Transportation in Italy

None of what follows applies to Venice, although transportation in Venice is a story in itself (see prior posting on Venice)--Venice is all about boats. I also previously commented on trains. The trains in Italy are great. If you ever travel there, use them! What follows is about forms of wheeled transportation in the cities.

While in Florence and Rome, Kathie and I became increasingly aware of the interesting ways in which the people of Italy's cities approach vehicular transporation. Streets in these old cities, especially in the city centers, can be very narrow. Though I took the following photo during mid-afternoon, when traffic was light, you can see that a mix of vehicles and pedestrians on such streets can be a challenge.


As a pedestrian, one supposedly has the right of way if in a crosswalk, but Italy is not California (where one is strictly obligated to yield to pedestrians), and so you really need to maintain eye contact with drivers and to be assertive when choosing to cross a road (shadowing or "tailgating" the locals is a good strategy). For the drivers, parking is a challenge, and stategic vehicle choices matters. Anyway, we found the things pictured in the following photographs to be both funny and interesting.

Small to very small vehicles are the norm. One model, as you can see, has even been granted special status in terms of permitted approaches to parking.





Scooters are thick! They weave in and out of traffic. Everyone wears a helmet. The well-dressed use them as much as others do.



Electrically powered vehicles, including scooters, are not uncommon. There seems to be municipal support for them, as you can see.



Then, there are these novel approaches.