Italy’s motorways usually see little in the way of heavy traffic during the cold months. But that all changes during the summer as everyone escapes the blistering heat of the city for the cooler air of the mountains or the coast.

Not only do motorways (autostrade) become much busier, but many smaller roads (strade statali), particularly in seaside areas and around holiday hotspots, become completely clogged with traffic.

The increased number of vehicles on the road isn’t just inconvenient; it can also be dangerous as June, July and August are usually the months with the most recorded car accidents.

That’s why Italy’s State Police (Polizia di Stato) issues warnings each year advising motorists to avoid peak travel times, and even publishes its own calendar showing when traffic is expected to be at its worst.

The calendar is colour-coded, with a yellow marker indicating heavy traffic, red indicating heavy traffic with ‘possible critical conditions’, and black indicating ‘critical’ traffic.

No black-coded days have been forecast for July, but the calendar features plenty of yellow and red spots, with motorists expected to experience heavy traffic and even potentially critical conditions on weekends.

Italian roads are expected to be particularly crowded on Saturdays and Sundays, though drivers may come across significant congestion from as early as Friday or even Thursday evening. 

Overall weekend traffic is expected to get heavier in the second half of the month, with national motorways forecast to see potentially critical conditions in the morning of Saturday, July 20th, and the evening of Sunday, July 21st.

The situation on national roads is expected to further worsen over the last weekend of the month, which is when tens of thousands of people around the country will go on their summer holidays, starting what’s known in Italy as esodo estivo (‘summer exodus’).

Roads are forecast to start clogging up from the evening of Thursday, July 25th, with red-coded traffic warnings covering the morning of Saturday, July 27th, and the whole of Sunday, July 28th.

Overall then, the best time for motorists to hit the road in July is from Monday evening to Thursday as, barring some exceptions, traffic is expected to remain at normal levels on those days.

While motorways are likely to be jammed at various points over the coming weekends, July is still a better time to travel than August, when Italians will move en masse towards their holiday destinations. 

Official traffic forecasts for August haven’t been issued yet but, based on previous years’ events, many Italian motorways are likely to see hours-long traffic jams on multiple dates, particularly around the Ferragosto holiday on August 15th.

How to keep up to date with the latest developments

This online map from Italy’s motorway construction and maintenance company ANAS features live updates on road closures, maintenance work, traffic levels and even weather conditions. The service is also available through their mobile app.

Motorway company Autostrade per l’Italia offers a similar live map, showing road closures and traffic jams as well as the locations of the nearest petrol stations and service areas. 

If you’d like to speak directly to an operator while you’re on the road, you can do so by getting in touch with ANAS’s customer service at toll-free number 800 841 148 or using their live chat.