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Renting a car in Italy?

I will be renting a car and driving around Italy .Will I have a problem .I dont speak or read Italian?

  • Will I be able to read the street signs

  • Answer:

    Knowing some basic Italian words will help. A simple translation book will help. Many Frommer's guides include a section on translations, and then you have a guidebook, too, which is nice. We found the symbols to be pretty easy to manage. It was the organization of it that made our headsspin at first. The Autostrade (main highways) are easy enough to manage - you take a ticket when you get on, you pay when you get off. But we found that a map was particularly helpful, because if you are planning to go a long distance, we found they were not marked as the A5 or similar, instead, they are designated by the two large cities they are connecting. (Eg: Torino - Savona or Savona - Torino, depending on which way you were going) So if you are only going to be on the road for a short time, to connect you to another autostrade (as typically, a longer trip over the country-side will have you going on different roads), you might not know which road you need to take, unless you know the two cities that are on each end of it. Many of the turns come upon you suddenly, too, with no warning. They don't put up signs letting you know, that, by the way, the turn for such-n-such city will be in XXX km. So be watching carefully, especially on the autostrade, as you can't just turn around. You will have to wait til the next exit, pay, turn around, take a new ticket and then go back. And sometimes there is a long ways between exits. I would recommed getting maps in Italy at an auto-stop (gas-station), so that you have a map that has the cities as they are actually going to appear. An American map will be fine for planning before the trip. But when you get there and are driving around, it gets hard to be constantly guessing if the exit sign you just passed, (with the city in it's true Italian name) was the city that you were trying to watch for from your American-version map. (Eg: You will never find "Florence" in Italy - Only "Firenza"!) Overall, while the nuances are different, I think you will find travelling in Italy to be a lot of fun. Just remember not to pass on the right side of someone - it's illegal. Always be ready to pull off to the left in case someone is passing someone else in the oncoming lane on the road you are driving on. :) <<Edit: Whoops! You pull over to the right to allow for the two oncoming cars in the opposite direction - not the left! If someone passes you and another car is coming, it's polite and advisable to also pull over to the right so that all 3 of you can fit on the road.>> And leave all American road-rage behavior at home - while it may look like they are all speedsters, running around willy-nilly, there is actually a method to the madness. I have yet to see a truly rude-on-purpose Italian driver, cutting people off or blocking people from getting in front of them. :) Good luck and enjoy your trip!

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Yes, GPS is the answer, although not perfect. I have traveled a lot of Italy, and I do speak the language reasonably. But, without my GPS I would have been lost. One of the problems is that there are too many street signs. In order to read and understand them you would have to stop in front of them, and spend some time reading them. Not advisable in busy traffic or on a highway.

Reinhard G

yes your going to have the same problem people who come to America have when they come here and can't speak the language.

pickedon

if italy has a good thing that is street signs. anyway, hire a car with a nav system and you'll be ok.

Brent

Generally, you won't have a huge problem with most traffic signs since the signs largely use international symbols. You might want to get a simple tourist book that has things like the symbols and traffic directions though. Senso Unico is one way, but this is marked with an arrow pointing in the direction of travel. There may be some overhead signs on a few autostrada with text messages that you probably won't understand. Wikipedia has common road signs too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Italy . You'll want to learn the prohibition signs. There are limited traffic areas in many of the cities and the fines are heavy for driving where you're not supposed to be. If you have a rental car and get caught on camera, the rental company will pass the bill along to you. Someone on here was complaining a couple of days ago about getting a couple of large bills for driving in a limited traffic zone in both Rome and Pisa. Not understanding the signs isn't going to be an excuse. I've lived here for ten years now. Even the first time I was here, most of the signs were pretty easy to figure out.

conley39

Yes, you will have a problem. It might be a good idea to at least learn what street signs say, and how to say "Please," "thank you," and "do you speak English?"

tonalc2

Always a good bet to learn as much Italian as you can, especially the simple things and questions. If you are going to Roma it is good though, because many Italians there do speak English and have no problems doing so, with it being one of the major tourist cities in the world. Romans are very accepting like that. Not all of Italy is as tolerant though.

Immortale

Jeanne V

are you nuts?my advice don't do it to drive in Italy and no you will not be able to read the street signs hire a driver your hotel can make arrangements believe me is cheaper than risking your life

maiya

Better if you speak it, but if you dont, dont worry. i travelled often to europe on business, germany, france, italy and i got by ok. wasnt always fun, especially when i ordered food. never knew what to order, just wanted a steak or a burger, couldnt find that **** anywhere. breakfast is a problem. i like big greasy breakfasts with hot black coffee. thats called "an english breakfast". look for "english breakfasts" if you need that to get started in the am. otherwise, expect fruit and a little crust of bread and some **** they call muesli or mueslix or whatever. Cereal. Crap-ola buddy, big time. wine is another crap-shoot. we have much better talbe wines here in the US than they do in europe. the sstateside wine snobs lead us to beleive otherwise, but ANY of our supermakret wines like Gallo or Franzi are light-years better than the peasant wines you buy in europe. You have been warned. bring your own hygiene. deoderant, soap, toothpaste. if you dont speak the alnguage, it may be hard to find over there, and even at that, the brands will be completely unfamiliar. Bring a full supply of hygien for the entire trip, and that will be one less thing you have to worrry about finding overthere rental cars dont have air conditioning. traffic circle in italy are everything you've been told they are, and less. try to study one or two to see how they work it over there. in italy they drive on the right side of the street, just like stateside. get a map, you be aaaaah-rite.

marty p

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