We are spending 5 days in this area. We will have a rental car to get around for day trips from our home base in Bassano del Grappa. In the past, we have wasted lots of time and been frustrated by trying to find public parking near the historic centers of towns we have visited in Europe. Your help alleviating this irritating situation would be most appreciated. Can you give locations of public parking in these towns?

If you go to Google and type in "parking facilities in______" (insert the town name) it will make your search much simpler...unless you don't trust Google.

Cross-check Google results with ZTL maps.

http://www.comune.vicenza.it/file/51...l_brochure.pdf

http://www.comune.verona.it/media//R..._varchiZTL.jpg

http://www.padovanet.it/allegati/C_1...7_Allegato.pdf [not as clear, but the ZTL perimeter is the fine red line]

Thank you both for your quick response.

OK! Mapquest was the very best source of public parking locations. Google kept showing hotels with parking rather than public parking.

I wandered into the ZTL in Vicenza when I took the less hard left onto a pedestrian street and not the very hard left into the parking garage. I won't say that the startled looks of the pedestrians was worth the cost, but it did provide some interest as I cursed myself and prayed the cameras were turned off for lunch. They weren't but the fine wasn't too bad -- about $60 and another $40 to the credit card company for giving them my address. If I had to do it again, I would do it near the station. Since I found good parking near the station in Padova, stations might be a good place to start.

I've only been to Verona by train.

Oddly enough, we found on street parking with no trouble in Bassano, but the picture was very different in the cities you mention.

Ackislander, thanks for the "heads-up." We have also learned the hard way that driving into historic districts can be crazy-making. That's why we're spending time at home trying to anticipate the problems we might incur. I don't know how we managed before MapQuest & Google!