these policemen who told you so? My cousin in Florence has an official disability placard issued in Italy and can travel inside the historical center, yet she had to register with the city of Florence before hand. The cameras taking pictures can't see the placard, they can only see the license plate, but if a license plate was registered in the White List, the fine is not issued.
You can appeal to the Prefect or the Peace Judge, however I doubt a placard issued in the US would necessarily have any validity outside of the country.

When we used a handicap placard last year we were advised before the trip to notify each city when we would be coming in order to have our plate registered. We were told that without notification we would receive fines for illegally driving and parking in specific areas.

I'm not sure what you can do now, after the fact, or even if you're U.S. placard would be recognized and taken into consideration but you can try. I like the idea of visiting the Italian consulate to see if they can and will help but other than that you may be stuck paying the fines or risk having a collection agency coming after you.

Donna

I've never had to deal with disability placards, but I doubt that permits issued in one jurisdiction would be valid in another. In the smaller places you parked, the tickets were probably issued by a "beat cop" who either didn't know what the placard meant, or didn't recognize its validity in Italy. ZTL tickets are something entirely different, so there may not be any recourse with those.

By the time you actually receive the fines from European Municipality Outsourcing, it may be too late to contest them. You could try the Italian Consulate as suggested in another reply, but with a large number of tickets in various locales, they may be reluctant to get involved.

Good luck!

I know they can typically only help with enforcing items with U.S. based companies. However, it might be worthwhile to reach out to the ADA, perhaps they would have someone who can assist you in disputing the tickets with the cities and with EuropeCar? http://www.ada.gov/contact_drs.htm

Its just my opinion of course but if EuropeCar knew about the need for a disabled parking permit (and perhaps a special tag/plate) they should have provided it to you at the time of the rental. I'm not sure if you made them aware though?

I also found this. "DISABILITY PARKING PERMITS WORLDWIDE
A disabled parking permit, also known as a handicapped permit, disabled placard, disabled badge and "Blue Badge" in the European Union, is displayed upon parking a vehicle carrying a person whose mobility would be otherwise significantly impaired by one or more of age, illness, disability or infirmity. The permit allows exemption from street parking charges in some places and is used to park within dedicated disabled parking spaces reserved for people who have satisfied requirements to receive the placard.
In 1978, the ECMT Council of Ministers agreed that all Member Countries of the ECMT would grant the same parking concessions to people with disabilities as they offered their own nationals. These concessions usually allowed special parking in areas reserved for people with disabilities, or allowed longer parking periods or exemptions from charges.
This Resolution was updated and extended in scope in 1997. In addition to all the Member countries of ECMT this Resolution now applies also to the ECMT Associated Countries (Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and United States). This means that disabled motorists from all ECMT Member and Associate countries are now entitled to the same parking concessions as nationals in all ECMT Countries. *The only condition is the display of a badge showing the international wheelchair symbol.**
In 1998 the EU adopted a Resolution along the same lines for the Member countries of the EU. The badges to be displayed are to be standardized to facilitate recognition and to avoid difficulties at local level*."

And also this.

"Italy
Cars parking in disabled parking spaces must display the blue disabled parking card or a European Community blue badge. Contact the local town hall for information on obtaining a blue badge.
The blue badge is a standardised European Community disabled person's parking permit which provides parking entitlements to badge holders in all complying European countries - *a blue badge from one country is valid in another*. A person coming to Italy from another EU country may find it easier to apply in their home country for this universal badge which allows the use of reserved parking.
Things to Keep in Mind:
Disabled spaces in car parks reserved for disabled people are marked with a yellow line and a wheelchair symbol; parking is generally free in these spots, check with the parking attendant
Do not park in a space marked with a person's name or vehicle registration number
In an emergency and if not causing an obstruction, disabled parking is allowed on roads where parking is normally prohibited
Do not park in pedestrian zones or ZTL (restricted traffic area) unless local law specifies it is allowed
Disabled drivers may park without time restrictions on roads with parking time limits."

Source:
http://fmcfsme.com/disability_parking_permits.php

You don't say what the violation notices are exactly, but most likely they are for ZTL violations more so than parking violations. If ZTL violations, you may be out of luck no matter what parking placard you had. You needed to register the car with each town beforehand, which admittedly is not something many Americans would know or know how to do.

Did you stay in hotels in any of these towns? One option is to see if they might assist. Usually you give your hotel your plate number and they notify the authorities beforehand. They might be willing able to help after the fact.

Also, I'm sad to tell you that the rental agency will be charging you for each and every violation notice that you receive. They are contacted by the authorities and have to provide them with your contact information. Doing so is an administrative charge and the cost is spelled out in your rental agreement. You'll get charged for each and every one. And it's not even the fine yet. And it's not something you can get a refund or absolved no matter how sympathetic your situation is.

Italian municipalities are notorious for taking their sweet time to actually send you the ticket. It can take up to a year once they get your contact information. So you may be getting tickets for some time. And in some cases, they might not even bother sending you the ticket (count yourself "lucky" in that case).

Maggie, it's not the rental agencies responsibility to instruct the renter of all the policies they may need to know. It's the renters responsibility to find out what the laws are. Blaming the rental company will get you nowhere as they are not the ones who broke the law. I doubt they even knew the OP had the placard or that they planned on driving into ZTL's in order to park in city centers.
Most hotels will contact the authorities if you let them know you'll be driving a car and need to go through ZTL's to get to their hotel. You should always double check that they have done this the night before you check in.

Donna