Zones with limited access Italy (zona a traffico limitato)

Zones with limited access for cars reduce motor traffic and air pollution in historic urban centres. Many such zones can be found in Italian cities. But also in other countries. Typical of these zones is that they may be accessed by cars of residents but not by others, under penalty of a fine.

We often receive complaints about the Italian zones. The specific signs identifying these zones are not always clearly visible or easy to recognise. But they are supervised by cameras so that it is difficult to escape a fine. 

An overview of the cities in Italy with a zone with limited access or Zona a Traffico limitato (ZTL) can be found on the website ztl-italia.blogspot.com.

Your hotel is in a ZTL

If you are staying at a hotel in a ZTL, you may sometimes be granted permission to drive in the town centre. Ask your hotel for further information if you received a fine while you were on your way to your hotel. You may also ask your hotel to mediate retrospectively with the local police to cancel your fine.

You drove your car through a ZTL

Most tickets issued for driving in a ZTL are sent by a debt-collection agency. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of the ticket, we advise you to contact the police station of the zone you drove in. You must be notified of the offence within 360 days. You will then have 60 days, counting from the day you received the official report, to pay the fine or to challenge it.

If you want to challenge the fine, send a registered letter (in Italian) to:

• the prefect (prefetto) – free of charge, but you may receive a negative answer. He may also double the fine and/or impose an additional penalty.
• or the justice of the peace (giudice di pace) of the place where the offence took place – you pay +/- 40 euros for the cost of the proceedings and you may be asked to attend the hearing.

You drove through a ZTL with a hire car

The fine may be sent directly to your home address. The hire company will pass on your details to the Italian police. The hire company will charge you for administrative costs (+/- 50 euros).They may even do so, whether or not via your credit card, before you received the fine.

The period of 360 days during which you may challenge the fine starts the moment the Italian police receives your personal details. If you are not sure about the start date, ask the hire company for a copy of the e-mail to the Italian police.