Adventurous driving on the roads of Italy

When you think of driving in Italy, what comes to mind? Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s in the left lane, scooters and Ducatis in the right lane and little hatchbacks in the middle lanes? The reality is a bunch of hatchbacks zipping around and scooters zig zagging around the cars. Nevermind the bullet trains which are a superb method of covering multi-hundred mile distances at 185mph.

Recently I had the great fortune of taking a two week vacation in Italy with my wife, also known as Pretty Navigator, aka "Figure" of "Facts and Figure". I was able to observe and participate in a style rarely seen in the states among the general driving public and even considered controversial or road rage worthy. I guess some of us simply are European or Italian style drivers.

A smaller rental car is recommended simply due to the very tight streets and parking in the cities. All the cars are left hand drive and small diesel hatchbacks are numerous with models from Fiat, Peugeot, Skoda, Smart, Citroen, Alfa Romeo and more familiar brands like Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen. There are hardly any pickup trucks but you do see small and midsize SUVs and small vans. Because of the recommended smaller vehicle size, I recommend medium sized and smaller luggage so that it can all be concealed in the back hatch when the car is parked and hidden away from prying eyes.

Opt for the full insurance coverage. After five years of vehicle ownership with either backup sensors or cameras, not having them in an unfamiliar vehicle, in a foreign land with very confined spaces can be nerve-wracking at best and expensive at worst. The way oncoming traffic is so close in the narrow streets, one wonders why more mirrors aren't missing and body panels aren't scraped up. Also get GPS unless you’re going to use your cell phone. More on that later. 

Our vehicle was a Fiat 500L diesel, 5 speed manual which was adequate for around town and not so much on the Autostrada. However power isn't exactly common among compact diesel hatchbacks. For instance, second gear was too tall to climb the steep hills at low speed with any kind of load in the vehicle. Even after downshifting, you sit and patiently wait for speed to increase. The contrast to driving a large, powerful car in our open spaces is very stark. Such as when merging, it’s a series of full throttle applications in first through third gears.

The cities have a very large population of scooters zipping around, cutting lanes, passing over the double lines and on the right side even on two lanes road. They ride with the abandon of a motorcycle club pack run but without the common destination and not quite as loud, and no music. No one gets mad, and I exclaimed, "Whoa!" frequently as passes, cutting lanes and squeezing in was witnessed regularly, including around city busses.

Watch for scooters everywhere, you’ll get passed on the left at any time. You don’t hear loud music, or revving motors, but horns is another matter. Renting a Vespa scooter in Sorrento was a blast. Funny story; even after years of owning an 800lb Harley, I had to learn the technique of the center stand, making sure I was pressing down on the stand so I didn’t keep trying to muscle up the scooter just pulling on the handlebars. It was YouTube worthy, I’m sure.

The Autostrada is where it really gets interesting. Bring Euros in $2 and less denominations the tollbooths unless you get the Telepass device. If you don’t have the pass, you collect a paper ticket at the automated dispenser and when exiting the Autostrada, a manned booth or automated payment collector will accept your money. Credit cards don't appear to be an option but it does have a coin counter. And the automated systems even say, “Arrivederci!” We don't get jack in the US. The highest speed limit observed was 110kph, or roughly 68mph. Despite signs of electronic speed monitoring and spotting camera boxes, many travel much faster than indicated. Here's where it gets fun and proper though: Slower traffic, move your ass over, period. There were countless examples of much faster traffic tailgating a slower vehicle in the left lane only to see the road boulder immediately move over. And the same courtesy is extended to you. The big rigs all keep right, have three rear axles and seem shorter and lower than their US counterparts with bodywork closing the gap around the wheels.

There is a significant disparity in speeds among various vehicles. A flashing signal along the onramp for merging vehicles is a welcome reminder. Driving through smaller towns and transition roads means lots of roundabouts. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to the layout, but GPS is key. With GPS, if you don't opt for the rental company unit, be sure to pay for the data package of your cell phone service provider. Bring a USB cable (or cigarette charger) to keep the phone charged due to the constant GPS data flow. When navigating make sure you're signed into your chosen navigation tool account so your search history and parked car locators are both active. Handy when figuring out which train station you're parked at or wandering the city. Finally, tunnels can cause signal delays so make sure you always know the next turn. Missing one can mean some convoluted redirection and multiple roundabouts.

Diesel near the airport was roughly $6.75 gallon but it's advertised in liters. Also there are two grades of diesel, the base is sufficient for rentals. The Autostrada is clean, well maintained and clearly marked with directions. There are numerous SOS emergency call centers and marked places to pull over. The countryside is particularly scenic, reminiscent of Highways 17, 280 going up the peninsula and the Napa/Sonoma area especially. Interestingly in some stretches there are tall Plexiglas fences to help block wind gusts while still preserving the scenic views. The lanes seem a little narrower and staying between the dotted lines seems to be optional sometimes.

Tunnels are numerous and extremely well maintained and lit. The longer ones have exhaust fans as well. Car spotting isn't remarkable, being spoiled in San Jose. A Ferrari F430 was seen in Rome, a Ferrari California in Sorrento, and right-hand drive 488 GTB Spider and 458 Spider also but those two were in the country from the UK for the Ferrari 70^th anniversary celebration. Porsches are a bit more numerous. Hardly anyone plays their music too loud and thankfully bumper stickers haven't taken off in popularity.

You’re better off if you know how to drive a manual since they are very common there. Regarding the GPS, either it’s my inability to comprehend Italian, but the streets have long Italian names and the verbal GPS announcements are quite length and for me, never seem to match the name of the street and yet took us where we needed to be. But the street signs will have multiple destinations stacked in a column, which is more confusing. And one last thing, make sure you have the proper address and region in case the city or town has a similar name. How Americans got around Italy when driving before GPS must have made for some interesting “discussions”, frequently wrinkled maps and many repeat trips around the roundabouts. Arrivederci! 

Some random car pics from various places in Italy:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1219118094859566.1073741928.378354382269279&type=1&l=6857116f03