Driving in Italy

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Sun 9 Sep 2007 10:23
Driving in Italy - Nsar
A few random observations after two weeks on the roads of Italy

The worst sign-posted roads I've ever encountered - tiny direction signs right at junctions, no warning at all.

LOADS of Truvelos painted grey in villages which might account for how slow the Italians drive - this really surprised me, I was expecting much more spirited driving and liberal use of horns and lights - experienced almost none of that

Awful motorway inter-changes often where two lanes merge and then de-merge within 100metres so you have two lanes of cars jostling to get across each other - that was fun.

KRAZEEE breakdown trucks - our hire car pegged out and was recovered - wife and kids went in the cab of the tow truck I was sat in the car on the back of the truck, which was a faintly surreal experience - I felt a bit like Maggie in the opening sequence of the Simpsons

Cheap parking

We also had a Passatt with sat-nav - what a PITA that was- really useless - directed us completely wrongly on at least two occassions eg it had the name of our hotel pre-programmed in it and it took us to trading estate on the wrong side of Lucca and when you ignored it, it would simply go of in a huff and stay silent for 30+minutes at a time, before suddenly coming back to life when you reached the next town. It stayed switched off after a couple of days.



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Sun 9 Sep 2007 12:15
Driving in Italy - rtj70
"Awful motorway inter-changes often where two lanes merge and then de-merge within 100metres so you have two lanes of cars jostling to get across each other - that was fun."

Hope you didn't go near Milan's motorways. The inter-changes you describe were where we had an HGV go into the back of us. Still have no memory of what happened but do know we were near a junction.
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Sun 9 Sep 2007 13:45
Driving in Italy - FP
Sounds as if you were staying in/near Lucca (presumably you eventually got to the "right" side!). We stayed there a couple of years ago for a few days and thoroughly enjoyed the place, especially walking round the walls and the Palazzo Pfanner - incredible place. On that occasion we used public transport, as our stay was tacked on to the end of a few days in Florence; we decided that as a car is pretty useless in Florence, we would just fly to Pisa, train to Florence, train to Lucca, train to Pisa. Italian railways justified their excellent reputation for time-keeping and general convenience.

We also drove to the Italian Lakes last year and the Amalfi Coast earlier this year. I can confirm your observations about motorway lanes and poor signage.
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Mon 10 Sep 2007 22:20
Driving in Italy - Altea Ego
Just come back from 5 days in and around Turin, had a hired Fiat Croma. I was pleasantly suprised about driving in that town. Busy yes, hectic yes, but ultimately driving was relatively stress free. Seconded about the signage. Its appaling BUT, this is where sat nav really really scores. It makes driving in Italy quite an enjoyable experience. Without it Stressville!
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