If you’re a visitor to Italy or are new to the country, you might be confused by the various traffic signs and what all the different symbols mean.
People who get their Italian driving licence have studied all these in-depth, but if you’re driving on holiday or you haven’t the need to sit the Italian driving test, you can easily get into trouble if you don’t understand the country’s particular rules of the road.
Here, we decode some of the most common traffic road signs you’ll come across.
Parking
Not knowing where you can park and for how long can land you with numerous types of fines.
Generally, if you’re not using a dedicated car park, you’ll need to take care and watch out for the colour of lines you see on the road and the signs you see on the street.
Blue lines mean you have to pay to leave your car there, usually via a parking metre.
Take care with yellow lines, as they are reserved for certain users, such as residents, workers or for going to the pharmacy.
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If you see parking spots indicated by white lines, anyone can use those and they are usually free – but always check the roadside for any signs or instructions in case.
As you may expect, parking spaces are indicated with the letter ‘P’ (for parcheggio in Italian). In Italy, this is usually displayed on a blue background.
On the photo below, there are a few symbols you need to understand.
Starting from the left, this icon denotes a parking metre and means you’ll have to pay for a parking ticket to leave your car in that zone.
This is valid on workdays – demonstrated by the crossed pick-axes, while the cross means the rules also apply on ‘giorni festivi‘, which covers national holidays, as well as Sundays.
The dates and times below the symbols show when these rules are valid – here, it means from April, 25th to September, 30th, from 8am – 8pm, therefore.
In the following sign, the red circle with a line through a blue circle indicates that parking is prohibited.
In the absence of any other symbols, the parking ban is valid 24 hours a day on roads outside of urban areas.
On urban roads, without any other instructions, the ban is in force from 8am to 8pm. Supplementary signs with figures, symbols or short inscriptions may limit the scope of this.
In this case, we can see a parking symbol next to an icon denoting the police. This indicates an exception to the rule for police vehicles.
The image below that showing a car being towed indicates that parking constitutes a serious obstruction or danger and that any vehicle parked there may be removed and transported to the municipal depot.
This parking ban sign is 24 hours a day, indicated by the numbers below the ‘no parking’ symbol.
Again, we can see that any vehicle found parked there may be removed.
In this example of a parking sign, you are allowed to park your car for 15 minutes, indicated by the 15′.
The symbol to the left of the number represents a parking disc, which you must display in the window of your car at your time of arrival.
If the time on the disc shows that you have been parked longer than 15 minutes, you could incur a fine.
You may come across so-called ‘pink parking’ (parcheggio rosa)while driving in Italy.
Be aware that these are reserved for pregnant women and parents with children under two-years-old, so don’t park there unless that applies to you.
Since Italy’s Highway Code was updated, you’ll also need a permit to prove you’re eligible for these priority parking spaces.
Find out more about Italy’s pink parking here.
ZTLs
Beware of the ZTL – this is one sign you’ll need to learn before driving anywhere in Italy, as there are a lot of them and infringing the rules can sting.
They catch out the best of us; they can be easy to miss as you may not even know what they are.
If you see a round road sign, a red circle containing the letters ‘ZTL’, don’t drive down that street unless you have a special permit.
If you’re just visiting Italy, it’s unlikely you will.
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ZTL stands for Zona Traffico Limitato (Restricted Traffic Zone) and you’re most likely to find them around congested areas and inner cities. The government introduced them to reduce pollution and so the only vehicles allowed to enter a ZTL are residents or businesses in the area.
If you unwittingly sail past one, the camera will take a shot of your registration number and you’ll get a fine of between €83 and €332, plus administrative costs, according to article 7 of the Highway Code.
In this road sign, we see that the ZTL applies 24 hours a day (0-24), but the extra information below shows there are some exceptions – under ‘eccetto‘.
You can drive down that ZTL without a permit if you’re on a scooter or motorbike, are disabled, a taxi or in this example, travelling to the two streets specified for services only.
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You would need electronic access to reach these streets in any case, which is something you’d receive with a permit.
Generally, if you’re just visiting Italy, don’t drive down a ZTL.
The red cross over the blue circle below that means no parking or stopping. In the absence of additional information, the ban is permanent and 24 hours a day. Your vehicle will be removed if it’s found stopped in any area where this sign is displayed.
The following sign indicates that the ZTL has ended and you can drive beyond that point without needing a permit.
Residential areas
Take care when driving through residential areas, as the rules may differ compared to driving in a town centre.
The top traffic sign of a house and tree with children playing indicates the start of a street or residential area where special rules apply, which are shown on another sign. We can see them right below.
Driving through this area is restricted to a max speed of 30km/h, followed by a sign prohibiting the transit of goods transport vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes – unless it’s for loading and unloading goods.
That is unlikely to apply to you but the sign below might. It informs you that, if parking, you must park in the provided spaces.
Pedestrian areas
You can’t drive down areas that are meant for pedestrians only, which is displayed with a round, blue sign containing a figure of a person walking.
It might also be accompanied by the description ‘area pedonale‘, meaning pedestrian area. Here, there are no times specified, so assume that it applies 24 hours a day.
There are exceptions in this sign, though. Cyclists may use that route, shown by the cycle symbol and the description ‘velocipiedi‘ (any form of pedalled vehicle with two or more wheels), as may authorised vehicles (veicoli autorizzati).
That could mean street sweepers or residents, for example. If you’re in doubt, it’s unlikely you can drive down that area.
Noticed a typo – a parking meter is always ‘meter’ whether UK or US English, it’s only when referring to the measurement that it is ‘metre’ in UK English