RESTRICTED DRIVING ZONES/TICKETS

Mark and Kristy,

A few more notes regarding driving in Italy.....

An International Driver's Permit is compulsory and EACH driver must have one. This must be used in conjunction with your home Driver's License, and failure to produce an I.D.P. can result in fines on the spot! I.D.P.'s are easily obtained for reasonable cost at any AAA office.

A GPS unit along with a good quality Map are highly advisable. You might want to read the section on CDW and insurance issues in Europe Through The Back Door.

I'd suggest NOT driving anywhere inside Florence, as it's virtually impossible to avoid the ZTL zones.

Cheers!

I would suggest not driving in any of the city centers you come to. They all have restricted zones. It would be better to find a metro station outside the city and park your car there. This way you are sure to avoid any fines.

I would suggest just using the train while in Italy. There really is no need for a car unless you are going to some of the very small, remote towns. You could also just rent the car for the part of your trip that need it. Parking in the cities is hard to find and very expensive not to mention you run the risk of tickets.

Donna

Thanks to everyone for the replies. The Florence link is EXCELLENT. Donna, we are going for twelve days but limited the rental car to five. We need the car to get from out hotel in the Chianti wine region (Greve) to Florence and Pisa, but more importantly, we need it to attend the Festa Dei Ceri in Gubbio on 15 May. Gubbio is a small, medieval town whose nearest train station is twenty minutes away. Once we get to any of these cities (Gubbio, Florence, Pisa) we do not plan on driving. I like the idea of driving close to the city and hopping on a train to take us INTO the city.

I agree with Donna. Follow Rick's advice in a lot of cities, and go to the parking lots outside the walls - it was never too far a walk in anyway, and then you have zero risk of entering the dreaded ZTLs. For Florence, what we did was drive to the nearest town (in our case, Certaldo), park in a free lot, and take a quick train in and out of Florence for the day. Worked perfectly (and I chuckled heartily when we walked under a ZTL point and saw all of the scary camera contraptions!)

I was quite nervous about it too but didn't have any problem avoiding the zones - know what the signs look like and be careful. For example, the parking garage we found in Siena was RIGHT outside one of the zones, if we hadn't turned in to the garage, we would've kind of had no choice but to go into the zone. phew!
also, watch for the speeding cameras, it's easy to zip right through them going above the limit. They're on the autostrade, quiet back roads, and everywhere in between. They usually warn you when you're entering an area with the cameras, but not always

I was super nervous about driving in Italy and it mostly turned out just fine. It's good that you're preparing now so you can enjoy it while you're there - there's too much to look at while you're driving to worry about ZTLs and speeding cameras, etc :)

"Is there any way to get maps of the restricted zones prior to getting there? Or any websites that list them?"

Here's the primary discussion thread on this site re the ZTL's in Florence and other places in Italy:

discussion of Florence & Italy ZTL's

Look at the first post, the original post. It lists places with ZTL's, and has links to maps of Florence ZTL's.

In 2008, I went through what you are going through right now. We had a car the whole time and handled it like this:

Everyone in the car knew what a ZTL sign looked like and watched for them in any town we were in. We took the bus from Greve to Florence (it runs from very early morning until about 8-8:30 at night). It takes about an hour and drops you right at the train station area (or you can get off earlier if you want to be closer to Arno river area) My husband and I drove in Florence (pre ZTL zones) in 2003, and he absolutely refuses to drive there again. (This is a man that will drive in Manhattan and Washington DC without giving it a thought) The zones in FLorence and Pisa can be found on maps, but it is so hard to figure those maps out and there is no guarentee the zones have not been changed since the maps were printed (Pisa's have been known to change with them adding new ones). Pisa-follow Rick's instruction from the Pisa Nord exit of the autostrada and follow them to the Parcheggio Pietrasantina parking area. The tower was an easy walk from there, or you could catch a bus. Parking was free and you never enter the old part of town where they have the ZTL signs. (if you are coming from FLorence area on the south "no tolls" road, it will look "faster" to get off and cut through Pisa to get to the tower, I advise against it...stay on the main highway until you get to the exit Rick tells you to take and go in from there) Also, always, always, go the speed limit. Tuscany is filled with speeding cameras- even on the smaller roads. We have been home for almost 2 years and no sign of any tickets yet. Quite frankly, being a little nervous about the whole thing is a good sign. It means you will go in knowing what to watch for and having your guard up!! The good news is it is worth all the effort to visit these areas. Have a great trip. BTW- Greve has a great outdoor marked Saturday morning.

Thank you to everyone for your advice! It is definitely coming in handy!

The Italian tourist board has a lot of practical info about ZTL's and other driving issues:

www.italiantourism.com/transp.html

Don't be nervous, just learn the signs and pay attention. Even if there weren't ZTL's, you wouldn't want to drive in the historic city centers. Outside the old cities, driving in Italy is pretty easy.

Rather than working with a map of ZTLs it's safer to learn about signs and watch for them. And park well outside the restricted zones. In Siena and Pisa we followed the advice for parking lots given by RS guide book. For Florence we took the bus in. In the smaller Tuscan towns we simply followed the parking signs the towns had put up while avoiding the no-entry signs and that was it.