Page 20 - DK Eyewitness: Back Roads Northern and Central Italy (Travel Guide)

18 BACK ROADS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ITALY

Left Motorway in Milan Right The precipitous road out of Elva, in the Valle Maira
Rules of the Road Buying Petrol a good day to travel if you have a
Remember: always drive on the right. Petrol (benzina) stations are frequent; long distance to cover, as the lorry
Most visitors from a country with left- most open from early morning until drivers are safely at home eating
hand traffic get used to right-hand lunchtime, then from 3pm till around lunch with their families.
driving pretty quickly, but roundabouts 7pm. Outside those hours you will Road maintenance is a major issue.
and crossroads can be disorientating often find an automatic pump that Italian roads have a lot to contend
at first, as can turning from a one-way accepts either credit/debit cards or with, from freezing winters in the
street onto a road with two-way traffic banknotes, although these are less mountains to landslide-inducing
– especially if that road is empty. common in rural areas. Petrol stations rainstorms and baking hot, tarmac-
On motorways, Italian drivers can be on motorways tend to be open 24 melting summers. “White roads”,
aggressive. Some of them believe the hours a day. Unleaded (senza piombo) known as strade bianche, have only
inside lane is only for lorries, don’t like petrol is universally available, as a gravel surface, though these are
being overtaken and rarely use the are diesel (gasolio) and LPG (PLG). If still marked on road maps.
rear-view mirror. They concen trate on you are driving near Switzerland, it’s
the cars in front of them and those to worth noting that petrol prices there Mountain Roads
the side, and if they see a space ahead are about two-thirds of what they Reaching some of Italy’s most spec-
of them, they will fill it. The best advice are in Italy, so it might be worth a tacular viewpoints and mountain
is to let them pass. If a car flashes its trip over the border to fill up – many passes inevitably involves tackling
headlights it is telling you to get out Italians will be doing just that. If you hairpin bends (the Stelvio Pass in
of the way, and it is best not to argue. decide to follow suit, don’t forget Trentino-Alto Adige has 48 of them
Unless road signs indicate that you will need your passport and, in succession!) and some steep,
otherwise, you should give way to where applicable, an appropriate visa. narrow roads with sheer drops, such
vehicles joining your road from the as those on the route through the
right. Outside built-up areas, use Road Conditions valleys of the Ortles mountain range.
dipped headlights at all times or risk Italy’s motorways often flow freely, In spring, road surfaces may have
a hefty fine. Surprisingly, in a country although rush hours and summer been eroded by heavy winter snow,
where football victories and weddings holidays can see the kind of long snow-melt and frost, and it can take
are celebrated by convoys of cars tailbacks common to most of Europe. some time for repairs to be under-
sounding their klaxons, you should The busiest times are weekends in taken, especially off the beaten track.
only use the horn in emergencies. The July, and the beginning and end of Unless you are used to driving in
British Foreign and Commonwealth August. Travel of any kind on either snow and ice, it is safer to avoid moun-
Office offers detailed advice on safe side of the national summer holiday, tainous areas in winter conditions,
Italian road travel in the “Travel Advice Ferragosto (15 August), should be especially on unfamiliar roads. In
by Country” section of its website. avoided at all costs. Sunday is usually certain areas, snow chains will be

018-019_Back_Roads_Northern_Italy.indd 18 21/09/17 11:16 am