Originally Posted by hoosae

My recent experience of Italian drivers is vastly different to your account. As part of a round-Europe trip I spent almost 4 weeks in Italy: entering at Trieste and following the coast south to Ascoli-Piceno where we crossed the Appenines on our way to Pisa and then following the Mediterranean coast all the way round to the French border. No matter what road we were on, whether busy or almost deserted, whenever a car passed it would come within inches of clipping the bikes. On one occasion we were travelling along a quiet road with four lanes (two in each direction) and a car insisted on passing in the same lane as us even though there were three other empty lanes outside us. Collisions were a real worry for us and we would have at least one near-accident a day. I lost count of the number of times we were forced off the road by careless drivers who simply did not seem to see us there.