traffic violation notification - scam or real?
 

Some advice please - 6 months ago when my husband and I were in Florence we rented a car for a day. We recently received 2 traffic violation notices from Corpo di Polizia Municipale di Firenze. Both were for "The vehicle circulated in limited traffic area without authorization', one in a street we did travel down (so quite conceivably we did commit a traffic violation), and one in a street we didn't travel down.
A friend has suggested the whole thing is a scam from the dodgy rental car company we used, as firstly it has taken 6 months to reach us, secondly the quality of the notice is poor, and thirdly in all the years we've dealt with Italian authorities (we were married there a few years ago) we have never received a communication from an Italian authority in English (which these were).
Can anyone offer any suggestions as to the authenticity of these notices? Both are for 105.20 euro and give a bank account and a website (www.emo.nivi.it) to pay via.

Real. The cameras snapped your license plate. Google ZTL tickets Florence and you will see dozens of links about tickets. You will also have a charge on your credit card from the rental car company for having to provide your info to the police.

Here's a map of the ZTL in Florence. Zoom in a couple of times for details. Click the autovelox box to see the camera locations
http://news.comune.fi.it/muoversi/se...ervizi=Servizi

I got this a full year after visiting Florence. At first I ignored it, then I got a second notice. So I wrote back to challenge it and have not heard anything yet. But it's been only a few months. Ours came from a sort of collection agency, not the Polizia.

I never had a charge on my credit card from the car rental company. I'll post again if we are pursued further.

Not a scam. There are posts here on Fodors nearly monthly about the fine for entering the ZTL in Florence. - there were a couple just a few days ago on the same topic.

Here's the recent thread on the same topic.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m-florence.cfm

Thank you so much for your help - I will get on with payment pronto with the one we did, and write questioning the one we're not so sure about. Many thanks again, Sarah.

In Italy the authorities have 12 months to send you your parking ticket. The buracracy is pretty slow in Italy, so they usually wait the entire period.

I got one for a parking violation in Arezzo, about 8 months after our trip. We had briefly parked in a limited zone while checking into our room, and then moved to an outlying lot, but they got us anyway (camera also).

I'm still waiting for mine which happened almost 12 months ago. The rental car agency charged me 34 Euros for notifying me that the town of Trani intended to send me a parking ticket! I argued and fought with them but to no avail. They had already charged my credit card.