Driving in Italy
Discussion
I haven't driven in Italy, but the window of the coach on which I enjoyed a transfer from Naples airport to Sorrento afforded me a view of something akin to the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, but consisting entirely of scooters and small Fiats, and seemingly travelling at even higher speeds than F1 cars!
Driving in Italy is great. Just take the locals at their own game and they would usually respect you. Remember tanking along the autostrada from Turin to Genoa in the 928 at around 180km/h. Next thing I spy in my rearview mirror is a Carabinieri Alfa Romeo 156 gaining on me.
s
t, I think, I'm done.
Quite the oppositte it turns out, as I pull over to let them go past me in the fast lane, the passenger cop gives me 
and they disappear on their way. I wonder whether that would happen in the UK... 
st, I think, I'm done. Quite the oppositte it turns out, as I pull over to let them go past me in the fast lane, the passenger cop gives me and they disappear on their way. I wonder whether that would happen in the UK... 
Cheburator mk2 said:
Milano - traffic lights are imperative
Roma - traffic lights are suggestive
Napoli - traffic lights are decorative
I live in Rome and I totally agree. Roma - traffic lights are suggestive
Napoli - traffic lights are decorative
Just assume the worst and you will never be disappointed.
Driving is like the rest of the country, lawless. Or should I say, just because it is written down doesn't mean I have to abide by it!
Chatting on mobile, drink driving, no seatbelt, far too many passengers for the vehicle (4 up on a moped anyone?), speeding, undertaking, parking ANYWHERE.
Anything goes really.
But surprise surprise it just...works.
It's controlled chaos, and there are far few crashes than you would imagine.
At one of the numerous food and drink festivals they have here, a friend who grew up in the town we live in took me over to see the Police who were on duty and proceeded to obtain clearance for me to drive home (a few miles up a hill full of hairpins) no matter what alcohol I had consumed. The thing is, I only needed this special clearance as I was driving a car on UK plates, a local car would't be stopped anyway, it didt seem to matter to them that I had a 2 year old child with me. I had to fake drink most of the night just to fit in!
Never driven there but I have been driven there.
Milan - with a native of the city in her beaten up Golf. She used the bumpers as park sensors actually pushing an S Class out of the way to make a parking space bigger. Impressive for a little Golf to do that. S Class alarm going off, plastic on plastic grinding.
That was Nothing to Naples. Jesus H. I drove there with a guy who as in the US Marine Corps. He gave me a lift to the airport and admitted he found the place scarier than many of the lawless hotspots he'd been to in his life.
As a pedestiran - it was just frightening.
Milan - with a native of the city in her beaten up Golf. She used the bumpers as park sensors actually pushing an S Class out of the way to make a parking space bigger. Impressive for a little Golf to do that. S Class alarm going off, plastic on plastic grinding.
That was Nothing to Naples. Jesus H. I drove there with a guy who as in the US Marine Corps. He gave me a lift to the airport and admitted he found the place scarier than many of the lawless hotspots he'd been to in his life.
As a pedestiran - it was just frightening.
I'm Italian and after 11 years in sunny Manchester I've come back nearly a year now.. suffice to say I still haven't adapted back! I've seen things that scarred me for life!! 
Definitely a bunch of crazy ass drivers, we are!!!
I do hate the 1 inch tailgating, I always touch my brake pedal when I find one too close, they soon realise and stay back
Most motorways are now littered with cameras, both fixed and avg speed, so no good to play on those....
Definitely a bunch of crazy ass drivers, we are!!!
I do hate the 1 inch tailgating, I always touch my brake pedal when I find one too close, they soon realise and stay back
Most motorways are now littered with cameras, both fixed and avg speed, so no good to play on those....
ETA Sicily was fascinating, people pulling straight out in front of you from side roads with the classic one arm dangling outside the car, irrespective of how fast you are going (they, inevitably, are driving as slowly as they dare). Interesting...!
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Flying out tomorrow, have decided to leave hiring a car this year. Would love to go out in a classic Ferrari and drive the Targa Florio courses though.
Edited by tgr on Sunday 4th September 14:23
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Flying out tomorrow, have decided to leave hiring a car this year. Would love to go out in a classic Ferrari and drive the Targa Florio courses though.
Drive twice a year from UK to Ancona via Mont Blanc and Italy is always "interesting".
It was most interestng with a 20ft speedboat on a trailer we were pulling behind our V8 Disco (and not just the fuel consumption)
There is no concern for you when entering an autostrada with around 35ft and 0-60 in 20 minutes. You still have whatever is in the inside lane trying to keep you in the acceleration lane. I eventually just learned to pull out and sod Mr Macho in his Fiat st pit.
Milan ring road at morning rush hour with a rig like ours is not for the faint hearted either.
The only good thing about Italian driving is that it goes someway to preparing you for Greek driving which is our next stop. Now they make the Italians look like a Sunday school outing to Frinton.
It was most interestng with a 20ft speedboat on a trailer we were pulling behind our V8 Disco (and not just the fuel consumption)
There is no concern for you when entering an autostrada with around 35ft and 0-60 in 20 minutes. You still have whatever is in the inside lane trying to keep you in the acceleration lane. I eventually just learned to pull out and sod Mr Macho in his Fiat s
t pit.Milan ring road at morning rush hour with a rig like ours is not for the faint hearted either.
The only good thing about Italian driving is that it goes someway to preparing you for Greek driving which is our next stop. Now they make the Italians look like a Sunday school outing to Frinton.
Denis O said:
The only good thing about Italian driving is that it goes someway to preparing you for Greek driving which is our next stop. Now they make the Italians look like a Sunday school outing to Frinton.
Spent a week in the Greek part of Cyprus when a mate was there in the RAF. He'd bought a £50 MkIV Cortina as an expendable battering ram; the drive from Larnaca to Akrotiri was just astonishing. Locals piling through red lights, blind corner overtakes, suicidal teenagers on scooters at night with no helmet and no lights on whatsoever...Haven't spent much time in Italy (although did get carved-up in Trieste once on a pedestrian crossing by a mad local in a 70s Fiat 500 giving it the Vs with one hand while using the horn with the other. I don't think he was steering with anything...), but used to go to the Cote d'azur quite a lot and reckoned that a significant percentage of all the French cars on the road had some kind of crash damage!
Ullevi said:
Driving in Italy (Palermo/Sicily) reminded me of Whacky Races
Yep, we rented a Daewoo Matiz at Naples airport for an Amalfi coast holiday. You just have to join in the wacky races, great fun. Big cars are not good for Italian cities. You can see why the Fiat Panda class is so popular! They are definitely not car snobs like the Brits or Germans.AnotherClarkey said:
Zod said:
Nothing happens if you have a British plate. I was doing 170-180 km/h on those stretches in July.
They often take several months to send out fines, it is way too early to draw any conclusions if you were there in July. I know several people driving a UK registered cars who have received them. They only seem to be after the cash though - although the ticket will probably talk about licence points I know of nobody having had them added to their uk licence.Just bin them if they ever arrive.
From the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website.
"In 2009 there were 4,050 road deaths in Italy (source: DfT). This equates to 6.7 road deaths per 100,000 of population compared to the UK average of 3.8 road deaths per 100,000 of population in 2009. Pedestrians should take care at Zebra crossings; vehicles do not always stop, even though they are required to under the Italian Traffic Code."
It doesn't suprise me having spent a week driving there, pretty disgusting driving really.
Also, I'd like to make a complaint about direction signs in Rome please. Where are they? I had to navigate my way back to the hotel near the central station using the sun!
"In 2009 there were 4,050 road deaths in Italy (source: DfT). This equates to 6.7 road deaths per 100,000 of population compared to the UK average of 3.8 road deaths per 100,000 of population in 2009. Pedestrians should take care at Zebra crossings; vehicles do not always stop, even though they are required to under the Italian Traffic Code."
It doesn't suprise me having spent a week driving there, pretty disgusting driving really.
Also, I'd like to make a complaint about direction signs in Rome please. Where are they? I had to navigate my way back to the hotel near the central station using the sun!
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