If you go to Italy by car, there is (almost) no way around it: toll roads in Italy. In Italy almost all highways are toll roads. There is an extensive network of 3.020 kilometers of highways, with which you can quickly travel through the Italian peninsula.
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The further you drive, the more you pay
How much toll you pay in Italy depends on your destination (the longer you drive on the toll road, the more you pay) and the fare class of your vehicle.
Toll road tariff classes
These are the tariff classes for the toll roads in Italy:
- Class A: motorcycles and two-axle vehicles whose height measured from the bottom of the front wheel is less than 1,30 m (this includes most passenger cars).
- Class B: two-axle vehicles whose height measured from the bottom of the right-hand front wheel exceeds 1,30 m.
- Class 3: vehicles or combinations with a total of three axles (for example a class A or B vehicle with a trailer or caravan).
- Class 4: vehicles or combinations with a total of four axles (for example, a class A or B vehicle with a two-axle caravan).
- Class 5: vehicles or combinations with a total of five or more axles.
More information about the rate classes of the toll roads can be found at: autostrade.it.
How much do the toll roads in Italy cost?
You have to pay tolls for the various routes on your route. If you drive on to Florence you pay a total of about € 28 in tolls. To Lake Trasimeno (Umbria) you pay about € 40. Driving on to Rome costs around € 48. These rates apply with a normal passenger car. With a trailer or caravan you lose more toll, as you can see in the tariff classes.
Below you can see the costs per fare class of a number of popular routes.
Please note that rates are subject to price changes.
| Italy toll: route | class A | class B | class 3 | class 4 |
| Como – Milan – Genoa | 15,50 | 15,80 | 21,00 | 31,80 |
| Como – Milan – Florence | 27,90 | 28,60 | 37,80 | 57,30 |
| Como – Milan – Rome | 47,40 | 48,50 | 64,30 | 97,20 |
| Como – Milan – Ancona | 35,30 | 36,10 | 48,10 | 72,60 |
| Como – Milan – Reggio Calabria | 65,00 | 66,50 | 88,30 | 133,50 |
| Como – Milan – Baric | 69,90 | 71,50 | 95,00 | 143,50 |
| Brenner – Venice | 29,70 | 30,30 | 40,50 | 61,00 |
| Brenner–Florence | 33,10 | 33,80 | 45,00 | 67,90 |
| Brenner–Rome | 52,40 | 53,70 | 71,40 | 107,70 |
| Brenner–Ancona | 40,40 | 41,30 | 55,20 | 83,10 |
| Brenner – Baric | 75,00 | 76,80 | 102,20 | 154,10 |
Paying for the toll road
The easiest way is to get a credit card. At the toll gates (indicated with ALT STAZIONE) you can quickly go through the counters where CARTE is indicated in blue signs.
So you are never shy of change and you can drive through faster than at the gates where you can pay with cash. You can pay here with all major credit cards.
You can also pay in cash. There are manned toll booths where you give money to an employee of the toll road. There are also toll booths where you put change in a drawer, after which you can drive on.
In some places you can also pay with your Dutch bank card (debit card). Note the Maestro logo. You do not need to enter your PIN code.
On some routes you pay the toll before you drive on the track. In other cases, you first take a ticket from the machine and you pay when you leave the toll road again.
Only when you have paid in cash, via credit card or via your debit card, the barrier will open and you can drive through. If there is a problem with the payment and you have not paid, then in most cases the barrier will still open to prevent congestion.
You will then receive an additional assessment based on your registration number. The Italian government is actively pursuing 'defaulters'. So don't count on having to pay your toll because you'll be back in the Netherlands or Belgium for a long time by then.
Avoid Italy toll
Do you want to pay no or as little toll as possible? Then you can try to avoid the toll roads. Almost every route can also be taken via a Strada Statale (SS) and you can use these national roads for free. However, these can be long and winding routes, which means that you will travel much more in kilometers.
You will also not arrive at your destination nearly as quickly as via the wide Italian highways. If the trip is the vacation, this is of course no problem. But you have to think in terms of extra costs for fuel and (a lot of) extra time and whether it is worth it to you.
Pay with the toll badge
Do you go to Italy more than once a year by car? Then you can consider purchasing a toll badge. A toll badge provides a lot of convenience, because you no longer have to queue at the toll gates. A disadvantage of the toll badge is that it again entails a subscription, but if you drive more often to Italy (or France, Spain, Portugal) it can still be an attractive option.
You can get the toll badge at the ANWB shop. You have to sign a contract in your name and license plate. You get a box that you have to stick behind the rear-view mirror in the middle of the windscreen.
With the toll badge you can drive through the indicated toll gates without having to stop. You can recognize the special strips for owners of toll badges by the text: TELEPASS. The toll badge has a battery that lasts about 7 years.
The toll costs are automatically debited from your account at the end of the month. In addition to the toll costs, you pay € 3 per month for the months that you use the toll badge. And then there is the purchase cost of the box. These amount to € 21,95 for ANWB members. Non-members pay €2 more.
See here how to order the toll badge
Pay with the Viacard
A Viacard is a kind of prepaid card to pay tolls in Italy. You can buy them along the highway for €25, €50 or €75 and use them at the special Viacard gates. Just like at the Telepass gates, you can often drive through here quickly.
If you no longer have credit on your Viacard, you can pay with a second Viacard or pay with cash. Please note that the card is considered cash and that you are not entitled to compensation if it is lost.
Note: Viacard was discontinued as a payment method on Italian highways at the end of 2021. You need the Telepass solution, which you can find more information about above.
Electronic Toll Payment in Northern Italy
Payment by registration has recently been introduced in a number of places in Northern Italy. Cameras register all cars and you have to pay afterwards via a website or app. Toll badge holders pay automatically via their bank account. This concerns a limited number of ring roads that are indicated with the name Pedemontana.
Image toll roads Italy: Wikimedia, sources: Autostrade per l'Italia and ANWB
