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The Autostrade (; singular ) are roads forming the
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
national system of
motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
s. The total length of the system is about . In North and Central Italy, the Autostrade mainly consists of
tollways A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemente ...
managed by
Autostrade per l'Italia Autostrade per l'Italia S.p.A. is an Italian joint-stock company, originally born as a publicly owned company under the control of IRI, but privatized in 1999 and then incorporated in its current form in 2003. It has as its activity the managem ...
, a holding company controlled by
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A. (also kwown as CDP or CDP Group) is a prominent Italian investment bank founded on November 20, 1850, in Turin. Its main duty was to finance public works like roads and waterworks during the reign of Victor Emman ...
. Other operators include ASTM, ATP, and
Autostrade Lombarde Autostrade Lombarde is an Italian holding company that owned a majority stake (78.9752%) in ''Società di Progetto Brebemi S.p.A.'', the operator of Autostrada A35 (Brescia–Bergamo–Milan, although the toll road did not go through Bergamo city ...
in the north-west; Autostrada del Brennero,
A4 Holding A4 Holding S.p.A. known as Gruppo A4 Holding (previously as Serenissima Group), is an Italian holding company based in Verona, Veneto region. The company owned ''Autostrada Brescia Verona Vicenza Padova'' (100%), the operator of Brescia–Padua se ...
, Concessioni Autostradali Venete, and Autovie Venete in the north-east; Strada dei Parchi, SALT, SAT, and Autocisa in the center; and CAS in the south.


History

Italy became the first country to inaugurate motorways reserved for motor vehicles with the A8. The Milan-Laghi motorway (connecting
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
to
Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...
) was devised by Piero Puricelli, a civil engineer and entrepreneur. He received the first authorization to build a public-utility fast road in 1921, and completed the construction (one lane each direction) between 1924 and 1926. By the end of the 1930s, over 400 kilometers of multi- and dual-single-lane motorways had been constructed throughout Italy, linking cities and rural towns.


Traffic laws

Italy's autostrade must not be used by: *Pedestrians and animals (except in rest areas) *Pedal-cycles *Mopeds *Motorcycles having an engine displacement less than (if equipped with an internal combustion engine) *Sidecars having an engine displacement less than (if equipped with an internal combustion engine) *Motorized tricycles designed for the transport of people with up to 2 seats having an engine displacement less than (if equipped with an internal combustion engine) or having an engine power less than *Motorcycle-like vehicles (''motoveicoli'') not included in previous categories having an empty vehicle weight up to or a gross vehicle mass up to *Cars with a design speed on flat road less than Art. 372 ''Regolamento di esecuzione del codice della strada'' *Vehicles without tyres *Agricultural vehicles and technical vehicles (e.g.
heavy equipment Heavy equipment or heavy machinery refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large construction tasks. ''Heavy equipment'' usually comprises five e ...
)


Speed

Italy's autostrade have a standard speed limit of for cars. Limits for other vehicles (or during foul weather and/or low visibility) are lower. Legal provisions allow operators to set the limit to on their concessions on a voluntary basis if there are three lanes in each direction and a working SICVE, or Safety Tutor, which is a speed-camera system that measure the average speed over a given distance. As of 2022, no road was utilizing this possibility. The first speed limit, to , was enacted in November 1973 as a result of the
1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
. In October 1977, a graduated system was introduced: cars with engine displacement above had a speed limit, cars of 900–1299 cm3 had a limit of , those of 600–899 cm3 could drive at , and those of or less had a maximum speed of . In July 1988 a blanket speed limit of was imposed on all cars above 600 cm3 (the lower limit was kept for smaller cars) by the short-lived PSDI government. In September 1989 this was increased to for cars above and for smaller ones.


List of current Autostrade


List of ''bretelle'' and ''raccordi autostradali''

Some ''autostrade'' are called ''bretelle, diramazioni'' or ''raccordi'' because they are short and have few exits. ''Bretelle'', ''diramazioni'' or ''raccordi'' are generally connections between two motorways, or connections between motorways and important cities without a motorway. They have the same number (sometimes with the suffix ''dir'') as one of the two autostrade linked, a combination of the numbers of the two autostrade linked, or the number of the main autostrada.


Trafori (T)

Important
alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...
tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
s ( ''trafori'') are identified by the capital letter "T" followed by a single digit number. Currently there are only three T-classified tunnels:
Mont Blanc Tunnel The Mont Blanc Tunnel is a highway tunnel between France and Italy, under the Mont Blanc mountain in the Alps. It links Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France with Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy, via the French Route Nationale 205 and the Italian T ...
(T1),
Great St Bernard Tunnel The Great St Bernard Tunnel (french: Tunnel du Grand Saint-Bernard, it, Traforo del Gran San Bernardo, german: Grosser-Sankt-Bernhard-Tunnel) is a road tunnel complementing the Great St Bernard Pass, linking Martigny (in the Swiss canton of Va ...
(T2) and Frejus Road Tunnel (T4). Tunnels that cross the border between Italy and
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
(T1, T4) or
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
(T2), are treated as motorways (green signage, access control, and so on), although they are not proper motorways. The code T3 was once assigned to the Bargagli-Ferriere Tunnel in
Ligurian Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or  – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...
before it was reclassified as SP 226.


Raccordi autostradali (RA)

RA stands for ''Raccordo autostradale'' (translated as "motorway connection"), a relatively short
spur route A spur route is a short road forming a branch from a longer, more important road such as a freeway, Interstate Highway, or motorway. A bypass or beltway should not be considered a true spur route as it typically reconnects with another or the s ...
that connects an ''autostrada'' to a nearby city or tourist resort not directly served by the motorway. These spurs are owned and managed by ANAS (with some exceptions, such as the RA7 that became A53 when assigned to a private company for maintenance). Some spurs are toll-free motorways (type-A), but most are type-B or type-C roads. All RA have separate carriageways with two lanes in each direction. Generally, they do not have an emergency lane.


Strade extraurbane principali

''Type B'' highway (or ''strada extraurbana principale''), commonly but unofficially known as ''superstrada'' (Italian equivalent for expressway), is a divided highway with at least two lanes in each direction, paved shoulder on the right, no cross-traffic and no at-grade intersections. Access restrictions on such highways are exactly the same as autostrade. Signage at the beginning and the end of the highways is the same, except the background color is blue instead of green. The general speed limit on ''strade extraurbane principali'' is 110 km/h. ''Strade extraurbane principali'' are not tolled. All ''strade extraurbane principali'' are owned and managed by
ANAS ''Anas'' is a genus of dabbling ducks. It includes the pintails, most teals, and the mallard and its close relatives. It formerly included additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2009 the genus wa ...
, and directly controlled by the Italian government or by the
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
s.


See also

* State highway (Italy) *
Transport in Italy Italy has a well developed transport infrastructure. The Italian rail network is extensive, especially in the north, and it includes a high-speed rail network that joins the major cities of Italy from Naples through northern cities such as Mila ...
* Rai isoradio *
List of controlled-access highway systems Many countries have national networks of controlled-access highways, the names of which vary from one country to another e.g. freeway or motorway. The networks do not always include all such highways, or even all the major ones in the country. Asi ...
* Evolution of motorway construction in European nations


References


External links


''Autostrade per l'Italia'' Official website
* {{Motorways in Europe Road transport in Italy Lists of roads in Italy