Driving in Italy

Should you drive at all?

For cities, no. Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and Naples are better on foot and by train, and their historic centers are closed to unauthorized traffic. A car there is an expensive problem: parking is scarce, garages charge by the hour and cameras fine you for crossing a line you may not even see.

For the countryside, yes. A car is the best way to see the hill towns and wineries of Tuscany and Umbria, the Dolomites, Puglia, Sicily and Sardinia, where buses are sparse and the best places are down country roads. The usual plan: take the train between cities, then rent a car for the rural stretch and return it before the next city. See Getting around Italy.

The International Driving Permit

Italian law requires visitors with a US license to carry an International Driving Permit (IDP) together with that license. The IDP is a booklet that translates your license into several languages. It is not a license on its own, so you need both.

• Where to get it: in the US only, from AAA or the American Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA), the two organizations authorized by the State Department. AAA charges about $20 for a permit valid one year. You cannot get one once you are in Italy.
• What you need: a valid US license, two passport-style photos and the application form. At an AAA office it takes a few minutes; by mail, allow a few weeks.
• Who needs one: every driver listed on the rental. Get it even if the rental company does not ask.

Rental desks vary: some insist on the IDP, others never look. The police are the ones who matter. If you are stopped at a checkpoint or are in an accident without one, you can be fined, and your insurer may use it to complicate a claim. For $20 it is cheap protection.

Renting a car: costs, insurance and automatics

All the big international companies operate in Italy alongside Italian ones like Maggiore and Sicily by Car. Booking a few weeks ahead makes a big difference. Recent rates for a compact car on a week-long rental from Rome Fiumicino run about €28–45 (about $31–50) a day booked four weeks out, but €65–110 (about $73–123) booked the same week. Summer rates at island airports like Olbia can run two or three times higher.

Automatics

Most rental cars in Italy have a manual transmission (cambio manuale), and automatics (cambio automatico) are a smaller, pricier share of the fleet. If you cannot drive a stick shift, this is the most important thing to get right.

1. Book an automatic as early as you can, especially for summer and for Sicily, Sardinia and Puglia.
2. Choose a category that is guaranteed automatic, and read the confirmation. "Or similar" refers to the car model, and the transmission should be stated separately.
3. Bring the confirmation to the desk. If they offer a manual, ask for a free upgrade to an automatic in a higher category.
4. Consider a hybrid. Many small hybrids are automatic by design.

Insurance

Italian rental prices typically include basic collision damage waiver (CDW) and theft protection, with a high deductible (the "excess"), often €700–2,500 (about $780–2,800). At the desk you will be offered a daily "full protection" add-on, often €15–30 (about $17–34) a day, that cuts the deductible to zero.

At the desk

• A credit card in the main driver's name for the deposit hold. Many desks do not accept debit cards.
• Your US license, the IDP and your passport.
• Drivers under 25 pay a daily surcharge, and some companies set the minimum age at 21. A few charge or restrict drivers over 70.
• Photograph or video the car all around, inside and out, before you drive off, and again when you return it.
• Check which fuel it takes (benzina, gasoline, or gasolio, diesel) and write it down.
• Ask whether the car has a Telepass toll transponder and what it costs, typically €6–12 (about $7–13) a day.

ZTL zones and camera fines

A ZTL (zona a traffico limitato, limited traffic zone) is an area, usually a historic center, where only residents and permit holders may drive during set hours. Cameras at every entry point read your license plate. Nearly every Italian city and many small towns have one, including Rome, Florence, Milan, Bologna, Pisa, Siena, Lucca, Verona and the hill towns of Tuscany and Umbria.

How to spot one

Each entry has a sign with a white circle and red border, the words Zona Traffico Limitato and the hours it applies. Many also have an electronic board:

• Varco attivo (gate active), often in red: cameras are on. Do not enter.
• Varco non attivo (gate not active), often in green: the zone is open to all traffic at this time.

Your GPS and phone navigation will happily route you through a ZTL, because they are working out the shortest path. Watch the signs, and when you get near a historic center, park outside and walk in.

What a fine costs and how it arrives

A ZTL fine is set by each city and usually runs about €80–335 (about $90–375); in Rome's timed ZTLs, for example, it is €80–335 plus about €14 in processing costs. Each separate entry can be fined, so a driver who circles in and out looking for a hotel can collect several. The process goes like this:

1. The camera photographs your plate. You will not know anything at the time.
2. The city has up to 90 days to notify the registered owner, which is the rental company.
3. The rental company gives your name and address to the police and charges your card an administrative fee per violation, anywhere from under €10 to €50 (about $55) or more depending on the company. Check this in the rental terms.
4. The city then mails the actual fine to your US home address. With the extra step through the rental company, it often lands many months after you are home.

Paying within five days of receiving the notice reduces the amount in many cities, including Florence; waiting increases it. Pay through the instructions on the notice itself. Unpaid fines can be passed to collection agencies.

Hours in the big three

• Rome, Centro Storico: active Monday to Friday 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 2 to 6 p.m., with night hours on Friday and Saturday. Trastevere, the Tridente and other zones have their own hours. Sundays and public holidays are open.
• Florence: active Monday to Friday 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., plus 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday to Saturday from April to early October. Sundays and holidays are open.
• Milan: see Area C below.

Milan's Area C and Area B

Milan adds two camera zones of its own. Area C, the historic center, charges €7.50 (about $8.40) a day for most cars, active every day from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. You pay once per day, however many times you enter, through the MyAreaC app, street meters or text message, and the ticket must be activated by midnight on the day you enter. Area B, much larger, bans older polluting vehicles on weekdays; a current rental car should meet its standards, but ask. See Milan.

The autostrada and tolls

Italy's autostrade (motorways, with green signs) are fast, well-kept toll roads. Most use a closed system: take a ticket at the entry, then pay by distance when you leave. Blue signs mark ordinary main roads, which are free.

Rough one-way tolls for a car: Rome to Florence, under €20 (about $22); Rome to Milan, about €40–45 (about $45–50). Use the toll calculator on Autostrade per l'Italia for your exact route. The roads in the far south and on parts of Sicily, including the A2 from Salerno toward Reggio Calabria and the Palermo–Catania motorway, are toll-free.

Service areas

Autostrada service areas (aree di servizio) are good: an Autogrill or similar for an espresso at the bar, a sandwich and clean restrooms. Fuel on the motorway costs a little more than in town.

Speed limits and speed cameras

Drivers who have held a license for less than three years face lower limits on the autostrada and main highways. Posted limits always override the defaults, and they change often, so watch the round signs with a red border.

Italy enforces speed with two kinds of camera. Fixed and mobile autovelox cameras sit on roadsides and in town, and should be announced by a sign. On the autostrada, the Tutor system measures your average speed between two points, often miles apart, so slowing down for the camera does not help. Fines arrive the same way as ZTL fines, through the rental company and by mail. They start in the tens of euros for small overages and climb into the hundreds, with license penalties for serious speeding.

Rules that surprise Americans

• No right turn on red, ever, unless a green arrow says so.
• Headlights on outside towns, day and night, on the autostrada and other roads outside built-up areas.
• Phones: hands-free only. Italy's 2024 highway code reform raised fines for using a handheld phone to roughly €250 to €1,000, with possible license suspension.
• Alcohol: the limit is 0.05% blood alcohol, lower than the 0.08% in most US states, and zero for drivers under 21 or with less than three years of driving. With wine at lunch, the safest rule is not to drive after drinking.
• Overtaking: pass on the left only. On the autostrada, the left lane is for passing; move back right promptly.
• Roundabouts: generally, give way to cars already in the circle.
• Safety kit: the car must carry a warning triangle and a reflective vest. Put the vest on before getting out on the roadside.
• Children: kids under 150 cm (about 4 ft 11 in) need a suitable car seat or booster. Reserve one with the rental.

Parking and the color code

Parking in Italy is color-coded by the lines painted on the street.

• Read the sign at the start of the block. Paid hours vary, and many towns charge only in the daytime and not on Sundays.
• Street-cleaning days are posted on signs; cars left on those streets are towed.
• In hill towns, use the signed car parks below the walls and walk or take the escalator or elevator up. Many towns, like Perugia, Orvieto and Siena, have them.
• Never leave luggage or anything visible in a parked car, especially in the south and near tourist sights.

Fuel and filling up

Fuel is expensive in Italy and sold by the liter. On October 16, 2026, the national average self-service price was €2.03 a liter for gasoline (about $8.60 a US gallon) and €2.26 a liter for diesel (about $9.55 a US gallon), according to the Ministry of Enterprises' price monitor. On the autostrada, the averages were a little higher, about €2.05 and €2.28. Unusually, diesel now costs more than gasoline, and many rental cars run on diesel. Diesel has also been the more volatile of the two this autumn, rising from about €2.12 in early August to a peak near €2.38 in late September, so expect prices to move during your trip.

A typical compact car holds around 40 to 45 liters, so a full tank of gasoline costs roughly €80–90 (about $90–100).

• Fai da te or self (self-service) is cheaper than servito (attendant service), often noticeably so. The pumps are side by side, so check before you pull in.
• Benzina (also senza piombo, unleaded) is gasoline. Gasolio or diesel is diesel. Putting the wrong one in is expensive, and the rental company will charge you for the damage.
• Automatic pay machines at the pumps take cards and cash; some US cards need a PIN, so bring a backup and some euros. Many stations close for lunch and overnight, leaving only the machines.
• Return the car full to avoid the rental company's refueling charge.

The Amalfi Coast, islands and mountains

The Amalfi Coast. The coast road (SS163) is narrow, twisting and full of buses, and parking in Positano or Amalfi can cost a fortune in summer. In peak periods an odd-even license plate rule has restricted non-resident cars on set days and hours, so check the current rule before you go. Most visitors are better off without a car there. Use buses, ferries or a driver. See the Amalfi Coast.

The islands. Capri restricts tourist cars, and Ischia and Procida limit non-resident cars in season. Sicily and Sardinia are the opposite: a car is close to essential for exploring. See Sicily and Sardinia.

The Dolomites. Mountain passes are steep with hairpin bends, and some are closed or require snow equipment in winter. Winter tires or chains are required on many roads from mid-November to mid-April; rental cars in the region usually come equipped, but confirm. See the Dolomites.

Tuscany and Umbria. Country roads are a joy, but white gravel roads (strade bianche) can be rough for small cars, and every hill town has a ZTL at its gate. See Tuscany and Umbria.

Breakdowns, accidents and emergencies

1. Move to safety, turn on the hazard lights, put on the reflective vest and set up the warning triangle behind the car.
2. Call 112 if anyone is hurt or the road is blocked. Operators can connect you to an English speaker.
3. For a minor accident with another car, fill in the joint accident report (constatazione amichevole), usually in the glove box, with the other driver. Take photos of both cars, plates and documents.
4. Call the rental company's roadside assistance number, which is on the key tag or rental agreement.

For health and safety information, see Safety and Health.