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Guide
What nobody tells you and is worth knowing before touring the towns: hours, transport, money and customs.
Almost every pretty Italian town has a ZTL — zona a traffico limitato: the old centre is closed to cars and cameras read your plate as you go in. Nobody stops you, but the fine arrives months later, one for every time you drove in and out. The sign is a white circle with a red rim, the letters ZTL and the hours. Leave the car in the parcheggio at the entrance and walk up; if your hotel is inside, ask them to register your plate before you drive in.
A car is by far the best way to tour the towns: between the small ones the bus runs once or twice a day and almost never at weekends. Each profile tells you how many kilometres you are from its regional capital and gives you the link to open the route on the map.
Many small towns have neither a petrol station nor a cash machine. Fill up in the nearest city and carry some cash in EUR: bars, markets and small guesthouses sometimes don’t take cards.
In the pretty towns the old quarter is usually pedestrian or has very narrow streets. The usual thing is to leave the car at the entrance and walk up: it’s five minutes and saves you a bad time.
Eat where the locals eat, and at the hour they eat: outside that window many kitchens close. In a town of three hundred there is one restaurant and it fills up, so at weekends it’s worth calling ahead.
During its festivals the town is transformed: there’s music, food and people until dawn, but also everything full and accommodation sold out months ahead. Check the town’s festival calendar before booking and decide whether to live them or dodge them.
Ask in the town whether the tap water is drinkable: it changes from place to place. Many small towns have no pharmacy of their own but one on duty in the next town.
In valleys and mountain areas you will lose signal. Download the maps of the area before setting off and save the town’s profile to read offline: this site can be installed as an app.
Outside the tourist areas, few people in the towns speak another language — but they will help you anyway. Four words in the local one («hello», «thank you», «please», «the bill») open every door, and asking in the town bar is still the best search engine there is.