VERY basic question for Italy
 

I have reached the stage where two hours is the maximum between "pit" stops.

Are there readily available restrooms.??

We will be in Venice, Sorrento, Capri, Pompei, and several cities in Tuscany. :-B

If you are driving the toll roads they have by the roadside restrooms but word of caution bring your own toilet paper and soap or disinfectant cream. Or if you are on side roads keep small change cause many of the public washrooms are manned by someone selling you toilet paper or wanting money for the privledge of using them.

And although some are decent some are just basically a wall with half of you covered. But on a whole while driving in Italy and for that matter the rest of Europe I haven't found much trouble finding a place to go.

Check out iti.fr you can put in your destination and kind of car you are driving they will tell you the best route how much gas will cost, tolls (if you want toll roads), time and good for you where service stations are on you route. It is one of the best driving websites for Europe I have found.

I think there is another recent post about this with many replies. The one thing I found about the major Italian cities was that the tourist bureaus could provide me with a map that showed the locations of public toilets. They even went so far as to cross off the ones that happened to be closed for repairs. I have the same bladder problem, and made sure that I took every opportunity to visit a WC, just like my mommy always told me to do 50 years ago. Only place I had any real problems was in Venice. The public WC's are few and far between. Good thing that my morning cappucino was served in a thimble, and not the 1/2 liter Starbucks variety, or I would have been seriously embarrased a couple of times.

We are also frequent pit-stoppers who live in Europe. One tip is to look for McDonalds. They always have clean and free bathrooms. Also, any "chain" restaurants will have a bathroom and since they owner does not run the place, nobody really cares if you use their facilities.

Another source would be big hotels. Most have lobby area restrooms--especially the big chain types.

Many of the restrooms at Autogrilles along the highway also have an attendant that will want some change for using the facilities. In Rome, bars are supposed to have bathroom facilities available to the public, whether or not they purchase something.