Page 46 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

By car, scooter and quad

Driving in Sicily is almost a competitive sport, and although the Sicilians aren’t the
world’s worst drivers they don’t win any safety prizes either. However, with a car
you’ll be able to see a lot of the island quickly, and reach the more isolated coastal
and inland areas.

Most main roads are prefixed SS (Strada Statale) or SP (Strada Provinciale), and
signposting is pretty good. On the whole they are two-lane roads with passing places

on hills, though some stretches near towns and cities are dual carriageway. Road
maintenance, however, is very patchy and even major routes can be badly potholed.
In the interior, on long routes like the SS120, SS121 or SS189, you should expect road
washouts, resurfacing work and other interruptions on any journey.

Some roads provide spectacular cross-country driving routes, as do the impressive

Sicilian motorways (autostrada), which are carried on great piers spanning the island.
These link Messina–Catania–Siracusa (A18), Catania–Palermo (A19), Palermo–
Trapani/Mazara del Vallo (A29) and Messina–Palermo (A20), while work continues
on extending the autostradas network towards Agrigento and Gela (it has so far
reached Rosolini). The Messina–Catania–Siracusa and Messina–Palermo autostradas

are toll-roads (pedaggio, toll; autostrada a pedaggio, toll-motorway). Take a ticket
as you come on, and pay on exit; the amount due is flashed up on a screen.

Rules of the road are straightforward: drive on the right; at junctions, where there’s
any ambiguity, give precedence to vehicles coming from the right; observe the speed
limits (50km/h in built-up areas, 110km/h on country roads, 130km/h on autostradas);
and don’t drink and drive. Speed cameras and traffic-calming humps are becoming
more evident, but this doesn’t seem to deter Sicilians from travelling at any speed they

choose.

Italian fuel prices are roughly in line with those in the UK, with unleaded petrol
(senza piombo) slightly cheaper than leaded (super). Blue lines in towns signify
authorized parking zones, where you’ll pay around €1 an hour, either in a meter or to
an attendant hovering nearby. You can also often buy a biglietto parcheggio, a scratch

card, from tabacchi or local bars, where you scratch off the date and time and leave it
in the windscreen. However, if you’ve parked in a street that turns into a market by
day, you’ll be stuck until close of business, while if you park in a zona di rimozione
(tow-away zone), your car will most likely not be there when you get back. Most
cities also have official car parks and garages, charging between €10 and €15 a day.
Never leave anything visible in the car when you leave it (hide away or remove

MP3 players and satnavs), and always depress your aerial and tuck in the wing
mirrors.