Warning When Renting a Car
 

When renting a car and traveling in Northern Italy be on the lookout for Limited Traffic Zone signs. In Italian it will say "Zona Traffico Limitato". It is a red circle on a white background. They are usually in the center parts of heavily visited towns such as Pisa, Florence, etc.. They have surveillance cameras which take a pic of your tag and if you do not have permission to be in there you get a ticket. The rental car co. will charge up to 50 euros to send your info to the police. This will be several months after your trip is over. Then the police will send you a notice that you owe a fine which ranges from 75 to 130 euros. It can be an expensive experience. There is a good website that explains the process in more detail. You can google "bella-toscana" to find it.

It's not just northern Italy, it's much of Europe. There are traffic cameras all over Europe.

But if your hotel is in the ZTL, you are allowed drive in to unload your bags, and then you must find a parking spot outside the zone. Mention it when you check in -- the hotel will notify the police for you and you won't be charged for the violation.

I got one of these (many months after our trip) and am challenging it, since it does not provide any more proof than a photo of the license plate. The municipalities job out overseas collection to an outfit that probably gets a health commission on everything they bring in. Waiting to hear a reply.

You're challenging on what basis?

Photo of the license plate entering on the car entering the ZTL is all the evidence they need.

Ignorance of the ZTL while common, is not an excuse.

Um - if you saw a sign that said "Zona Traffico Limitato" what in the world would make you think it is OK to drive there? Even if you don't know a single word of Italian the meaning is as plain as day - and anyone would find out the rules before continuing.

we've gotten one too...and we drive in Italy all the time...it's easy to do by mistake. Also factor the cost of wiring the money when you get the ticket...we knew we did it at the time by mistake (made a turn onto a one-way street and the only way out was through the ZTL! whopps), so we were expecting it and just considered it a lesson learned. I think it was around 80euros. Wasn't too big a deal though -they sent the notice the next year ;-) and we wired the money to the Comune.