Italian is the spoken language for most Italians.
English is widely spoken at varied levels of proficiency in the well-traveled touristic areas where it may be used by shopkeepers and tourist operators. Outside of that, you will find that most Italians are not conversant in English.
It is nowadays common to spot prostitutes by the side of the road pretending to hitchhike to attact clientele so it’s advisable to avoid being mistaken for one.
Hitchhiking along expressways and highways is forbidden by law.
Every motorway is identified by an A followed by a number on a green backdrop.
Most motorways are toll roads. Some have toll stations giving you access to a whole section (particularly the tangenziali of Naples, Rome, and Milan, for example), but generally, most have entrance and exit toll stations; on those motorways, you need to collect a ticket upon entrance and your toll amount will be calculated upon exit depending on the distance covered. Tolls depend on the motorways and stretches; as a rough estimate, you should expect a toll between 0.06 € and 0.12 € for each kilometre.
Don’t lose your entrance ticket, for if you do, it will be assumed you have entered the motorway at the farthest station from your exit, thus you will be charged the maximum toll possible.
All the blue lanes (marked “Viacard”) of toll stations are automatic machines accepting major credit cards as well as pre-paid cards (called Viacard) that are for sale at service stations along the motorway or for instance at several tobacconists’ in cities. If you have problems with the machine (e.g. your credit card can’t be read), press the assistenza button and wait for an operator to help you – be prepared to have to pay your toll in cash if problems persist.
Do not back up to move into another lane, even if you might see other locals doing it, unless the personnel or the police clearly instruct you to do so; backing up in toll stations is considered equivalent to backing up on the motorway and very heavily fined if you get caught.
Many Italians use an electronic pay-toll device, and there are reserved lanes marked in Yellow with the sign “Telepass” or a simply “T”. Driving through those lanes (controlled by camera system) without the device will result in a fine and a payment of the toll for the longest distance. Due to agreement with other countries, if you’re foreigner, you’ll pay also extra cost for locating you in your country.
The lines to buy tickets can be very long, and slow, so get to the station early. There are touch-screen ticket machines which are very useful, efficient, and multilingual, but there are never that many, and the lines for those can be very long too.
You can also buy tickets online on the Trenitalia website; you will receive a code (codice di prenotatione (PNR)) that is used to pick up the ticket from a ticket machine in the station (“Self Service”). For some (but not all) trains you can also choose a ticketless option, where you print out the ticket yourself.
Remember that you must validate the ticket before boarding most trains, by stamping it in one of the yellow boxes (marked Convalida). Travelling with an unstamped ticket is technically the same as travelling without ticket.
In case of emergency or inconvenience, Italian Ministry for Tourism implemented the multilingual contact center providing information and assistance to strangers. Easy Italia operates seven days a week from 9.00 am to 10.00 pm. You can contact Easy Italia by dialling +39.039.039.039 from anywhere in the world, from either a landlines or a mobile. If you are in Italy you can also contact them by dialling the toll free number 800.000.039 from landlines and public phones. The service is also available on Skype (easyitalia)