Italy what do you need

[PJay]

Hi

Can some-one tell me what documents do you need to travel in Italy?

 

Never been there, and wonder if worth while taking van, or just take a package holiday. Would like to see Rome, Venice Pompei. Any tips , and what is the best way to get there? Would not be until next year now, but does not hurt to research a bit

 

PJay

[Guest JudgeMental]

same documents as you need anywhere to be honest....

 

depends how long your going for, personally would tour in the van. fuel expensive (slightly more then here) but tolls cheap and not worth avoiding, plus sites and aire plentiful and reasonable value. eating out very good value compared to France.

 

as for route you can go via Switzerland or Germany/Austria. Our preferred route is motorway all the way, (non toll through france) Calais - Lille - Namur - Luxembourg - Then the choice is Switzerland via Basle or Germany/Austria (toll or non toll depending on weight)

[StuartO]

I have taken a MH to L Garda, the Dolomites and Venice (Camping Fusina and that was all do-able. Nice site close to Sirmione for L Garda. Tuscany and Umbria are doable too. Not been further South but I have flown to Rome.

 

Tolls are indeed affordable compared with France but on the Autostrada if you dare to go in the outer lane and there isn't someone tailgating you straight away, here will be within five seconds. They can get really scary, eg the ring road near Milano.

 

I wouldn't attempt anywhere close to Rome in a MH because of traffic and other driving hazards (eg most Italian drivers) but a campsite on the outskirts might be OK. No vehicle in Rome is ding-free for long, not one, so if you enter the City, expect contact. They take no prisoners.

 

Italian public transport (buses and trains) are excellent.

 

Best approach to Italy for us is from Germany through Austria (can be done without motorway) and over the Resia Pass. Lovely clean campsite at Mals, just into Italy. (Near the railway station.)

 

We didn't find many Aires in Italy but there are a few.

 

 

[starvin marvin]

If, for example, you have bikes on the back do you need an aluminium stripey do dah (technical term) rather than a plastic one in Italy? I know you have to have your lights on when driving during the day.

[Matrix Meanderer]

I would also take lots of cushions and travel sickness pills - the roads in many areas are rubbish with lots of potholes. The motorway services are often poor with small scale parking areas usually filled with lorries. We also found most campsites had small pitches often made smaller by olive trees. On one site at Lake Garda our neighbour got on top of his MH and sawed off two branches so he could get his medium sized vehicle onto the pitch (lol) Lucky we got there before him and bagged the adjacent pitch. Oh yes and most of the Adriatic Coast sites close after the second week in September.

[vindiboy]

We called in to Italy on way home from Hungary last year in our van,no problems at all,lots of free Sostas for overnighting,we went to Rome, great camper site on the outskirts of Rome,bus stop outside the site for the city,we did the tour bus,great cheap way to see the city,hop on and off,same as Pisa,we parked at the leaning tower for about half an hour before the local cop noticed us and asked us to move on,we found an on street parking nearby and spent the night there along side the river,short walk to the tower.Documents needed are the same for most of Europe,bike board as previous poster said should be Ali,as the fiamma ones are illegal because they are not reflective,that is why they have four reflectors fitted to them,strictly illegal anywhere but hey Ho you pays your money etc.I did get a parking ticket for paralel parking on the Italian Riveria,you have to park in marked bays,the street was empty but I still got a ticket but I have never paid it or worried about it.We went to Millan and Venice on a previous trip with no problems,in Venice we stayed on a camp site at Lido De Jeselo,and got the ferry to Venice,just a short walk to the ferry from the campsite,there are Sostas in Venice but the site we stayed on was superb, marble piastas,( is that the right word) and fountains everywhere,cheap too,we never do much planning for our trips, we just go and see what happens,always works for us. 

[Brian Kirby]

[

PJay - 2014-08-17 5:56 PM

 

Hi

Can some-one tell me what documents do you need to travel in Italy?

 

Never been there, and wonder if worth while taking van, or just take a package holiday. Would like to see Rome, Venice Pompei. Any tips , and what is the best way to get there? Would not be until next year now, but does not hurt to research a bit

 

PJay

It would depend on how you fancy the mileages involved as to whether to drive or not. We've done several trips to Italy with the van (and before) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The last was 2012 in northern Italy when we "did" Turin, Asti, Milan, Cremona, Ferrara, and Venice. We entered via Briancon in France, and left via the Reschen pass into Ausrtia. In 2006 we went to Venice, Bologna, Urbino, Gubbio, Assisi, Alberobello, Lecce, Matera, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples, Rome, Siena, Florence and Pisa. All on sites, and used local trains for Rome, Herculaneum (better, IMO, than Pompeii, as more complete) and Naples. The rest we either took buses or walked. 2010 we went to Greece via Ancona, so visited Bologna and Garda en route the way. Overall, as elsewhere, the driving has become less eccentric over time. They aren't mad, just Italian: it's all about style. We're far too straight laced. :-)

 

Driving can be interesting, generally the further south you go the more interesting it gets. However, once you get the hang of how the Italians drive, it can be quite a source of entertainment. Just stick to driving as you would anywhere else, and leave the Italians to their own ways. They pretty well ignore speed limits and most road signs, and are a little casual with traffic lights. Don't copy them, they have an instinct for where the fuzz will be! Just stay alert, and keep a sharp eye out for the unexpected. You'll be fine.

 

Most manoeuvres are carried out on impulse, with little planning ahead. This can be an advantage, however, as they are generally very tolerant of each other's eccentricities, and have little expectation of other drivers. Like many continental drivers they tend to tailgate when the want to overtake, but providing you don't lane-hog few will protest.

 

On single carriageway roads, many of which are quite wide, it is normal to pull onto what looks like a painted hard shoulder to let following drivers pass. It is also accepted that you use this if someone coming the other way misjudges their overtaking! All this is the normal give and take: it just gets a little getting used to. You do need to watch those painted hard shoulders, though, as they double as parking places and carry two way cycle, moped, scooter etc traffic on both sides of the road. Proper hard shoulders on autostradae are generally also used for getting round traffic jams. As I said above, it is a great free-for-all, and can be very entertaining!

 

Campsites are rather variable but the prices vary little, and are nearer UK than French levels. Plenty of supermarkets, though not always easy to park a van. Quite a lot of height barriers on entrances means researching alternative parking places (Google Earth) before you leave. But, you have plenty of time to plan. Great country, very friendly, if noisy, people. There is a fair spread of ACSI sites which gives an insight into what to expect in terms of quality. Also, quite a few listed in the Caravan Club Caravan Europe guide. It can be difficult to get information on opening/closing times even from site websites. But hey, it's Italy, and they do it on impulse! :-D

[Guest Peter James]

The AA give some of the regulations on their website. http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/index.html

But as an Italian once told me 'In Italy everything is prohibited, but everything is possible' ;-)

[Guest Peter James]

Brian Kirby - 2014-08-18 12:17 AM

 

[

PJay - 2014-08-17 5:56 PM

 

Hi

Can some-one tell me what documents do you need to travel in Italy?

 

Never been there, and wonder if worth while taking van, or just take a package holiday. Would like to see Rome, Venice Pompei. Any tips , and what is the best way to get there? Would not be until next year now, but does not hurt to research a bit

 

PJay

It would depend on how you fancy the mileages involved as to whether to drive or not. We've done several trips to Italy with the van (and before) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The last was 2012 in northern Italy when we "did" Turin, Asti, Milan, Cremona, Ferrara, and Venice. We entered via Briancon in France, and left via the Reschen pass into Ausrtia. In 2006 we went to Venice, Bologna, Urbino, Gubbio, Assisi, Alberobello, Lecce, Matera, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples, Rome, Siena, Florence and Pisa. All on sites, and used local trains for Rome, Herculaneum (better, IMO, than Pompeii, as more complete) and Naples. The rest we either took buses or walked. 2010 we went to Greece via Ancona, so visited Bologna and Garda en route the way. Overall, as elsewhere, the driving has become less eccentric over time. They aren't mad, just Italian: it's all about style. We're far too straight laced. :-)

 

Driving can be interesting, generally the further south you go the more interesting it gets. However, once you get the hang of how the Italians drive, it can be quite a source of entertainment. Just stick to driving as you would anywhere else, and leave the Italians to their own ways. They pretty well ignore speed limits and most road signs, and are a little casual with traffic lights. Don't copy them, they have an instinct for where the fuzz will be! Just stay alert, and keep a sharp eye out for the unexpected. You'll be fine.

 

Most manoeuvres are carried out on impulse, with little planning ahead. This can be an advantage, however, as they are generally very tolerant of each other's eccentricities, and have little expectation of other drivers. Like many continental drivers they tend to tailgate when the want to overtake, but providing you don't lane-hog few will protest.

 

On single carriageway roads, many of which are quite wide, it is normal to pull onto what looks like a painted hard shoulder to let following drivers pass. It is also accepted that you use this if someone coming the other way misjudges their overtaking! All this is the normal give and take: it just gets a little getting used to. You do need to watch those painted hard shoulders, though, as they double as parking places and carry two way cycle, moped, scooter etc traffic on both sides of the road. Proper hard shoulders on autostradae are generally also used for getting round traffic jams. As I said above, it is a great free-for-all, and can be very entertaining!

 

Campsites are rather variable but the prices vary little, and are nearer UK than French levels. Plenty of supermarkets, though not always easy to park a van. Quite a lot of height barriers on entrances means researching alternative parking places (Google Earth) before you leave. But, you have plenty of time to plan. Great country, very friendly, if noisy, people. There is a fair spread of ACSI sites which gives an insight into what to expect in terms of quality. Also, quite a few listed in the Caravan Club Caravan Europe guide. It can be difficult to get information on opening/closing times even from site websites. But hey, it's Italy, and they do it on impulse! :-D

 

Great post as usual.

The Italians don't do queues do they.

I recall visiting Venice when a British Warship docked. A junior rating was sent to the end of the gangplank to allow a limited number of tourists on board. Soon he was clinging on to a railing with each hand to hold the crowd back. Then a dog ran between his legs and on to the ship. He turned to run after it and the whole crowd surged on board after him (lol)

[PJay]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the replies, I will study them more when I have some time.

One thing I notice, no one has entered from France. As we have friends in France we usually visit when over there. One friend used to live in the Savouire region, and I thought that was close to the Italian border

 

I am aware that the Italians are volatile , as we have come across them in large numbers on a cruise holiday and also while in the canaries. As to driving, most Europeans seem IMO to drive lets say "less gentile " than us Brits !!

 

Cheers for replies , I will look at the ACSI sites , again when I have some time, as I have got family arriving for a few days now.

PJay

[Guest JudgeMental]

volatile is one way of putting it....I prefer enthusiastic but in no way aggressive... God its so grim being back here! :-S

 

Tuscany/Umbria a brilliant experience......both countryside and towns stunning.

[ALAN G]

Fuel can be a problem. In San Remo, for instance, there are many fuel stations....all unmanned. They wouldn't take our Nationwide Credit card (which worked well in France). Our linguistic skills are too poor to risk putting a 20 euro note into the auto system so we headed for the motorway and bought diesel from the first Autoroute services.

[Billggski]

The main difference I find is that drivers let the suicidal over takers in at the last moment. In the UK drivers tend to close up to the car in front to prevent this, but it could cause a big accident in Italy.

The attitude seems to be that if you have a fast car you are obliged to overtake at any time.

My abiding memory in Sorrento, where the roads are very twisty, is of a scooter shooting the red traffic lights in the middle of town, the driver, no helmet, with a child standing between his knees, his wife side saddle on the back in a bikini, holding a small child and a large, inflated, lilo!

[Brian Kirby]

PJay - 2014-08-18 10:13 AM.....................One thing I notice, no one has entered from France. As we have friends in France we usually visit when over there. One friend used to live in the Savouire region, and I thought that was close to the Italian border........................PJay

We did in 2012, from Briancon, via Montgenevre, Cesana Torinese and Bussoleno, to Turin.

 

I think it depends a bit when you'd go. In spring, I'd head straight south to Pompeii, to try to get there before it gets too hot, and then back via Rome and Venice into Austria. In autumn, I'd do the reverse. So, possibly France on the way down in Spring, if not too early, first checking the French Alpine pass conditions, and in Autumn back via France, and ditto the pass conditions, if not too late. If the obvious passes are snowed up, you'd really need to go down the Rhone valley via Orange, Aix, and into Italy at Ventimiglia (or vice versa), but it's a long way round.

 

We've had light snow falling, and beginning to settle, on the Reschenpass (Austria - Italy) in mid October, and substantial snow in southern Germany/Austria in mid April. The April snow didn't last long, and it was very pretty, but it held us up for 24 hours. The light snow in October was just a harbinger of the coming winter, and I have no idea of what the next day brought - we were just in transit. Alpine weather in spring/autumn is very unpredictable, so one just needs to add some flexibility in one's plans. All part of the fun!

[Guest JudgeMental]

Billggski - 2014-08-18 1:17 PM

My abiding memory in Sorrento, where the roads are very twisty, is of a scooter shooting the red traffic lights in the middle of town, the driver, no helmet, with a child standing between his knees, his wife side saddle on the back in a bikini, holding a small child and a large, inflated, lilo!

 

for those sorts of antics on a massive scale India is mind boggling!

[Brian Kirby]

ALAN G - 2014-08-18 12:57 PM

 

Fuel can be a problem. In San Remo, for instance, there are many fuel stations....all unmanned. They wouldn't take our Nationwide Credit card (which worked well in France). Our linguistic skills are too poor to risk putting a 20 euro note into the auto system so we headed for the motorway and bought diesel from the first Autoroute services.

Good point. Forgot this. Buy fuel in the mornings, or mid/late afternoons. Most of the independent filling stations close mid-day for at least two hours. I have an aversion to sticking cards in strange pumps! Haven't had any problems with UK cards when the attendants are there, though some have asked for ID. Photocard driving licence has always sufficed so far. "Plieno, per favore", should get you a fill. :-) In any case the attendants tend to walk up, look and the number plate, and just ask "pleino?" "Yes" is "si" :-) Credit card is "carta di credito". End of pidgin Italian lesson! Spellings not checked! :-D

[Robinhood]

JudgeMental - 2014-08-18 1:22 PM

 

Billggski - 2014-08-18 1:17 PM

My abiding memory in Sorrento, where the roads are very twisty, is of a scooter shooting the red traffic lights in the middle of town, the driver, no helmet, with a child standing between his knees, his wife side saddle on the back in a bikini, holding a small child and a large, inflated, lilo!

 

for those sorts of antics on a massive scale India is mind boggling!

 

....I've driven in a good few hairy places (I once got a gun pulled on me in the centre of Marrakech 8-) - it was the police, though). I also saw a donkey being transported on the roof of a bus!

 

The only place I've been where I didn't fancy driving at all is the centre of Delhi.

[Bojitoes]

hi Pjay

We went to Italy a couple of years ago and went via Luxembourg & the eastern side of France before following the Rhone down to Avignon then heading along the coast - St tropez, cagnes sur mer, Nice, Monte Carlo and entering Italy just above San Remo, good campsite & interesting town. The only problem we had was when the sat nav took us off the coast road and up into the hills. We did not realise just how steep & narrow these roads were with nothing between you and a 500' drop but a bit of string- San tropez was also very disappointing. In Italy we drove sown via Genoa into Liguria then Rome, Naples, Pompeii, herculaneum & Sorrento before coming back via Assisi & Florence. We were advised that you cannot take large motorhomes down the Amalfi Coast because of the low overhangs. We came back through France but a different route-. There was an excellent campsite just outside Orange I recall.

 

Italian advice same as everyone else, rotten roads- some very high trestle sections and some enormously long tunnels through bare rock. Cheap tolls, pizza & pasta; very,very difficult to buy Vodka, beware of scooters, wayside prostitutes and cars which stop very suddenly and unexpectedly. Excellent campsites outside Rome which provide free shuttles to the local stations where you can catch the train to the city centre.

Have a great trip

bob

[Guest JudgeMental]

Robinhood - 2014-08-18 1:38 PM

 

JudgeMental - 2014-08-18 1:22 PM

 

Billggski - 2014-08-18 1:17 PM

My abiding memory in Sorrento, where the roads are very twisty, is of a scooter shooting the red traffic lights in the middle of town, the driver, no helmet, with a child standing between his knees, his wife side saddle on the back in a bikini, holding a small child and a large, inflated, lilo!

 

for those sorts of antics on a massive scale India is mind boggling!

 

....I've driven in a good few hairy places (I once got a gun pulled on me in the centre of Marrakech 8-) - it was the police, though). I also saw a donkey being transported on the roof of a bus!

 

The only place I've been where I didn't fancy driving at all is the centre of Delhi.

 

anyone contemplating self drive in India needs a full frontal lobotomy! But Delhi is a great city!

[lennyhb]

JudgeMental - 2014-08-18 2:46 PM

 

Robinhood - 2014-08-18 1:38 PM

 

JudgeMental - 2014-08-18 1:22 PM

 

Billggski - 2014-08-18 1:17 PM

My abiding memory in Sorrento, where the roads are very twisty, is of a scooter shooting the red traffic lights in the middle of town, the driver, no helmet, with a child standing between his knees, his wife side saddle on the back in a bikini, holding a small child and a large, inflated, lilo!

 

for those sorts of antics on a massive scale India is mind boggling!

 

 

....I've driven in a good few hairy places (I once got a gun pulled on me in the centre of Marrakech 8-) - it was the police, though). I also saw a donkey being transported on the roof of a bus!

 

The only place I've been where I didn't fancy driving at all is the centre of Delhi.

 

anyone contemplating self drive in India needs a full frontal lobotomy! But Delhi is a great city!

 

 

Try the road from Jaipur to Delhi (it was featured on the Top Gear special) 6 hours of white knuckle ride wishing you had your brown trousers on, glad I was sitting in the back.

[PJay]

Will have to have a good look at the maps this winter, me thinks.

 

We've done Delhi Jaipor some 20 plus years ago. Certainly would not want to drive in India, two many old vehicles on the road when we where there, lots rusting away at the side of road. Do they still have cows on the central reservations? Mind you I don't think I could drive in London now. Let the train take the strain!

I find the tube trains daunting theses days, not like when I worked there back in the 1950's

 

Well back to the books re Italy Thanks for all your opinions always helpful

PJay

[bazooka]

This year in Italy we found lots of filling stations where you had to put bank notes into pay for fuel,it was easy to do .Just make sure you don't put a 50 euro not in unless you are allmost emty because you don't get any change!! so guess on the low side and you will have no problem.You don't need to speak Italien to do this.

Baz

[Guest JudgeMental]

India again: there is a scene in the movie the Marigold hotel when a lorry comes towards them on the motorway in fast lane...This an everyday occurrence, we had it happen to us. Rather then join the traffic in the right direction until and opertunity come to turn back, they turn against it and hog the fast lane until a break appears in center island and they eventually get on right side. Really has to be seen to be believed. Roundabouts are anything goes! :-D

[lennyhb]

PJay - 2014-08-18 4:19 PM

 

Will have to have a good look at the maps this winter, me thinks.

 

We've done Delhi Jaipor some 20 plus years ago. Certainly would not want to drive in India, two many old vehicles on the road when we where there, lots rusting away at the side of road. Do they still have cows on the central reservations? Mind you I don't think I could drive in London now. Let the train take the strain!

I find the tube trains daunting theses days, not like when I worked there back in the 1950's

 

Well back to the books re Italy Thanks for all your opinions always helpful

PJay

 

Yep cows everywhear, first photo is a main road in Bangalore, also found one of state of the art transport.