I first got my driver’s license when I was 17 years old. I remember the process being fairly simple---you would have to be illiterate not to pass the written test and it was common to not pass the actual driving test the first time because of parallel parking. I never imagined that at age 38, I would have to get my driver’s license again…but this time in Italian.
The rule goes like this: if your driver’s license is from a country outside of the European union, it is only good for the first year you are here. After that point, you have to take all the tests, just like an Italian teenager. Up until this point, not being able to drive here has not bothered me that much. With all the extra pasta and bread I now eat daily, I have enjoyed biking where I need to go. I feel like Julia Roberts in ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ with my basket on my bike (two actually—one on the front and one on the back), biking to the store to get bread or to the market to get fresh fruit. And if I need to go to Milan, there is a bus that takes me to the train and no one would want to actually drive to Milan anyway because of the horrendous traffic (not to mention impossible parking). But sometimes I have felt like a little kid, asking my in-laws to pick me up at the station because there is no bus for half an hour or maybe it’s late and my mother in law (god bless her) is texting me to tell her when I have arrived at the station as she is afraid something bad will happen to me while waiting for the bus. I am actually lucky that I have such caring in-laws while living in a foreign country but sometimes I can’t help but feel like I am back in high school.
This fall my husband and I decided it was time for me to start driving in Italy. Our family car at the time was a 10 year old Fiat Punto which ran fine but it had manual transmission. Like many good Americans, I have never properly learned to drive a standard in the 21 years I have had my license and honestly, I just don’t want to. My thinking is this: I have changed so much of my life to live in another country that I just don’t want to change this one thing: the way I drive.
I am not sure if you have been to Italy or seen them drive here but it’s crazy. Not only do they drive faster but Italians feel rules are more like ‘guidelines’ that can be broken when needed. Motorcycles and mopeds weave in and out of traffic so you need to always be watching for them. I can’t imagine trying to ‘watch out’ for the other drivers while also remembering to change gears. Many have told me that I could pick it up easily but I have just refused to try. So, we bought our first car together: an Alfa Romeo Giulietta with automatic transmission (just this year Italians are starting to see automatic cars).
So the next step was to get my Italian license. Unfortunately you cannot simply go to the motor vehicle department, complete the written test and then schedule your driving test, like in the U.S. First step here is to find a driving school. You then pay the driving school to teach you how to pass the 40 question true or false test. Then a month and a day after passing your written test, you can take your driving test. Sounds easy, right? I wish it was.
First of all, the driving test is typically taken with a car with standard transmission. In fact, people that get their license with an automatic car usually have a handicap. I was told I would have to get a license ‘with limitation’ which basically means I can only drive a car with automatic transmission. That wasn’t a problem as I really have no desire to drive a standard. So then I had to wait three weeks for the driving school to confirm with another school that I could use that school’s car for the exam because you cannot use your own car for a driving exam. You have to use a car equipped with ‘dual control’ so the instructor can stop the car or control the steering, if needed. Don’t ask me why it took three weeks with daily phone calls by me asking, ‘Allora? Abbiamo sentito qualcosa?’ (So? Did we hear something?) But it did. It’s Italy. What I have learned in the three years I have lived here is: things move slowly here. Especially things that are new.
In November I started the school. I was shocked at the costs. In total, for the registration for the school, books, price for the written and driving exams, the total cost to get your license in Italy is around 700 euros. And that is if you have no driving lessons. Oh yea, and if I don’t pass the written or the driving test the first time, I have to pay another 110 euros, per test, to retake them.
So wish me luck. I am hoping to take the written test this month which means I might have my license by March. Let’s just hope I pass everything the first time.
