Italian ZTL zones?
You may know what an Italian ZTL zone is after receiving an Italian traffic ticket or hopefully you are reading this BEFORE getting a ticket. The majority of Italian cities and many smaller towns have ZTL zones. Italian ZTL can be easily dealt with if you plan your trip with them in mind. If on the other hand you ignore their existence you will likely receive an unpleasant surprise when you arrive home to a stream of traffic tickets and charges on your credit card.
What is a ZTL?
ZTL stands for Zona a traffico limitato  . A ZTL is a limited access zone. For the most part only residents and people with business in the zone can enter. This can include trades people and delivery trucks. It doesn’t include tourists. In some cases your hotel can register your access into the zone but this must be done BEFORE you enter the zone. Contact your hotel before leaving home for information on this. You will need to provide the rental car license plate number at some point to the hotel so they can file the correct paperwork.
ZTl often are not active 24/7. They may only be active on certain days. Or at certain times. If you wish to risk the ZTL you will need to read the signs (In Italian) while driving.
Do Not blindly follow !
Do not blindly follow other cars into a ZTL. The cars around you may be residents with the right to enter or they might just not care about a traffic ticket.
If you must drive in Italy
If you must drive the smart thing is to book lodging outside of any ZTL. For many smaller centres this is not a hardship. The ZTL zone will be relatively small and you won’t have any trouble walking into the centre. In larger centres like Rome the ZTL zone is much larger. You will likely want to take transit or even a taxi into the city centre.
Reading the signs
The sign you see is a sign in Florence for the ZTL. It shows the times and days the ZTL is active. The red and green lights in this case also help identify when the ZTL is active. Not all towns or ZTLs have similar lights. Even if they do they may not be working correctly. You are responsible with understanding the sign and the limitations it sets out. The sign is basically a normal no entry sign. You should never ignore such a sign.
Don’t forget you will be reading the sign while driving in busy city traffic.
Rome ZTL
The Rome ZTL covers a large part of the historic city centre. There is relatively little parking in the area covered by the ZTL so even without the ZTL being active you really should not think about driving into the area.
Rome ZTL map
The above link will take you to the city of Rome ZTL webpage in Italian. Unfortunately at the moment the English language page doesn’t appear to be working. But you should be able to understand the map even if you don’t read Italian.
Florence ZTL
Florence is a much smaller city than Rome but it’s ZTL covers a higher percentage of the centre. In addition to the ZTL there is a fair bit of the centre that’s pedestrian only. Just like Rome you should avoid driving into Florence at all costs if you can. Pick a hotel outside the ZTL if having a car is important for your trip.
Italian ZTL in general
In general you can find similar information for most Italian cities. If you google ZTL town name look for the city council website. You may find it better to search using the Italian city name and not the English version. For example search for Roma and not Rome .
Driving in Italy
There are valid reasons to decide to drive in Italy but if you wish to avoid Italian traffic tickets or other worse incidents you should invest some time into learning the road signs. Understanding the location of local ZTLs . Planning your route to avoid potential problems like ZTL zones.
If you are used to large city driving none of this should be too challenging. It’s also true that the areas that most benefit from renting a car in Italy are those with the least traffic related issues.
But do not underestimate the challenges of driving in the major tourist cities. Especially if you don’t routinely deal with big city traffic. The cars around you will be rushing to or from work and will expect you to be at your best.
Don’t trust your GPS
Final point. Don’t trust your GPS to avoid Italian ZTL zones. Even if the GPS is programmed to show the ZTL zone the device doesn’t know if you are authorized to enter. GPS units will happily plot a route into the GPS costing you a traffic ticket. I should add your rental company will also charge you a fee before the actual ticket arrives . The two charges will make any mistake on your part that much more expensive.
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