Planning road trip to Italy- current road surface?

[Turbofun]

Hi everyone,

I’m planning a driving tour around Italy and would be interested to hear from anyone who been recently.

I’d really appreciate advice on:

Road surfaces & conditions

• What are the road surfaces generally like around Italy?
• Are the smaller mountain and countryside roads generally well maintained?
• How bad are potholes, broken surfaces and patched sections?
• Are there particular regions where the roads are noticeably better or worse?

Roads to avoid

• Are there any famous roads that look great on paper but are actually disappointing to drive?
• Which roads tend to be too busy with traffic, cyclists, coaches or tourists?
• Are there any roads where the surface is so poor that you wouldn't recommend them?

Thanks in advance!

[chalda]

Hello,

my experience from this spring in northern Italy (Ferrara - Bologna - Rimini - Modena).

Turbofun said:

Road surfaces & conditions

• What are the road surfaces generally like around Italy?
• Are the smaller mountain and countryside roads generally well maintained?
• How bad are potholes, broken surfaces and patched sections?
• Are there particular regions where the roads are noticeably better or worse?

Road surfaces: Motorways are OK. Everything else is horrible. Toll-free superstrade are especially horrible.

Smaller roads generally well maintained: No. In the region mentioned, they resorted to putting 50 km/h limits everywhere, because they realised that they simply cannot repair their roads with any success. Even with my rental Fiat Panda, I wince in pain a lot while driving the poor thing.

Potholes/patches sections: Simply expect serious road damage at any time.

Sorry, that is the way it is.

Christian

[mr pg]

Stelvio (certainly the east side) looks way better than it is to drive. Narrow in places, very sharp corners which are not good if meeting traffic in opposite direction, and very popular so can be very busy.

[6pi]

Which part of Italy are we talking about exactly, the North I guess ?

I did a roadtrip to the Dolomites in August (gratuitous picture below). Road surface was very good generally speaking in this part of the country, but in my experience that's not so true for the rest. I have recent experience of the South between Naples and Bari, and some small roads are barely roads anymore (in many places asphalt starts to disappear).

My experience in the North below Tyrol (Tuscany, Liguria, Emilia Romagna etc.) is going back ten years or more, at the time were OK but it may have changed since.



PS : I agree that Stelvio is not the best driving road, but is still nice and on the other hand the Dolomites have great roads that should be very enjoyable outside of the peak season.

[AlexIT]

Living here in Italy, I can't but confirm Chalda statements.

Generally the only notable exceptions are the road in Trentino and South Tyrol, which are usually well-maintained.

[skidskid]

I live in the area, just north in Tirol, and are on these roads most weekends. Northern Italy is fine, the road surfaces are standard for all mountain passes. Thats to say some are good, some a bumpy and some are a bit scarred but none have massive pot holes or horrible surfaces. Imagine the highlands of Scotland without the pot holes.

No roads should be avoided but Stelvio isnt a good driving road. Its busy, narrow and full of people who cant drive or ride. I have seen someone fall over off of their motorbike nearly every time I've been. However, it is beautiful and worth going once.

For cyclists, coaches and being busy.... well thats the basically most of the day. Its a prime area for hikers, bikers and day trippers so in peak times its very busy. So get up early and drive and then drive later in the day. Use the day time to chill out at the hotel, do an attraction or activity or transit to the next area.

You cant really go wrong for driving in the area so just head for squiggly lines on the map!

[dcb]

AlexIT said:

Living here in Italy, I can't but confirm Chalda statements.

Generally the only notable exceptions are the road in Trentino and South Tyrol, which are usually well-maintained.

In the 30+ years I've been visiting the South Tirol (aka Alto Adige), I've
always noticed a marked road quality difference between the Austrian side
and the Italian side.

Don't expect too much on the Italian side. Barriers seem to consist
of a 20 cm diameter stone once every five meters, for example,
as opposed to a full length metal barrier on the Austrian side.

I well remember trying to get a five meter long Jaguar past a council lorry
on one of the local Italian passes. It must have been quite a job
to get the lorry to that location in the first place, never mind random Brit
cars in the way too.

I can't speak for the rest of Italy. I've never been brave enough to
drive much south of Bolzano.

[CLK-GTR]

Toll motorways are generally excellent, far better than the UK equivalent. Non toll dual carriageways are usually ok but can be manic.

A and B roads are usually good in the North and deteriorate as you move South, though the worst roads are what youd describe as rough. What you dont see anywhere is a perfectly smooth looking road with a mammoth 6ft deep pothole waiting to rip your wheel off.

[Turbofun]

Thanks for all your replies I appericate the time posting up.
Our trip would be mid September out of the summer when all the schools are back.
We are not bothered about the views or places of interest .... just finding good fun roads to drive along that are general off the beaten track and reasonable quiet. Cheers Trubofun

[DickP]

In summary Italian roads are better than UK?

[BuyNembutal55]

always wanted to plan a road trip

[W i d e body]

DickP said:

In summary Italian roads are better than UK?

In summary and my experience of them ,answer is both yes and no .

The surfaces are poor and broken up but they are in general less deep potholes than in the UK .

I don't think I would want to take a car with very low profile tyres ,my cars are all old with proper deep sidewall tyres .

Gratuitous pic of my X1/9 at Brennero 2 years ago .