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Planning to travel around Italy in a car, you want to check traffic conditions. However the autostrada, superstrade and strade statali are in superb condition. Be prepared to pay road tolls on your journey, have your money and ticket easily available. Italians are friendly and easy going people until they are behind the wheel of a car then become SPEED DEMONS.

Italian drivers are much more comfortable driving much closer than is typical in America. 'An inch is as good as a mile' is easily translated into (A centimeter is as good as a kilometer) and they think nothing of getting that close. If you know to expect this and do not panic, you will be fine. 

When driving in Italy, your responsibility is to those in front of you and those to your side. They rarely use their rear-view mirror. If there is an opening in front of you, it is your obligation to fill it, or someone else will fill it for you. You learned in Driver Education. That you should have one car length for every 10 m.p.h. this will never happen in Italy. 

Less and less autos are allowed in the center of the Italian cities. Don't even think of driving in Florence, you cannot get closer than a mile to any historic sites by car. Driving around the mountain areas can be very hazardeous, and extra caution is adviseable since many mountian road DO NOT have guard rails.