PAT M

Hi, call me mad but I am attending theory driving lessons in the town where we live near Lecce. My Italian is OK, but I did tell the instructor that my knowledge of the local dialect is shakey, she assured me that "only Italian is spoken here". Thank God I have, over the years, picked up the local dialect, even though I can't speak it, as most of the instructor's explanations are in dialect! Pica Pica, dannanzi, etc etc. Don't get me wrong, they are good instructors and I have every faith in them....just wondered if anyone else out there has/or is learning to drive for the first time in Italy like me and could we swap notes. Tonight's lesson was on the safety distance between vehicles, it went on for an hour with mathematical illustrations, very boring. I did try to explain the motto in England that "only a fool ignores the two second rule" but they thought I was talking about keeping your foot on the break for two seconds.

Kenny and Moe

Pat,
You are the first Brit I have known who is learning to drive out here, so good on ya, BUT, would it not have been a whole lot easier to go to UK and do one of the one week residential courses with a test on day 5, at least you would have been able to fully understand the instructor. Whilst you may be able to understand the instructor in Italian (in a fashion) will you be able to understand the tester I take it there is a road test you have to take . One hour to teach braking distances and they thought you were talking about the foot on the brake
All I can offer is the best of Luck
Regards Kenny

sashasdad

You never though, by learning to drive and taking the test over here, she will be proficient in using the mobile and talking whilst gesticulating wildly to every passenger in the car. I must admit that an hour on breaking distances seems a bit overlong and no wonder the two second rule does not translate over here.

Maybe it should be "Only a fool leaves two seconds between each car rule" or some such saying.

As you say good on 'er for giving it a go, would much prefer the UK option though. Perhaps learning in the London area would give some idea of driving over here.

Kenny and Moe

Pat,
You will take it from Sashasdad that the 2 second rule is non-existant, I always thought it meant you have 2 seconds to get around the car in front and into the gap

sashasdad

Other things that do not exist in Italian driving:
Car headlights
Dual-carriageways (you can at least 5 vehicles abreast)
Stopping for the red light (occasionally)
Patience
Giving way (unless your car is bigger)
Any sense of direction
Road-worthy cars.

Really the list is endless!

PAT M

Thanks Kenny and Moe and Sashasdad for your replies and best wishes, I had a good laugh. I had thought of learning in London, but decided against it to avoid confusion... I didn't want to pick up the more disciplined and polite manner of driving of the brits now did I? If I pass the test (I have been told I can have an english speaking tester) I will probably mystify all the other road users by stopping at pedestrian crossings, stopping at Stop signs, not driving out of side roads like a maniac and smiling sweetly and saying after you instead of scooting into a parking place, as you say the list goes on. Off to study the highway code now, which is very strict, I am tempted to ask my instructor why nobody takes a blind bit of notice once they are on the road.

Kenny and Moe

You will be an absolute nightmare on the road if you do the things you say you are going to do. We now expect people to do the opposite of what you would normally expect and take evasive action Give it an hour and you will be as mad as the rest of us on the roads
Good luck
Kenny

selinuntina

They actually have lessons in Italy ??? I mean they are actually taught to drive like maniacs ???? Good on you for giving it a go !!

lindaf

Kenny

That is so funny and so true. The other day I was driving through Padova at rush hour and I had a bad head and all the other drivers seemed to keep aiming right for me and the 2 inches of space just in front of the car so I wasn't really upto the challenge of mad Italian drivers.
I felt like an Italian - pipping the horn, flashing the lights and hands in the air but sometimes it is too much - just like a free-for-all on the roads.

TR sent me the link to that brilliant video about Europe and the Italians - all of it so true and so funny.

Linda

Lorna at Vicenza

I was only 19 when I arrived here and didn't do any driving lessons or tests or anything in England .......... no money.

So I went to Italian driving school. They won't let you even in a car with the instructor until you have pased the theory test. But you can practice with somebody else as long as they have had a licence for 10 years. Unless things have changed.

There are time limits on what you can do when as well.
During the practical driving test the examiner sits in the back ........ your instructor sits in the front passenger seat just in case you go badly wrong and he has to use his dual pedals.

I'll write about it all later. Bit busy now.

ballerina

Hello, I have been away for a while but I'm plannign my return to Italy and this post really took my interest.

Eventually I will be living in South Italy, probably in Gallipoli so I was interested in the Lecce dialect you mentioned Pat! I find it much easier to pronounce than proper Italian! all those 'oooohs' at then end of words...('lu pollu cusutu 'nculu' is my favourite )

So anyway I wanted to ask... do you think it is helpful if you already know how to drive? I don't drive in England and I don't even have a licence, have never taken lessons.. I always said that I wanted to live in Italy so I would learn there. But as I will probably be here until Jan next year, would it be worth me having a go at getting my licence in the UK first? Or would it not make much difference? The way i always saw it (and still see it), is that driving in Italy is quite different to driving in England, so i'd be better off waiting and learning in Italy.

Lorna at Vicenza

How do think driving here is quite different to driving in England ....... apart from the obvious like using a different hand for gear changes and driving on the right? Just curious.
Do you mean because of the way some of the Italians drive?

ballerina

yeah, I always had the idea that they were madduns on the road... and everything being back to front/left to right (maybe i'm imagining driving as a lot more complicated than it is??!). And are driving laws different? Whenever my mum is driving, she never shuts up about how the driver behind her isn't doing 'tyres and tarmac' or driving up her arse and generally banging on about foreign drivers being lethal etc.. perhaps I have an xtremely skewed view of driving in general! I have always been too lazy to learn to drive, never had the need, but thinking about the future and kids, i think it would be difficult to live without a car. Especially in Italy where you have to drive to another CITY just to have a drink in the pub!

PAT M

Hi Ballerina,

Like you, I decided to wait to learn to drive until we returned to Italy, because I reasoned I would be more able to deal with the very different way of driving here if I learned from an Italian instructor who could coach me on how to cope with the Italian style of driving. My brother commented that it was like the Wacky Races while we strolled around town, cars drive around pedestrians crossing the road at corners here! Another relative who is an experienced driver quite liked the Italian style calling it "every man for himself". It probably would be helpful in a lot of ways to know how to drive before you take Italian driving lessons but if you do decide to get a UK licence first you would have to have it converted to an Italian licence after 12 months here, I believe, with all that entails with Italian bureaucracy the way it is. I have really enjoyed the theory lessons, the exam is next week, so keeping my fingers crossed that I pass so I can have some practical lessons. Apart from learning the Italian highway code, I have found attending the driving school very enjoyable, I have got to know the locals more and picked up a lot of the dialect. Lu pollu cusutu nculu, ha ha that's a good one.

Good luck with your return to Italy, Gallipoli is great and very central for visiting the rest of beautiful Salentu.

Kenny and Moe

Convert your driving licence ??? no you have an EU driving licence, valid in all EU countries. No conversion required.