Auto Travel and Tolls in Italy
Renting and Driving a Car in Italy and Europe in General
Yes, you can wait until getting to your destination to rent a car, but we highly recommend you rent your car before leaving the US. You’ll get a better price, and more options, if you book before your trip; it’s often easiest online. If you do not drive a stick shift, you will want to reserve an automatic which will cost you more. Because they have simplified the process with insurance and drop-off fees, I highly recommend the online consolidator, www.Kemwel.com for rentals.
Full insurance is usually not included but depending on the company, it can always be added for an extra charge. Some credit cards will take care of your deductibles, but you may find that the process of reporting the accident and dealing with the reporting is time consuming and problematic. My preference is to use Kemwel’s “Zero Excess with Super Cover” option which is available from two of the companies they work with, Hertz and Europcar. At the rental counter, just provide a copy of the confirmation and they will take care of the rest. You will only need to determine if you want to pre-pay the gas or return the tank full. If you do return the tank full, make sure you keep you receipt, Hertz has claimed I did not return it full and charged me for a full tank.
International Driver Licenses rarely are an issue and you will not be asked for it when you rent a car. But if you are stopped by the police or have an accident you are technically supposed to have it (along with your normal license) when you drive, and it’s easy to get. Applications are available through the AAA website, and permits are valid for one year.
On the roads in Italy for example, signs often won’t indicate north, south, east, or west; instead, they’ll use a city sign. For example, if you want to drive north from Rome, you might look for a sign for “Firenze” or “Milano”. As you might expect, this can be incredibly confusing for anyone not intimately familiar with Italian geography (especially when you get to smaller roads, which often indicate their direction with smaller towns and villages). Roundabouts, intersections, and exits off main roads often have signs indicating restaurants, hotels, and sights of interest but you’ll have to be a quick reader to scan them all.
I recommend having a good map or, better yet, utilize your cell phone’s GPS or rent a GPS with your car (if it’s not already included), at the cost of about 10-15 euros a day. GPS systems are programmed in English as well as other languages and can be a godsend for guiding you through winding roads and small streets.
Europeans, except for Britis and Irish drive on the right side of the road, just like Americans. That may seem basic, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t know. Traffic lights and stop signs work the same as most other countries, but, like most of Europe, right turns during red lights are ALWAYS ILLEGAL. An inverted red and white triangle means that you do not have the right of way at the intersection.
Driving in Italy
Zona traffico limitato and zona pedonale indicate pedestrian streets that are not open to cars.
While driving in Italy, some useful words to know include destra (right), sinistra (left), dritto (straight), uscita (exit) and pedaggio (toll).
All Italian roads—from city streets to highways—have speed limits, usually indicated by a white and red circle with the number (by kilometers, NOT MILES, per hour) written in the center.
Police officers usually do not patrol the roads; instead, cameras are set up to register a car’s speed, automatically issuing a ticket. And there are lots of them, especially on the highways. Keep an eye out for signs that show a police officer with a hand raised, or for orange Autovelox boxes, which indicate speed traps and check points. The ticket will be sent to the agency and the cost automatically taken from your credit card and the rental company will take a fee as well.
Signs at Highway Toll Gates
Italy’s Toll Roads (“Autostrade”) have standardized signs indicating how payments are made at all the highway toll gates on its network, when both entering and exiting. It uses colors, logos and symbols to define the proper lane for you.
ENTRY Gates
You will need to pick up a ticket when you enter. The machines have big red buttons that you need to press for the machine to print a ticket. Do not use the yellow TELEPASS gates as they do not provide tickets, they are exclusively for the wireless TELEPASS devices (US devices will not work).
EXIT Gates
When you exit the Autostrada, you will see many lanes (similar to the picture above). The signs above each lane define how that lane collects the tolls. Again, do not use the yellow TELEPASS lanes. Each of the signs may have a GREEN or RED light indicating whether that lane is open or closed.
These BLUE lanes are exclusively for Credit or Cash cards. Cards accepted include; Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and Diners. Payment by Credit or Cash card is facilitated by the fact that there is no need to enter a Pin number and no commission is charged. When using cards for payment, you need to pay attention to the instruction on how to insert the card into the machine. Once you have inserted the card, do not remove it until the green light is lit. This process is not intuitive, so pay attention to the pictures shown on how to use it.
These BLUE with yellow are similar as above but TELEPASS can use them as well.
These WHITE with a HAND indicates that these gates only accept cash payments and the hand indicates that there is a toll booth operator.
These WHITE with NO HAND indicates automatic cash payments through a machine that can provide change for up to a €20.00 note. These are usually the easiest to use. If the Blue CARTE logo is included, it can also accept cards like the BLUE lanes defined above.
DO NOT USE THESE YELLOW LANES. TELEPASS Lanes are solely for use by holders of the TELEPASS device.