Pisa Travel Forum

My wife and I were driving through Italy last May on our honeymoon. We stopped in Pisa for about 45 minutes - just long enough to see the tower. In that time we received a $90 parking ticket and a $147 moving violation ("circulating in restricted traffic zone without authorization").

I just received the moving violation notice today. It states that I was not stopped because it supposedly
would have caused danger to other vehiciles.

Not that I'm perfect, but this is the first and only moving violation I have received since 1984, and the first parking ticket since 1995. We had no problem in the other cities we visited in Italy (Florence, Genoa, Milan, Venice, Sienna). The actions of the Pisa police department seem suspicious, to say the least.

Has anyone else had this experience in Pisa? Does anyone have any advice? I've already been billed for the parking ticket through Hertz Europe, but haven't yet sent payment for the moving violation.

Pisa, like some other Italian cities, evidentally has a "zona di traffico limitato" (ZTL) (a limited traffic area) although after 30 minutes of searching through the city's website, I haven't found the map of it yet (just a lot of references to it). These zones are in the city center, to reduce the amount of traffic. In Rome, for example, this zone is the interesting part of the city center, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Tower and Duomo area in Pisa were in it.

Based on my experience with Avis in Rome, I would assume that when you rented the car from Hertz, that the employees didn't tell you anything about limited circulation in some city centers. In Rome in 2000, I asked the employee behind the counter about it to find out where the current zone was, and she said she didn't know - it kept moving all the time, and she was generally unhelpful. Only when I got into town and saw the little traffic signs did I start to realize where the zone was - but if you don't read legalese Italian, you didn't have a prayer of knowing that you were driving into a limited traffic zone - besides, you don't see the sign until you are DRIVING past it into the off-limits zone...too late...

I don't know what your relationship with Hertz is, but if you are a frequent user, I would write them a nice letter refusing to pay the moving violation because the employees made no effort to warn you about such things (as I assume they didn't). I supposed that Hertz could argue that you didn't rent the car in Pisa so why should they, but if you rented the car in Rome or other cities with "ZTL"s, you would have the same argument.

As for the parking ticket, well, it's just as well that you've paid it...you were almost certainly in a no parking or limited parking zone, whether you knew it or not...it was probably signed, no matter how badly...and I can think of parking tickets I've gotten in the US for the exact same reason ;-)

Bill

Bill, did you expect the guy at the Avis desk to warn them about the restricted traffic zones in Florence, Genova, Milan, Venice, Siena AND Pisa? What about every small town along the road between those places where this guy might have stopped for lunch or gas?

Pretty much every Italian city has a restricted traffic zone downtown. If they didn't, workers and tourists would take up all the downtown parking spots and residents wouldn't have access to their homes! I'm sure the restricted zone was marked and you just misunderstood or didn't notice the sign.

When you drive in a country where you're unfamiliar with the laws, you take a risk. When there may be a language barrier that risk is increased. You broke the law, knowingly or unknowingly. Accept responsibility for your actions, don't be an "Ugly American" (I'm just taking a wild guess here that you are American), pay the ticket and forget about it.

Well, Carly, I admit that part of my irritation is that I first heard about the ZTL in Rome in 1996 when staying out at the University of Dallas campus near Castel Gandolfo, and the staff warned me about the zone, but when I returned to Rome in 2000 and asked the person at Avis at Fiumicino specifically about the ZTL, she blew me off with the attitude that it was too much trouble for her to be bothered to give me any information about a specific zona di traffico limitato in the very town where I was renting the car...no, I do not think it unreasonable that a service organization provide SERVICE(!).

This was a problem for me because when I lived in Rome, there was no ZTL, so I was accustomed to driving anywhere (and did) - it's not like I was a total stranger to the place, I had just been gone for a while.

To be fair, as I was writing my response, it occured to me from rereading the post that the OP had not rented in Pisa, which, I admit, makes a difference...but if the OP rented the car in any city that has a ZTL, then I really do think it would be customer-focused, to say the least, for the car rental agencies to warn their customers about such places in the cities they are going to likely be driving in...I mean, they give you road maps...wouldn't it make sense to give you a road map that shows the roads that are off-limits to you for much of the day?

At the very least, I expect the huge multi-national car agencies with substantial North American business to be more sensitive to its "frequent flyers" as I certainly have been for Avis. You are right that the driver is ultimately responsible to obey the local laws...but I expect better of a company from whom I have rented cars likely more than 100 times (often for a week at a time)...poor service, I can get anywhere...

Bill

Yes! This happens to lots of people, go to blogfromitaly.wordpress.com and see all comments Re: speeding fines in Pisa. (Although drivers are not speeding) Pisa is the one most frequently sited places that this happens in and it is usually a rental car driver. This has happened to us too and many others. The wording of the notice is usually the same as yours. Still don't know if it is a scam or not. I understand that parking and traffic from tourist can be a problem to local residents but judging by the number of people caught out in this way it would seem that the area must be badly signposted. You could say ignorance is no excuse but you would think that judging by the number of foreign tourist affected that the Pisa municipal police would do something to help people stop inadvertently breaking their laws. If we were speeding or putting lives at risk then okay we would deserve punishment. Punishment is meant to be a deterrent, but driving in a restricted area, when the drivers don't know they are in a restricted area. Whats that all about. It should theoretically never happen. If you knew you were about to do wrong you would not do it. You would think the warnings would be made obvious to stop us ingnorant motorist from disturbing their residents, but at 110 Euros a time to the municipal police and 18 Euros to the car hire company why should they make it obvious? Very lucrative all round I would think.

While planning our trip to Italy I found several references to restricted zones, mostly on hotel web sites. I am very leary of this myself since returning a rental car in London. Wham! A fine and more money spent. The Michelin Italy Motoring Alas has city maps with "zone" clearly marked...not sure if the Michelin website could help.

I also received a parking ticket from Pisa, in the mail this past weekend. It was from October 2007...our hotel manager specifically pointed out a spot for us to park, assuring us it was ok...there wasn't a meter or any indication of a no park zone...nor was there any ticket the next morning on the car. This really ticks me off...since the desk manager at the hotel made it seem like it was "OK" and "no problemo"...I have email my case for appeal to the address on the statement Pisa Police sent me... listen up all you tourist heading to Pisa... make sure you stay at a place that truly has a place to park your car,
otherwise you'll be taking some excedrin more often (like me) than you want to. beware....Pisa will get you...one way or the other...if you are driving..

Funny I just received a notice from Pisa for circulating in a restricted zone. It is November 2008 and I was in Italy May 2007. According to bella-toscana.com, the authorities have one year AFTER THEY HAVE OBTAINED the offenders details to issue a traffic ticket. I checked my credit card bills from last year and wouldn't you know it was exactly one year ago that Hertz charged me for providing information to authorities in Florence AND Pisa. I paid the Florence ticket easily through the collection agency EMO but the Pisa ticket does not provide easy payment options. I will need to investigate further.

Initially I was a bit angry, yes it is a bit of a scam but ultimately it is a small price to pay to be in such beautiful and historic places. (115 euro in my case) I think admission to Disney is more!!

On April 16, 2009, I recieved a citation from Municipality of Pisa for 115 euro ($152 American) for this "Circulating in restricted traffic zone without authorization. The date of alleged violation is May 15, 2008, yes 11 months later.
Does issuing this fine help ensure that I won't do this again. No as I left Italy 11 months ago. This is just a scam to get money from unsuspecting tourist. If I don't pay within 60 days the fine goes up to 187.50 euro. What a SCAM....