Talk:Italy

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I'm Italian and I never heard that hitchhiking is not allowed in Italy. What it is surely true is that it is forbidden on highways, in fact you can read the sign "NO AUTOSTOP" at the entrance. Well, I guess nobody would hitchhike on a highway anyway..

Thanks a lot for pointing that out! Guaka 21:22, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I hitchhiked from Switzerland to Italy and all the way to Croatia and had no problem as long as we just stayed on the gas stations. Longest wait maybe an hour. Only getting out of Venice was a drag (had to go back to Padova and only then head east towards Trieste). --Astikain 20:12, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

Harder in the North?

My few experiences in Italy left the impression that it essentially gets harder and harder to catch rides the farther north you are. If some can verify this trend then it probably warrants inclusion.

Hitchhiking on petrol station is illegal, few month ago, police come to us when we was hitchhiking on the exit of the station, he said petrol station is part of the hightway so according to Italian law it's forbiden here. He was quite agressive, i said i will only ask poeple who are taking gas and don't use my thumb, he reply that if i ask people for a lift he will arrest me because it's against the law, he tell me to call a taxi and go to the next train station. After 15 minutes talking where i explain we don't hav any money, he finaly let us, but we had to wait they leave the station to start to ask people. So, the fact you will be allow or not to hitchhike on highway will depend if the policeman you meet like to aply the law to 100% or not, but it's officialy forbidden. Like in France where hitchhiking on highway is forbidden and on petrol stations also, but policeman there don't apply this law (only in one area close to Lyon, where 1 hichhiker die 1 year ago crashed on petrol station exit, so local police dont let hichhikers on petrol station.)


From what I've done in Italy (only two days), I found the same - it got harder the further north we got. As for petrol stations, I also got approached by the police who said that it wasn't allowed there, after about 20 seconds they left me alone and drove off. It doesn't make sense that petrol stations are still part of the motorway - that way it would also be illegal for people to park their cars and walk around, also on maps the petrol station roads aren't shown in the 'autostrada-colour' - but I don't know for sure. --Tom 12:26, 15 July 2007 (CEST)


Hi guys. It simply doesn't make sense to scare away hitchhikers in a country governed by maffia. The polizia should have better things to do. And indeed, service areas are not part of the motorway in a strict sense. --Fverhart 13:26, 15 July 2007 (CEST)
I dont want to scary anyone, only to say what can happen if you meet police who want to aply the law, they won't arrest you but they will make lost your time only to prove they have the power. But Italy it's so hard to hitchhike, waiting time it's almost the same like everywhere in Europe, you only have to show your are a travel (show your backpack} and to smile.... unsigned, 15 July
In Italy, on the highway gas stations it's best to avoid anything remotely looking like police and to stay friendly with the people working at gas stations. By the way, talking about the North; let me know if you are close to Trento :) Guaka 11:58, 16 July 2007 (CEST)

Frank please, don't be stereotyped!!! --Tiziano 14:30, 26 August 2007 (CEST)

I wish

...that please somebody can add an hitchiking related italian phrasebook in this article. can YOU? quarim 15:10, 8 June 2009 (UTC)



It looks like Police is getting stricter on the highway. I'm Italian and I've been hitchhiking here for many years, but only now I'm starting to hear stories about fines,a nd reading of police annoying hitchhikers. Last week for the first time police approached us in two different gas station on the same day. Luckily we didn't get a fine. Always maintain a low profile, since they want to show their power --NomadTravellers.com (talk) 10:18, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Hitching in Italy is not worth it

My mate and I have been doing a bit of hitching and Italy and it really isn't worth it. Our first try it took us two hours to get to the highway, and when we finally got there the police drove by and they escorted us off the highway. The second time was another trek to the highway - luckily we got picked up by two older Italians who dropped us off at a petrol station, and from there we were able to find a couple who took us to Pescara. Although that hitch was successful, it is completely outweighed by our third try: we walked for about two and a half hours in the hot sun trying to find a wide enough shoulder on the highway (we were going off google satellite). When we finally found a spot that wasn't that safe but just had to go with it, we got asked by the police within ten minutes of us being there to leave (they were angry but didn't fine us). In conclusion, we aren't going to try hitching in Italy again. The autostradas just aren't hitch friendly and trains are pretty affordable anyway. it might be easier if you're an Italian or if you're going from one major city to another, but I don't recommend traveling all of Italy with just your thumb.

Hitchhike Munich-Rome + Advises

A friend of mine and me and 2 other friends hitch hiked down from Munich to Rome in two teams few days ago. We all made it in roughly 24 hours (with lots of luck in the evening), but it was really not easy.

People in italy don't seem to like the idea of hitch hiking ("mi dispiace", "sono contro", "no passeggero", "siamo pieno" (even though theyre not) etc.). Knowing Italian language helps big time, otherwise it's even worse.

We hitchhiked most of the way on highways (even though not allowed) and got caught 3 times by the police, telling us to leave the gas station with a back door 2 times (which costs tons of time)

Try to stay really really low on profile, which means hide your bags, don't talk to people directly at the gas station when there's people working there, simply walk into food areas whenever police shows up or a police car is parked anywhere.


It's possible, but definately though terrain.

Good luck!

Blackriding and cheap fares in Italy if hitchhiking fails

I have spent like a few months in Italy working as a volunteer, so I rarely had any money to travel properly. I was arriving from Budapest to Firenze in a day or so, then had a day making my best efforts there but nobody picked me up. [In the last few years I heard rumours about that hitchhiking is getting harder and harder in Italy due to some well set reasons (European migrant crisis, police regulation etc.).] After this really bad day in the evening I went back to the trainstation in Firenze and took a train instantly to Rome and spent the whole journey walking up and down on the train or charging my devices on the toilet so I got there for free. After this I have done the same from Padova to Roma (>200 minutes) too and then repeated these journeys multiple times even between other cities. If you choose this method you are advised to take these high-speed trains from intermediate stations on Friday or Sunday nights (trains are crowded so these periods are the best), so you can avoid meeting the conductors. If you need to get to a smaller station you can buy ticket for only a part of your the journey as the conductors are mostly busy with the new passengers and they won't ask for your tickets again and again. With these methods I could cover thousands of kilometers with almost no costs, as hitchhiking is really hard at motorways in off-season. Good luck guys!

--ErikStoppol (talk) 17:48, 8 October 2017 (UTC)

P.S.: I still highly recommend hitchhiking outside motorways between smaller cities but on motorways mostly only foreigners pick up the hitchhikers.

Hitchhiking Italy

I would conclude the efforts of hitchhiking in Italy by the little but according phrase.

If I was to die and reincarnate as a slime in Uruguay I would have gotten home sooner than from Milano.

We ve switched between multiple gass station on the local roads and the highway. We waited for three days untill we eventually had to give up because we were running out of time.

We had a sign saying to Verona. Big Teddy bear and we are a young student couple looking completly harmless. It took us two days to get from Barcelona to Milano and we had no problems whatsoever.

Most of the people passing by in Miláno was frauning on us... dont ever try to go by this stinking city.