The Saga of the Italian Driver's License

In this episode, we explain what it was like getting our Italian drivers' licenses, and we give our best tips to people facing this very difficult test. 

Lots of fun anecdotes along the way, and new music too: a parody version of the Beach Boys song "Fun, Fun, Fun" with Matt on vocals, cello, guitar... and Fiat 500 car horn. 

Want to know more about us and our travel services? Find us at: 

www.LittleRoadsEurope.com

www.facebook.com/LittleRoadsEurope

We craft small-town driving itineraries for travelers to Italy, Ireland and Scotland.

And our "alter-egos" as musicians:

www.OrsiniVirtuosi.it

Transcript

Getting our Italian drivers license podcast notes

Note: This is not a complete transcript, but rather the show notes we write in advance to prepare for the episode. 

INTRO: 

Welcome to Little Roads Unfiltered: Italy and Beyond

(Z) Today we’re talking about the adventure of getting our driver's licenses in Italy! We’ll tell you the whole story, but we’ve distilled it down into a song which is our intro music for this week.

Roll it! 

[music up]

[M] That is me on guitar, cello, and all of the vocals… and a car horn - which is our own actual Fiat 500 horn! And Zen wrote the lyrics.

[find the lyrics below]   

Anyway… I’m Zeneba Bowers - …and this is Matt Walker…

We’re recording our chat here while sitting on the terrace of our tiny home in Italy - so you’ll get a sense of the sounds of life in our little town. We want this to be more like a casual conversion with us - complete with church bells, cats meowing, motor scooters and whatever else 

[M] - so join us as we talk about getting our Italian licenses - 

… here on Little Roads Unfiltered: Italy and Beyond.”

For those of you who don’t know us: We are professional musicians and also travel writers and consultants, living and working here in Italy for the past 6 years. 

If you want to learn more about us and our lives, you can find us on our website LittleRoadsEurope..com, on our socials, and now here on this podcast.

[Z] So let’s tell the story of getting our patente di guida!

How to get a license 

When people move to Italy,

A lot of folks think “I have been driving for 30 years, so I will just transfer my license”. 

If you are American (as well as other nationalities) you have one year from the day you establish residency to get your license.

- But it matters what country you come from, so check yours. You can’t just transfer a DL from the US (for example) to an Italian one

Loophole: One thing you can’t do, is transfer your American license to an Irish license, then to Italian one. They have figured out that loophole and won’t let you do it. 

If you move here: Must still have an IDP during that time. If the IDP runs out before your year, you can’t drive if you haven’t gotten the Italian license. (explain IDP) 

Non-residents can’t buy a car. A lot of people don’t know that. So if you are not a legal resident, you must rent, or lease a car 

Why does it matter? A lot of people skate on this, but it matters because if you get in an accident, your insurance is invalid. Also, they can confiscate your vehicle. And other bad things. Just not worth it. There are road blocks set up often and if you don’t have your papers in order you are not going to have a good day. We know some folks who just hope they don’t hit the roadblocks, but that is too stressy for us. 

People try to get out of it because the test is so hard. 7000 questions, and they take 30 random questions from that. You can only miss 3. If you miss 4 or more, you fail and have to wait a period of time until you can test again. 

The test is in Italian, and written in a way designed to fool even native Italian speakers. There are no tests in English. In some of the northernmost regions you can take the test in French or German, but you have to live in that region to do that. For example, you can’t do that if you live near Rome. 

That part of the test is called Theory “Teoria” 

In order to do this, we went to school - autoscuola.  COST c. €600-1000. 3 times a week, just us and 10-20 other kids ages 14-16, drowning in hormones and Axe body spray. Had to squeeze all this in between lockdowns. 

Studied every day - book, 2 apps 

Taking the quiz: 40 different questions, computers

When we took the test we hadn’t studied the word for “pass”, “Promosso”, so we didn’t know if we had passed and were too ashamed to admit that. Afraid they would take it away. 

Once you pass the quiz, you get a “foglia rosa”, “pink slip”: JOKE about how pink slip has a different meaning in US

NOW You are a kid with a learner’s permit, need licensed driver

WHY WE WERE STILL ALLOWED TO DRIVE 

Once you have the foglia rosa, during this time you cannot drive without a licensed Italian driver in the car. 

We had the IDP so we were still valid to drive until it expired - which was a week before our driving exam to get actual license) …but we weren’t aware that there was a gap

Porcini carabinieri story

(Then we were both like teenagers and had to walk everywhere) 

— “ADVERTISEMENT” BREAK —

That reminds me that we need to stop for a word from our sponsor - - - -  just kidding, we don’t have any sponsors - instead, today’s show is brought to you by: A Good Idea. 

And today’s Good Idea is: 

Check your tire pressure regularly - maybe every time you fill up the gas. Better mileage, safer driving

That’s it!   … So anyway, where were we?

BTW, that was my  song in the background, that I wrote about 30 years ago and recorded with my band in Charleston. (I think you can find it on Spotify and some of those other platforms.)

So this brings us to: Driving lessons - “Practical” 

Then you have to take 6 hours of instruction in the car with the teacher. Divided into 12 thirty minute sessions. That takes several weeks because they won’t meet you every single day. Our guy was pretty strict. NON GESTI MATT 

Zen puked a few times from stress

Have to change the way you drive. Inflexible neck (turning around)

Then you sit with your instructor in the car, plus another evaluator, and take an exam on the streets. Parking, general driving. 

TAKE test on stick shift, not automatic. 

Neopatente - for 3 years: LOWER POWER CAR; speed limits are lower, BAC zero, penalties are double for violations

INSURANCE IS MORE 

SHIPPING CARS 

TIPS: 

-Start early. If you know you are going to move, start before you move. Don’t put pressure on yourself to do it all in one year. 

-Suck it up and pay the school - autoscuola. It feels ridiculous, but the instructor can help you in your weak spots, and can tell you when you are ready. And tell you some of the trick questions too, so you can look for them. And the instructor does all the paperwork! 

-Study with more than one app. Do it every day, even if only 5 minutes. 

-Use the study guide your school provides. But you can also buy an English translation book, which helps when you are getting started. Be careful though, because some of the English translations are totally wrong! And they say the opposite.

OUTRO: 

I think that’s a good place to wrap it up here - we hope you enjoyed joining us for the saga of getting our patente!

BUT: Before we go, we wanted to get to our ASK US ANYTHING segment, where listeners write and…

So one of you asked:  “Do you guys go to movies in Italy?”

Anyway… If you enjoyed our chat today, please give it a like or a good rating, and tell your friends about us…

We’ll be talking about a wide variety of topics here on this podcast, from travel tips to slice-of-life stories - we’ll be posting a new episode each Tuesday. 

So catch us next time - we’ll see you down the Little Roads… CIAO!

In Italy you have a year to get your license in hand now

That seems like a lot of time until you see how hard the test is now 

It will take you to your limits and your brain will melt out your ears now 

There’s no more FUN FUN FUN till you pass the test and you drive away

You have to study night and day for months to have a chance to pass now 

Three hours a day, boy, three hours a day

The quiz is so hard it makes your college days seem like a game now 

Three hours a day, boy, three hours a day  

It doesn’t matter if you’re 50 and you have a perfect record to show now 

They’re not gonna care, boy, they’re not gonna care

There’s no more FUN FUN FUN till you pass the test and you drive away

When you pass the written test you get a permit like you’re 16 years old now 

You’re just a young boy now, you’re just a young boy

Then you drive for 6 hours with the instructor in the car next to you now 

You’re just a young boy now, you’re just a young boy

But when you finally pass you get a license and can drive your own car now

You got your patente, you got it for real

And you’ll have FUN FUN FUN when you drive your cinquecento away 

And you’ll have FUN FUN FUN when you drive your cinquecento away