Driving in Italy from the UK

I agree with the Italian drivers driving super close to me when I was there. They also cut in your lane bordering dangerous 😢. However, the skill level seems to be higher than my home town of Vancouver Canada. Here people are mostly terrible with situational awareness. Here people just don't even know how wide their cars are. I had no problems in the narrow roads in the Amalfi area. A bit tense but no problems.

First rule of driving in Italy is “he who has the bigger balls goes first”.

Also, try to avoid having UK number plates - the Italians really don’t like the poms! Needed an Australian flag on the car - people were way nicer to us once they realised we were not British!!

At night in Turino I’ve been honked at by a Police car for being stopped at a red light at night until I set off.

GREAT video, you should consider coming to my hometown of Toronto, Canada, and try driving the highway 401 often considered the busiest motorway in the world. Goes from two lanes in either direction in the outskirts To as wide as 16 lanes in Toronto.

Very useful video. Thanks! Heading there tomorrow so all this is good to know!

It's a source of pride in a hire car to actually catch up an Italian and sit on their arse, arm waving is an added bonus!!! :)

Thanks a lot!

My car has the UK badge and Union Jack on the number plates but doesn't have blue backing in that area of the number like on your car. Is that going to be an issue?

When I think of toll passes, E-ZPass, an e-toll collection system in place across much of the contiguous US, comes to mind. If only tolls were used to more property maintain the roads in the NYC metro area, at least on bridges and motorways that head into Manhattan.

How much are the tolls

Not a lot of potholes, try the ss131/130 in Sardinia

Hello from Oz. Thankyou for these very helpful videos.
We are picking up a hire car in Rome..later this year. It has been 36yrs since I last drove on the Right (France). I’m very nervous to be honest but there isn’t another practical option to hiring a car as we need to bring a lot of luggage (to our new house:).
I will be very stressed with tailgating and will hate every minute of it. Any tips for keeping calm..? 🇦🇺

Benzina is actually a pretty accurate name cause it comes from "Benzene" which is the chemical name of the molecule of the liquid itself
Petrol comes from the latin word "petrolium" but that is the raw material you extract from the ground, not the one you put into your car, we refere to it as "petrolio" in italian indeed

Good video.. Been to EU last month and I can say strongly that no one follows speed limit in Urban areas and out of the town roads. Always a hassle to have cars piling up behind and giving way to them.

Out of all EU countries I've been to Italy has the most rude and rash drivers. Switzerland has better roads and drivers out of all. Might be different for others, but its my observation

How would you pay if you didn’t have a passenger?

Please stay in Brexit as you have been fooled voting and now going to the EU c’mon. British are horribel tourist outside the Island.

MOTORWAYS: On the Italian motorway, be careful to not miss your exit. There are no [///] [ // ] [ / ] warnings for exits plus there are no ways to turn around within the motorway system. Due to the tolls, exits are few and far between, you will have to carry on to the next exit, pay, turn around, then rejoin in the other direction back to your desired junction/exit. It is possible to loose 20-45 minutes trying to get back to where you wanted!

SPEED LIMITS: In an effort to get Italians to slow down speed limits are often exaggeratedly slow. Generally you would be ok (and expected by the locals) to drive 5-10 km/h faster than the limit, of course as long as the road remains safe to do so.

I absolutely like your travel videos!

Great, I am now absolutely sh**ing it!! 😅

Enjoyed it thoroughly. Without any intention of traveling to Italy whatsoever 👍🤓

Its the same with any local area, I'm very familiar with my home town and I know where all the hiding spots are for the cops and where the speed cameras are, they only move them once a year or less and not all at the same time. You learn where the rules can be bent and where you need to keep glued to the limit 😉

wow, the video begins and i see my home town Verona <3

Driving in Europe used to be as simple as jumping on the train through the Channel Tunnel, and remembering to keep right when you got to France. Thanks to the Brexit geniuses, it's a lot more of a pain. Taking back control my arse.

Thanks. Helpful video. Looks stressful driving there with all the tailgating. Not looking forward to it.

Lots of good info, even for us yanks. Thanks mate 😊

the give way to the right thing, so you are going through a town on what you would call the main road, there is a road joining on the right with no give way markings, do you give way to anyone starting to exit that road?

Speed traps need to be clearly indicated with sign board before.
That is why it's not very risky to go over speed limit.
We have a point system on our driving licence, going over limit by less than 10km/h no points are subtracted.
On the "autostrada", 130 km/h speed limit,I often travel at 137 km/h because 5% of the speed is subtracted and the fine is calculated on the result. Ie: no fine. I get on average about 1 fine every year and pay less then €40.

I'm driving from Milan to Rome in October and this video has really helped me. Thank you!!

Me and my Family Drived on this street too as we go to Sicily 😄

Really helpful video. Thank you. I’d just like to understand a bit more of how to understand and navigate around the ZTL zones in order to get wherever you may be going.

where do you get your polo's from?

having lived in both italy and england i have to say i find this video absolutely hilarious.

richard's comments are all very very very english.
and the way things are in italy is very very very typical italy.

and the interactions between the two is that of: wtf mate why are you the way you are
with richard being a typical english with sarcastic undertone to communicate his disapproval.
and italians being full of expressiveness using their hands, their horns, their lights and everything to communicate their disapproval.

Thanks man! I have a question: would you recommend the mx5 to a car enthusiast (myself)? Considering that my gf has another car, with 4 seats and more luggage space.
Ciao

You mention taking an MOT certificate but I haven't seen this as a requirement when looking for info.

I'm driving to Verona from Manchester in July and this video has really helped to clarify a few things. Excellent video.

As an Italian, I laughed my lungs out during the “speed limits” segment. The rules are as follow:
1: you only need to respect the limit (and by respect I mean going 10 km per hour above it, as the range in which you don’t get fined is +10 to 15) if there is a FUNCTIONING speed camera; they’re rare, but there are some
2: in a city you must NOT go below 50 if you are able to reach that speed. If you have someone in front who is going slower than that, you probably are in traffic
3: the actual non-urban speed limit is 70 km/h, but the average speed is 80 to 85. This is due to the fact that 70 is just not right in the vast majority of cases
4: horns are only used for people going slow. There really isn’t another scenario in which you might need the horn. Except for cyclists, they are obnoxious and go around paired up side by side so that you cannot get past them
5: when you get on a motorway you only have one limit: 130 km/h. And that is from the moment you pass the sign that tells you you’re entering a motorway. The 40 and 60 km/h are not real and are never monitored, plus it is dangerous respecting them, as you experienced yourself.
6: when you are on a road you don’t know, there will always be someone behind you that knows it and that will just tail you like a dog because whatever speed you choose will always be slower than what he wants. That’s how it works basically, when you know every corner, every camera, every possible police checkpoint and every pothole. If you are in front of someone like that, just get close to the side of the road and they will disappear in the distance doing 110 on a 50 km/h speed limit.

Glad to know you enjoyed your stay, hope you’ll be back some time in the future :))

We have a saying here in Slovenia, that the worst slovenian drivers on our roads are italians and I really do believe that's true. Just from my own experience, a disproportionate number of cars with an italian numberplate will tailgate and/or lane hog the overtaking lane going 105 in a 130 limit (which most people go 5 to 10 over).
The fine is 20eur (if you pay in 16 days, otherwise it doubles) and you can go up to 158km/h including the radar error compensation. The max you can go without getting points on your licence is 179km/h gps (with radar error, 170 without) and you only pay 60eur (doubles in 16 days). You get 9 points for anything over 190km/h (+ radar error) and a 600eur fine (again doubles). The max points you can drive with is 17 and 7 for an unexperienced driver (under 2 years experience if over 21yo or anyone younger than 21). Speeding anywhere else tho, especially in towns will quickly get your license revoked, since the points are higher, with a lower threshold of getting them, for example going 61 in a 50 you are getting 3 points + 65eur fine

Nice channel! Seems like we have the same hobby ;) If you're looking for some cool roads in Europe, check our our channel. Just did the NC500 in Scotland, really nice (not uploaded yet). Doing a 3 week Italy road trip next month (ferry down to Palermo, going up from there). You're not bothered by the soft suspension? I've put Coils overs and it transformed the car for the better. Cheers

Oh, and by the way Mr. Fanders, if you keep your MX-5 until next summer, we could do a meetup in for instance, the Netherlands or something? Take care!

As in many places, speed limit is just for reference.

112 is the same emergency number in the EU states I think. At least in Sweden also. Can't wait to get my MX-5 to go on road trips in Europe! :D Great explanatory video mate! Keep staying awesome!

how boring you English are, you have to make other peoples look like idiots if they don't follow your strange customs and ways of doing things, you who drive with the steering wheel on the right, the only ones in Europe!

Seems odd that the green and blue signs are the other way round in Italy.
IT:
Green signs: motorways
Blue signs: main road (equivalent to A roads in UK) or dual carriageways
UK:
Green signs: main road
Blue signs: motorways

Cause signs on motorways are blue in UK, France, Germany and most EU countries but Italy has to be different.

People seem very impatient there like the car that was flashing there lights at you past the road works, speeding through roadworks is selfish because your puting the road maintenance workers life at risk. Anyway hope you had a nice time In Italy :)