If riding a motorcycle is not easy and you need some skills, riding a motorcycle in Italy is much more complex. You need to pay extra attention to everything that surrounds you:

  1. Cars: people drive aggressively, so it is important to anticipate their moves and double check before making your moves. You need to be some kind of “mind reader” of the drivers as they will often not indicate lanes changes, turns, etc. Keep your distance with cars! In these last years the use of cellphones during the drive has become a serious problem in all the world and Italy is not an exception, so this is another reason to pay double attention.
  2. Pedestrians: some times pedestrians will act like the city belongs to them and so you can find them walking in the middle of the street or, after dropping from the bus, they will cross the street in front of the bus (pay attention when you overtake a bus which is stopped dropping passengers!).
  3. Bicycles: another “player” in this jungle. In the cities you can find bicycles on the wrong way, coming from every corner while texting on their phones and passing red lights, so if you see a cyclist on your way keep an eye on him! In the country roads you will find many professional or amateur groups of cyclists, they usually are on their right and go fast but it is always a good advice to keep you eyes open.
  4. Radars: there are MANY radars in Italy and sometimes they’re hidden quite well and they’re positioned in strategic places where you could go too fast (E.g. a road downhill). You will recognize them because normally they are on a grey or orange box on the right of the road. Sometimes, the radar on the opposite lane might work also for your lane.
  5. Roundabouts: here the rule is, the priority is to the one who gets in faster… So pay attention: check, double check, triple check and then get in. Pay attention also to the exit!
  6. Crosswalk: usually Italian drivers very rarely will stop if a pedestrian is in front of the crosswalk. If you are riding a motorcycle, are approaching to a crosswalk and have a car on your back, be careful! The car may think you will not stop, so, if you stop, the car could hit you in the back!
  7. Directions and signs: let’s be clear: signs in Italy sometimes are a shame. In some crosses or roundabouts there are too many, too small and too hidden. It is so easy to get the wrong road and to get lost. This is particularly sad when instead of riding a nice and exciting road you find yourself on an ugly road with traffic jam
  8. Scooter: I will make a post dedicated to scooters another day haha!

So, how a guided tour can make things easier?

With a guided tour many of these problems will disappear and the danger will be much lower. Riding a motorcycle in Italy freely and with no stress following an expert will give you a higher security level. Your interaction with cars will be lower, riding in group will make you more visible, an expert in the area knows almost all the radars positions (saving you potentially a lot of money in fines) so, in two words: just enjoy.