Driving in Italy
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Latest page update: 12 January 2025
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By Dion Protani
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If you hire a car for your holiday or live close enough to be able to take your own vehicle to the country, driving in Italy can be a wonderful experience and provide access to most places.
For the most part, the road network is good and the roads themselves well-maintained although there are some areas where this isn't the case such as parts of Molise and Sicily for example. There are also a number of idiosyncrasies to bear in mind in terms of Italian driving etiquette or refuelling a car in Italy, but this section starts off with the most scenic Italian driving routes. |
Related links
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A collection of twenty scenic Italian driving routes which take in a variety of landscapes from every corner of the peninsula.
Each of the routes is designed to provide spectacular scenery that you can enjoy from the comfort of your car, as well as stops along the way such as towns and villages where you can take refreshment or explore on foot for a while. The routes range from dramatic cliffside coastal roads such as the Amalfi Coast Drive to mountain passes studded with glacial lakes and Alpine backdrops. Other routes are more about discovering historic towns and the treasures that lie within them. |
Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Valle d'Aosta
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Perhaps some people may chuckle ironically at a page entitled Italian Driving Etiquette because there are most certainly times when any sense of egalitarian behaviour has flown out the window! However, the article is designed to point out some of the unexpected behaviours to expect on the road, not all of them negative, and how to stay safe when driving in Italy.
You might not think it necessary to explain the process of refuelling a car in Italy but once you've been driving around the country long enough, you realise there are a few things that need to be pointed out. The idiosyncrasies include having to choose between filling up yourself or having an attendant do it, how to pay and the differences in price between motorway service stations and regular gas stations.
What I thought was going to be an exciting and fun trip turned out to be a bit of a waste of time, largely due to my attempts at having to charge an electric car in Italy. Read my experiences, warnings and general overview of what to expect if you're planning to either rent an electric car or take your own one to Italy on holiday.
