I am proud to say that I’ve driven in Italia. Or more to the point, I’ve survived driving in Italia. It’s a fine distinction.
I’ve actually driven in many different countries in Europe and Asia, but Italia is a different kettle of fish. Altogether. To understand why, try this short little animation that illustrates, quite succinctly, the differences between Italia and the rest of the European Union (the E.U.).
My story continues after the bump.
So aparantly, we were brave. After about twelve hours of flying, and arriving in Roma in the middle afternoon, we picked up our rental at the airport and hit the autostrada.
I’ll say this again; driving in Italia is unlike anything you’ve ever done before.
Within twenty minutes zooming around the A90 ring road and then north on the A1, towards Orvieto. At 160 km.
Never has the phrase “when in Rome…” been more appropriate.
A few things remain ingrained in the memory. First off, Italians take their driving seriously. The posted speed limit (120, I believe) is merely a suggestion. Do not (do not!) get stuck in the left lane doing 120. Or even 140, for that matter.
But when you’re in that left lane doing your 150 or 160, you can expect that anyone in your way will very politely get out of you way. Italians, you see, look backwards as much as they look forwards. If you attention lapses, you can expect a car on your ass and their high beams flashing. You very quickly get the message that you’re not where you’re supposed to be.
The lanes on an autostrada are also unusually narrow. There’s very little margin of error. If you get a flat, though, you at least have a full lane on the right in which to pull and change out. That’s comforting, at least.
Another quirk of Italian driving (which I’ve not noticed elsewhere in Europe, but I may have simply been unobservant) is the use of signals. If one passes you in the left lane, their left blinker goes on. And stay on. For the entire time they’re in the left lane, up to an including their return into the right lane. It’s kind of weird, until you understand how things work.
Signage, alas, is a problem. We spent a lot of time and kilometres backtracking to get onto missed exits.
Luckily, I haven’t had many problems when driving abroad. Well, aside from being run off the road in Hawaii, that is. We did have an “interesting” time of it in Sienna, however, driving through the traffic restricted old town, to get to our hotel.
Fun times, indeed. We’re talking narrow streets, filled with early evening shopping pedestrians, hairpin turns, and stairs. That’s right, if you youy take the wrong turn (and we did), you come face to face with stairs. Right out of the Venice Job.
Worthy of another post.
Fun times indeed.
Do pop over to my posting, Guidare in Italia, for some of the same stories mentioned here, but some better writing. It’s pretty snappy, if I do say so myself.