Highways in Italy

Last modified: May 2, 2003.

Route, Distance, Bridge, and Kilometer Signing

This view shows many of the signs used on Italian highways: bridge number with route number (SS and E route shown here), km post (the 118 sign, and 10th of km post in center divider), exit speed, gore point sign, exit sign, yield sign, merge sign, curve arrow, and distance sign (square sign in the distance to the left). SS3bis/E45 at Citta di Castello exit near Perugia

Bridge number

Bridge number signs are brown and also show the route number. Most bridges over the numbered highways have one of these signs on each side of an overpass. This is bridge 3 on route SS8bis in Rome.

Left: Bridge 7 sign on route A11 between Florence and Pisa
Right: Bridge 60 on the same highway further west. The next exit name is painted on the roadway.

Kilometer posts are white and also show the route number. I don't recall seeing any km posts on the "A" routes. This sign marks kilometer 3 on SS147dir near Assisi.
Tenths of kilometers are marked with small signs that show the number of tenths in Roman numerals on the top and the kilometer number on the bottom. Not the clearest picture, but this shows the marking for km 14.7 on SS309 / E55 between Venice and Ravenna. As this view shows, not all E routes are freeways.
Nice tile tenth-of-kilometer marker on SS163, the Amalfi Drive. Note the lemons on the tile, there are a lot of citrus trees in that area.

Left: Signs near Assisi, with distances. Green signs point to an "A" autostrade.
Right: Arrow signs are used in the gorepoint at exits. This view shows some other attributes of Italian exits: the yellow plastic impact barrier, the exit speed sign, wide lane striping to mark the exit lane, and further down, the triangular merge sign and circular white on blue straight ahead arrow. Also, the overpass has a common rail setup: "w" rail on posts. A11/E76 east of Pisa