Countries · Italy
Verdict
No vignette and nothing to buy at the border. The cameras, the toll barriers and fines that follow a foreign plate home for a year are what catch visitors.
Keep dipped headlights on outside towns, drop to 110 in rain, and leave the phone alone: it now costs €250 to €1,000 plus a driving ban. A camera-enforced ZTL in the historic centre is the fine most visitors bring home.
A ZTL camera at the edge of an old town costs €83 to €332 in Florence, Rome and Venice. The letter can reach your home up to 360 days after you drove past.
Italy rewrote large parts of its road code in December 2024, so much of what is repeated online is out of date. Fines are normally raised with inflation every two years, but that update is suspended up to and including 2026. The amounts on this page are the ones in force this year.
The first move costs nothing. Before you book a hotel inside an old town, ask whether it will register your plate.
Tick what you already have. Set your departure date, and anything that takes time, such as a sticker by post or an online order, shows the date to act by.
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| Road | Dry | Rain or snow | Car towing a trailer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorway (autostrada) | 130 km/h | 110 km/h | 80 km/h |
| Main extra-urban road (dual carriageway) | 110 km/h | 90 km/h | 70 km/h |
| Other roads outside towns | 90 km/h | 90 km/h | 70 km/h |
| Built-up area | 50 km/h | 50 km/h | 50 km/h |
The lower limits apply in rain, snow or any other precipitation, not only on a flooded road. Hold 130 in a shower and you are 20 km/h over: €173 to €694. I'd rather slow down than pay that.
On three-lane motorways with average-speed cameras the operator may raise the limit to 150 km/h, but only where a sign says so. In towns a sign can raise it to 70 km/h. Drivers in their first three years on an Italian licence are held to 100 km/h on the motorway and 90 on main roads.
Fixed cameras and average-speed systems do the measuring, and the code says every check must be signposted and visible. Caught several times within an hour on roads run by one authority? You get the most serious fine increased by a third, not every fine separately.
Outside built-up areas, every motor vehicle must drive with dipped headlights, day and night, on the autostrada and on a country road. Visitors from countries without the rule forget it most often. The fine is €42 to €173. I'd switch them on at the hire car park and leave them on.
Where no sign or light says otherwise, a vehicle coming from the right has priority at a junction. Ignoring it costs €167 to €665. The motorway hard shoulder is for stopping only; driving along it costs €430 to €1,731.
The 2024 reform made this one of Europe's most expensive tickets. Using a phone, tablet or similar device in a way that takes a hand off the wheel, even briefly, costs €250 to €1,000. The code adds a driving ban of 15 days to two months.
A second offence within two years costs €350 to €1,400 and a ban of one to three months. The 30% early-payment discount does not help here, because it never applies to a fine that comes with a ban.
Leave the radar detector at home too. Making, selling or using any device that signals or locates police speed cameras costs €825 to €3,305, and the device is confiscated.
The limit is 0.5 g/l of blood alcohol. It is zero for drivers under 21, drivers in their first three years with a car licence, and professional drivers. Between zero and 0.5 g/l they pay €168 to €672.
Between 0.5 and 0.8 g/l it is an administrative offence: €543 to €2,170 and three to six months' suspension. From 0.8 g/l it is a crime, with a fine and up to six months' arrest. Above 1.5 g/l the car is confiscated unless it belongs to someone else.
Between 22:00 and 07:00 the criminal fine is a third to a half higher. Since the reform, a conviction also puts an alcolock condition on the licence for years afterwards.
Drugs are now judged without any test of impairment: driving after taking them is enough. The penalty is €1,500 to €6,000, six to twelve months' arrest and a one-to-two-year suspension. I would not drive at all after a drink here.
Most fines are cut by 30% if paid within five days, but not those that come with a driving ban. A driver of a foreign-registered car can pay the reduced amount to the officer on the spot; otherwise the police take a deposit, which for an EU or EEA car equals that reduced amount, and without it the car can be held for up to 60 days. Camera fines reach drivers who live abroad up to 360 days after the offence, and on a hire car the rental company adds its own fee.
I'd pay early whenever I could. A €83 ZTL fine settled within five days costs €58.10.
An EU or EEA licence counts as an Italian one. A UK photocard licence needs no International Driving Permit for a visit, according to GOV.UK; a paper licence does. A hire desk may ask for one anyway, so I'd get it. A UK car needs a UK sticker unless the plate shows UK with the Union flag.
Other non-EU licences, including a US licence, are valid only with an International Driving Permit or an official Italian translation. Driving without one costs €408 to €1,634.
Children shorter than 1.50 m must travel in a child restraint suited to them. Italy also requires an anti-abandonment alarm with the seat of a child under four, which warns if the child is left in the car.
The alarm rule covers cars registered in Italy, and foreign cars driven by a resident of Italy. A visitor in their own car is exempt. A hire car is registered in Italy, so ask the rental company for one with the seat. A missing seat or alarm costs €83 to €332.
Outside a town, a car stopped on the carriageway that cannot be seen in time must be signalled with the warning triangle. That means at night with no working rear lights, or by day.
In the same situation you may not walk on the road without a high-visibility vest or reflective braces. That applies on the hard shoulder and in lay-bys too. The code makes it a duty to wear the vest, not to carry it, which in practice means one within reach in the cabin. Either fine is €42 to €173.
On the autostrada: stop on the hard shoulder or in a lay-by, put the vest on before you get out, set the triangle, and get everyone behind the barrier. 112 is the emergency number. On its own network, Autostrade per l'Italia sets maximum prices for breakdown and towing, so ask the price before the work starts.
Most Italian motorways charge by distance at a barrier: take a ticket going in, pay going out. In exit lanes signed for cards, Autostrade per l'Italia takes Visa, Mastercard and American Express credit cards and Maestro and V Pay debit cards without a PIN and without a fee. The automatic lanes read contactless cards.
Keep out of the lanes signed "reserved for Telepass customers". They open only for the electronic badge.
Can't pay at the barrier? You get an unpaid toll ticket. Pay it online within 15 days and nothing is added; after that a reminder goes to the registered owner with charges on top. The Pedemontana motorways north of Milan have no barriers at all and must be paid online within 15 days. The toll page has the details.
Where a sign says so, a car must have winter tyres fitted or chains on board from 15 November to 15 April, snow or no snow. The State Police say tyres marked M+S count as winter tyres in Italy, unlike in Germany, where only the Alpine snowflake does.
Mountain and northern road authorities can bring the dates forward. In much of the south the obligation is not applied at all. Winter rules across the Alps.
Most historic centres are a zona a traffico limitato, a limited-traffic zone with a camera at every entrance. There is nothing to buy. Your number plate must be registered before you pass the camera, usually by a hotel inside the zone.
My pick: park outside the zone and walk in, unless the hotel confirms the registration in writing. How it works city by city, and what the fines are.
Italy is the most expensive country in our ranking for ultra-fast charging, at about €0.80 a kWh without a subscription. Electra's app price there starts at €0.69, and a month of Ionity Power brings Ionity down to €0.48.
On a long trip I'd take the Ionity month: it cuts €0.32 off every kWh against the walk-up price. What charging costs across Europe, and on your route.
If you remember one thing: register your plate before any ZTL camera, or stay outside the zone. Every rule on this page was checked against the current Codice della Strada as published by ACI, and official pages from the State Police, Autostrade per l'Italia and the UK government, on 1 October 2026.
Where to leave the car, from our sister site. Each card is the short version; the full guide has every car park, the tow pound and the charging points.
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All roads lead to Rome. Most of the last kilometres are on camera.
Full parking guide for Rome Checked 16 September 2026
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A camera on every road into the old ring and €7.50 a weekday to pass it. The metro-end car parks charge €1.50 for five hours and let the train do the rest.
Full parking guide for Milan Checked 29 September 2026
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Renaissance on foot, car on the motorway. Seriously, that's the trick.
Full parking guide for Florence Checked 16 September 2026
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The road stops at the end of a bridge. Everything after that floats.
Full parking guide for Venice Checked 16 September 2026
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Old Naples is a camera-watched ZTL from 09:00; the station garage keeps you 24 hours for €25. Blue lines run until midnight, and the man waving you into a space is not the council.
Full parking guide for Naples Checked 30 September 2026
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