Hello Again All, I seem to have read some conflicting thoughts on driving licenses, If after living in Italy for 1 year do you just apply for an Italian licence or as some say you have to take an Italian driving test? Thanks in anticipation, Dido2

Hello Look at your plastic licence card and you should have
a blue european flag in the top left, this allows you to drive in europe as long as you like, non european are only allowed to drive up to one year and then must sit a driving test in the country in which they reside.
Regards

I had to change mine( old green paper one without a photo) as I was stopped at least 4 times by the Carabinieri who told me to change it-i suppose they could not understand it at all). Since I am no longer a UK resident, I could not get the plastic one, so had to change it to an Italian licence. On the other hand, my husband has the plastic new one andit is not changing it.

Did you have to do a test or anything in order to get a new one Isacat??

No,as a EU citizen I just had to fork out the money( if I remember well, around 100 e.) and had to have my eyesight checked.It was all done in the local ACI office.
On the other hand, my American friend had to take a driving test after driving here for a year on her US licence. Another friend who drove on a Canadian licence had her car impounded and towed back from Abruzzo to Lazio with 2 crying kids in the back. She had to pay 700 euro fine and appear in court. She was stupid enough to tell the Carabinieri she had been here longer than a year.And, to make matters worse, they confiscated her Canadian licence as well.
And when you see all the cars with foreign number plates driving here for years, makes you sick what she had to go through.

I think it's the money that has put us off. My OH reckons in theory we are supposed to get an Italian one after a year but we've both got card ones... I also wondered if we might need to do a test so thanks for clarifying that.

I personally would not bother changing the UK card licence to an Italian one, I had to it as could not get the card one. OH did check the rules and regulations and decided he is perfectly legal driving on his UK card licence.
Also, the Italian one only lasts 10 years.

True, but so does the UK one. Renewal at GBP 20 is much cheaper than in Italy though, however it is technically illegal (and in practice difficult) if you no longer have a valid UK address.

You see as my partner is on secondment here on a temporary contract we do have a UK address but it probably is a bit of a grey area as we have residence here in order to send the kids to school and get health cover. I like to keep things above board though to be honest. I renewed mine in the UK at the postoffice this summer as it happens. But you do have a good point if people didn't have a UK address.

Mine expires in 2013 and will get it renewed in the UK. It will take 2-3 weeks though. I don't know what would happen if I were to be stopped in the meantime here in Italy though as all I'd have would be a receipt from the post office (as you're required to carry a licence along with you in Italy).

I went into the UK PO Duffer and did mine there and then, they even do all the photo and get you to sign on one of those electronic boxes that DHL et. al. use and it was back within 3days... I know you can't count on it but it might be an option... the other option might be to tell them that you'd lost it, keep the old one on you here and they send a new one to your UK address that then gets sent on to you.... but this is obviously a very grey area......

Thanks Indie, seems like the post office has updated their services since I last did those things there, e.g. passport, licence, road tax, etc.
It used to be 2-3 weeks for the DL. Even if it's within a week now it would be ideal as I'm usually there for 2 weeks.
So yours was a simple renewal, did you need to get new photos and have them signed?
It's so much more simpler in the UK, innit? My OH had to get an eye test here to get her licence renewed - it's all time and money!

Duffer have a look here: http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/p...iaId=118600819 for the up to date info. I literally went to the main PO in Brighton with my old licence and they did it all there for £4.50 on top of the cost of the licence. They even take the photo! I thought it was a good price as you can easily pay £5 for passport photos in the UK now!!

I have a friend who is a vigile and he said we are perfectly within our rights to drive with our UK licences. I have been stopped 3 times so far and apart from them squinting and muttering (remember mines a Guernsey one ) they always hand it back with no problems.
I also checked it out with ACI website and there is a page there where its all explained. I printed the page and keep it in my car...just in case I get stopped by some smartass vigile who thinks he knows better

Oh yes I agree completely, there's no problem using your UK photocard driving licence in Italy even if you are no longer resident in the UK.

However the licence is valid only until the expiry date. After which time you need to apply for the Italian licence.

But for as long as it's valid, it's perfectly OK for it to have your last UK address - DLVA confirmed this to me as they are not able to change the UK address to one outside of the UK.