Italian Road Trip ... again

[Vierwielen]

I have seen a number of websites that offer you a vignette on-line. That would also save you queueing up. Also this site shows you where to place them.

Excellent! Thank you. I didn't have to queue in December, but I'd imagine it would be different in the summertime.

The additional advantage of buying online is that I can align the new vignette neatly next to the old one. If I let them slap it inside the windscreen, I doubt they'd do it carefully!

Even if you buy it at the border, you still have to put it on yourself as it sticks on the inside. It is a rather fiddly thing to align properly - it is designed so that it cannot be taken off in a sing;e piece (to avoid it being passed from vehicle to vehicle).

[Vierwielen]

where are you crossing the channel?

I have three seas to cross: the Irish on Rosslare-Fishguard, the channel on Dover-Calais/Dunkirk, and the Tyrrhenian on Genoa-Porto Torres.

You could reduce it to two seas by using the Rosslare-Cherbourg or Rosslare-Roscroff crossing.

[SarahJ]

Still recommend Toll Tickets for your sticker needs.

My BMW, which I'm taking to Cologne in November has 3 window stickers. Swiss, Austrian and German emissions.

As for Rovers in Italy. Italy was always a good market for Rovers. Biggest export from what I remember. During the good times a train a week, sometimes more used to take a load through the channel tunnel and down there. Back in the 70's there used to also be some badge work with Autobianchi (not sure if I got that right). Plus I know in the 90's there was a English fad in Italy. Buy English clothes (Burberry), drive an English car (rover) etc etc.

I do like the 75 and have toyed with the idea of getting one. Even got so close I downloaded the handbook to see what was what. They were such a nice car, but let down by image. The first one i saw was at the motorshow at the NEC and it was in Beige. The first one on the road was driven in the middle lane of a dead M5 at 60 mph by a older couple with a cushion on the rear parcel shelf. When your in your 20's that just screams NOOOOOOO!!!!!! run away.

[Owain]

I do like the 75 and have toyed with the idea of getting one. Even got so close I downloaded the handbook to see what was what. They were such a nice car, but let down by image. The first one i saw was at the motorshow at the NEC and it was in Beige. The first one on the road was driven in the middle lane of a dead M5 at 60 mph by a older couple with a cushion on the rear parcel shelf. When your in your 20's that just screams NOOOOOOO!!!!!! run away.

I know precisely the image you mean, but I couldn't care less.

I was 28 when I bought my 75 (just after MGR went bust - a £20k car for £9k, the bargain of the century). I'm still youngish, I dress like an Italian, and I teach university students who seem to think that I'm the coolest thing ever. So I'm not worried

As for the car, it has the BMW CDTi motor, is dark blue with chunky spoked alloys, and doesn't half shift in 3rd/4th/5th! It's happiest at 90 in the outside lane, where it spends almost all of its time (when in England).

I'd like to think that I've single-handedly broken the Rover 75 stereotype! My second-choice car would be an Alfa 159.

[Owain]

Decided and booked!

Heading Calais to Dijon for overnight stop.

Next day to Genova via Mont Blanc, Turin, and the A6 "autostrada della morte" ("motorway of death" - I'm not telling Aurora until we're on it, though).

Boat to Sardinia.

On the return journey, to Milano for a couple of nights (she'll see friends; I'll go sightseeing), then through Swizerland and up the German side of the Rhine for overnight stop in Strasbourg.

Then back to Frome.

[For the bit between Northern Ireland and England, I'm getting the ferry from Rosslare to Fishguard, just to add in a little more driving fun through Ireland and Wales]

[SarahJ]

Hope you have your winter wheels ready?

[Owain]

Hope you have your winter wheels ready?

I'm looking into winter tyres, although the last time I did this trip in December/January I stuck to motorways (apart from the city stops), and the roads were absolutely bone dry despite snowfall.

I have chains at the ready, too, although at the first sign of bad driving conditions I'm more likely to re-book hotels/ferries than try driving.

[Owain]

A successful trip!

From Calais we took the usual A26 to Troyes and the former N71 to Dijon for overnight stop. Then A31/A6/A43/A32/A6/A10 to Genova, a city well worth seeing. Then ferry from Genova to Olbia.

I finally got to drive the Frejus (missed it last time by going over the Mont Cenis pass), and - much more interestingly - the A6 'Autostrada della Morte' (Motorway of Death) between Torino and Savona. A really cool road!

On the return, we took the SS45 through the Appenini between Genova and Piacenza; nice little stop for coffee in Bobbio. A couple of nights in Milano, before returning through Switzerland and Germany to Strasbourg via A9/A2/A5 for another overnight stop. From Strasbourg, unimaginatively, A4/A26 back to Calais.

The temperature never dipped below zero, and not a patch of ice in sight. We've managed to return with about 100 litres of Sardinian wine, strategically wedged in amongst suitcases, boxes of pasta, various other Italian delicacies, redundant snow chains, and enough new clothes to fill out a new wardrobe ... curse the Italian sales!

[chris486]

Awesome - sounds like a wonderful drive.

[Owain]

It was, thanks Chris! And besides the fun of the driving, there's an extra reason for taking the car rather than the plane.

[Owain]

Guess what?

I have to give the opening talk at a conference in Modena in May. They'll pay my flights and provide a hotel for the duration.

There's no point in going to Italy and not making the most of it, so I've added - at my own expense - a couple of nights in Ravenna, and a couple more in Ferrara, plus a hire car. The Modena bit comes at the end of the week.

So, I have deliberately arranged to fly to Pisa, which means I will have to drive across the whole width of Italy the day I arrive. For Pisa to Ravenna, I'm thinking A11-A1-ss67 cross-country. For Modena back to the aiport, I'm thinking ss12 over the Appenines.

Europcar usually give me what I've asked for. I usually get Fiat 500s, but this time I've asked for an Alfa Giulietta (and I'll be praying they don't give me a Golf instead).

Oh yes, and I've always wanted to visit Maranello

[Big L]

Ferrari museum is well worth a look.

[SarahJ]

I think Owain that you still must do the A1 between Bologna and Florence before the twisty bits go. You in your 75, the curves, and using the facing line is what life should be all about

[Owain]

I think Owain that you still must do the A1 between Bologna and Florence before the twisty bits go. You in your 75, the curves, and using the facing line is what life should be all about

I guess you're right, Sarah .... the ss12 isn't going to go anywhere!

[multiraider2]

I've got a wedding on Lake Como to go to next year (no, not George Clooney again), but that's going to be a long weekend rush job and sadly an Easyjet flight to Milan.

Well the summer approaches fast and I've only got a short route in a hire car from either Malpensa or Linate to consider. Does anyone know the current status/expected opening date of the A36 Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda? It doesn't exist at all on Bing Maps or ViaMichelin. On Google Maps it looks open. On streetview in June 2012 it was certainly under construction. Their website on translate talks about workers walking the route in advance of opening. But would it be open by June? It would fill an obvious gap if going to Como from Malpensa.

[brombeer]

The A36 is opening in bits and pieces. But if you're heading for the town of Como (not the east shore of the lake) you'll only need the section between the A8 and the A9. This opened in January 2015.

http://www3.varesenews.it/varese/il-pri ... 04931.html

[multiraider2]

Thanks. It's north of the town of Como on the west shore, so that's very useful and all I need. Malpensa it is then.

[Owain]

The other day Google Maps was showing the A31 southern section as being completed almost as far as Ferrara! When I looked on street view, I landed in a normal S2 road.

[brombeer]

Probably the result of this Southern part of the A31 being a very new road, built only in the last five years or so. Maps should show it ending on the SS434, still a bit shy of Ferrara.

On Monday, they'll be opening the penultimate section of the route (leaving aside the plans of a Northern extension to the A22), between Santa Margherita d'Adige and Noventa Vicentina. The final 7 km between Noventa Vicentin and Agugliaro will open in June, leaving a full motorway between the A31 at Vicenza and the SS434.

[Owain]

So they have actually built it, then? I thought they'd given up on the A31!