5 months ago in Parma, we had a "Uh Oops... i think that sign says certain cars only allowed in this historic area". We proceeded on ... and then parked and had a long conversation with a business owner who said it was fine to park where we were parking.

we just got a camera ticket in the mail and, since we never speed, i assume that it was because we were driving in the limited historic area. oops.

just a warning to others... pay attention to those signs and don't proceed ahead in order to turn back around. a camera will get you... and it will cost some big dough!

and it will cost some big dough!>

If you're honest but like on another current thread the miscreant only seems to want to know if they can just ignore the ticket without ramifications - glad to see you're honest and admit your crime - the other person tried to excuse it as wrongfully punished.

When you rent a car in Italy be cognizant of the centro storico or whatever they call it bans many cities have on private vehicles or license plates, in the latter at times odd and even on alternating days of the week (which causes some Italians to have two license plates, an odd and an even I hear!)

If you're honest but like on another current thread the miscreant only seems to want to know if they can just ignore the ticket without ramifications>

well further reading of that post says that was not the case but poster was trying to figure out how to pay it - did not see the latest comments so jumped to conclusions. But so so many seem to just ask if they can escape the payment and say it was wrongly done so it is refreshing to see a mea culpa and post as edification to others driving in Italy.

'two license plates'... ha! i bet they have two for the amalfi as well, then, as i think i heard that the driving is every other day by license.

bummer to get a ticket... many many trips and cars in europe and it's our first. returning to a restaurant we had loved previously turned out to be a very expensive lunch. (maybe worth it, though...)

For a limited time, some cities in Italy had plans, which were for pollution control, where odd numbered plates could drive in the city on odd-numbered days, and even numbered on the other days. I don't know of any place that still has such plans. Now there are just bans on cars that don't have a certain level of emissions control.

It would be virtually impossible to use two different license plates. In Italy, the car keeps its plates for its entire life, so you'd have to have two plates that were plausible for the car you're driving. Also, the pain of changing plates is greater than the trouble of parking outside the center and walking or taking a bus the rest of the way. And getting an extra plate isn't so easy. Not many people would be willing to take the risk of using a forged plate. Many families have two cars, and people that drove into the city every day, and had both an odd-numbered and an even-numbered car did alternate cars.

The ZTL zones that almost every city has, and that are even common in small towns, predate the odd-even plans, and were originally conceived for congestion control, although they do help to keep the air clean. The streets in most Italian cities would be sheer hell if they didn't have a ZTL. Emergency vehicles wouldn't be able to get through, and deliveries would be impossible.

There are other countries that have pedestrian only zones. And lots of municipalities where I live have restricted parking, anyway, which would get anyone a ticket here (and the OP did park, not just drive into it) if you parked on certain streets with signs on them saying you cannot, and you don't have a local residential sticker on your car.

Parma even has a website, in English, with detailed explanation of ZTLs and even telling you where cameras are and maps of where the ZTLs are http://turismo.comune.parma.it/en/th...ffic-zones-ztl

I think the tickets are about 100 euro in Italy, they can get higher if penalties are added. That is higher than the parking tickets where I live for parking in an area you aren't allowed without a sticker, here it's more like $50, I think.

Good advice though (anywhere, actually) not to ignore traffic signs saying you aren't allowed to park or enter an area.

Actually, my pedestrian zone ticket from Vicenza only cost about as much as a parking ticket (more than 12" from the curb) in Nantucket, though the credit card company charge for supplying my address to the authorities and my bank's wire transfer charge doubled it.

I am sure the pedestrians I terrified by driving down what amounted to a sidewalk would think I got off pretty cheaply!