Driving holiday next wwek - traffic as bad as guides say?

[DickusMaximus]

Hi all,

I'm picking up a convertible on Saturday in Innsbruck and planning 7 days driving around in Italy via the Dolomites. I normally do around 300 miles a day. All the guide books say to avoid all of Italy all of August.

Is it really this bad? Any places where perhaps it's less busy?

Thank you.

[DickusMaximus]

Hi all and thank you very much indeed for your replies.

I'm not going to the cities at all other than Sienna so it'll be autostrada from around 7 am until, say, 9am and then back roads. I guess the passes will be packed so for them I'll leave at 6.30 and get hotels close to them.

All good!