How to Avoid Fines while Staying in Italy this Summer
If you are coming to Italy this summer, and have booked into a hotel in the central area of an Italian city, such as Florence or Pisa, and you are coming by car, either your own or a hire car, then watch out!
As is evidenced by all the 190 odd comments on my Speeding and other Traffic Fines in Italy post, it is easy to fall foul of the, by now, infamous Zona Traffico Limitato, ZTL or Restricted Traffic Zones which exist in many Italian cities. The net result is often a registered/recorded delivery letter announcing a fine, which is often difficult to contest and to settle.
Well, in order to avoid this awkward, but seemingly common, little problem, what you need to do is to advise the hotel where you are staying that you have come by car, provide the staff with the car licence plate/registration number and ask them, politely, to inform the local traffic police of your stay.
Insisting on having a copy of documentary proof which shows that the hotel has indeed told the police about your car would not be a bad idea either.
Technically, Italian hotels are obliged to tell the police about your car, and Italian local traffic laws often make provisions which allow registered vehicles to be exempted from the payment of fines relating to entry into these honey trap limited traffic zones. This means that when (not ‘if’!) your car is photographed by the street cameras while in a ZTL, it will be seen to be on the right list, and you will not be sent, a year or so later, a fine.
However, many hotel guests do not know about these nasty ZTLs and thus do not tell the hotels about their cars. Now you know, so you should not make the same mistake.
If you have requested that your hotel notify the local traffic authorities of the existence of your car, and you still receive a fine, you can then write back, in English, enclosing a copy of the document your hotel should have provided you with, and point out that your vehicle had been registered with the police in the area.
You may also like to note that if one of your travelling companions has a registered disability, then this too can be grounds for annulling these pesky fines.
If you want to be doubly sure, then pop into a local tourist information office and ask about this.
Hope that helps, and I stop receiving so many comments, as a result!
Not All Italian Websites Look So Bad
At the risk of being accused of being a pot calling a kettle black (Yep, I know this blog is getting rather cluttered), I have to say that after doing a little web based research for my latest project, my Italy is in Italian contemporary art site, I’ve come across some rather good looking, and, generally, well written English sections of Italian websites. Well, a family of them actually.
These sites form part of a mini-network run by the Ferragamo family, of the fashion house “Salvatore Ferragamo”. WIth the possible exception of the Viesca Estate site, all of the others are very slick.
I know they are at the top end of the market, but even so, it’s good to see what can be done. OK, so these people have money, of that there is no doubt, but, to their credit, they appear to know how to spend it rather wisely.
I hope they won’t mind too much, but I’ve stolen the list of links to each of these sites and popped them below, so you can have a quick gander, if you so desire.
Fashion
Salvatore Ferragamo - Fashionable clothes
www.ferragamo.com
Resort & Hospitality
Lungarno Hotels
www.lungarnohotels.com
Resort and Winery
Il Borro
www.ilborro.com
Marine Industry
Camper & Nicholsons Yachting Ltd - motor cruisers to dream about.
www.cnyachting.com
Nautor’s Swan - Lovely yachts - exploring the boats virtually is a pleasure.
www.nautorswan.com
Prestigious Rental and Villas
Il Borro
www.villailborro.com
Viesca Estate
www.viescaestate.com
As for this here blog, it’s going to get a facelift shortly.
Mad Person Torching Cars in Florence
The national news carried an item about someone going around setting fire to parked cars in Florence at the moment. Press reports say a young male, around 20 was seen running from one of the incidents.
Around 55 cars and numerous scooters have gone up in flames so far. If you are staying in the city at the moment, or plan to visit in the near future, you’d be well advised to find off-street overnight car parking.
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