Last modified: May 9, 2003
Road views from a 10 day trip to Italy in March, 2003.
Italy has three basic types of numbered highways:
- "A" autostrade (freeways), of which most, if not all, are tolled. These routes are signed in green and are similar to Interstates in the U.S.
- "SS" (strada statale) routes, some of which are freeways. Signed in blue. Similar to state routes in the U.S.
- "E" routes, which are overlaid over some of the "A" and "SS" routes and are part of a European system of numbered highways
There are also suffixes on some routes: "dir" (for diramazione, Italian for distribution) which are like spur routes and "bis" (extension?). For example (similar to a 3 digit Interstate that begins with an odd number), route "A1dir" goes from Rome to route A1, which bypasses the city.
Route numbers are posted along the way on bridge number and kilometer post signs rather than on lone signs as is done in the U.S.
My tour followed this route:
- Starting in Rome, the G.R.A (Grande Raccordo Anulare) beltway to A24, east to Tivoli and back
- from Rome, A1dir(north leg)/E35 north to A1
- A1/E35 north to SS326, west to SS73 and west into Siena
- Autostradale Siena-Firenze, an unnumbered(?) freeway that paralleled SS2 from Siena north to Florence
- Florence to Pisa via A11/E76 and back
- from Florence, A1/E35 north to Bologna (across the mountains - many tunnels)
- A1/E35/E45 northwest to Modena, A22/E45 north to Verona, then A4/E70 east to Venice
- from Venice, SS309/E55 south to Ravenna, then SS71/E45 south (turns into SS3bis/E45) though the Assisi area to A1
- A1/E45 south to Naples, bypassing Rome
- a boat trip to the isle of Capri and on to Sorrento
- a short drive on SS163, Amalfi Drive, to Positano and back to Sorrento
- SS145 east from Sorrento to A3 in Pompei
- A3/E45 north to Naples, then A1/E45 north
- near Rome, A1dir(south leg) to the G.R.A. beltway in Rome
Some Italian Road Links