Autostrade of Italy

Italy became the first country to inaugurate motorways reserved for motor vehicles with the A8.[4] The Milan-Laghi motorway (connecting Milan to Varese) was devised by Piero Puricelli, a civil engineer and entrepreneur. He received the first authorization to build a public-utility fast road in 1921, and completed the construction (one lane each direction) between 1924 and 1926. By the end of the 1930s, over 400 kilometers of multi- and dual-single-lane motorways had been constructed throughout Italy, linking cities and rural towns.

An autostrada regulation sign along an entrance ramp

Italy's autostrade must not be used by:[5]

• Pedestrians and animals (except in rest areas)
• Pedal-cycles
• Mopeds
• Motorcycles having an engine displacement less than 150 cubic centimetres (9.2 cu in) (if equipped with an internal combustion engine)
• Sidecars having an engine displacement less than 250 cc (15 cu in) (if equipped with an internal combustion engine)
• Motorized tricycles designed for the transport of people with up to 2 seats having an engine displacement less than 250 cc (15 cu in) (if equipped with an internal combustion engine) or having an engine power less than 15 kilowatts (20 PS; 20 bhp)
• Motorcycle-like vehicles (motoveicoli) not included in previous categories having an empty vehicle weight up to 400 kg (880 lb) or a gross vehicle mass up to 1,300 kg (2,900 lb)
• Cars with a design speed on flat road less than 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) [6]
• Vehicles without tyres
• Agricultural vehicles and technical vehicles (e.g. heavy equipment)

Autostrada sign

Italy's autostrade have a standard speed limit of 130 km/h (80 mph) for cars. Limits for other vehicles (or during foul weather and/or low visibility) are lower. Legal provisions allow operators to set the limit to 150 km/h (95 mph) on their concessions on a voluntary basis if there are three lanes in each direction and a working SICVE, or Safety Tutor, which is a speed-camera system that measure the average speed over a given distance. In 2016, no road was utilizing this possibility.

The first speed limit, to 120 km/h (75 mph), was enacted in November 1973 as a result of the 1973 oil crisis.[7] In October 1977, a graduated system was introduced: cars with engine displacement above 1.3 L (79 cu in) had a 140 km/h (85 mph) speed limit, cars of 900–1299 cm³ had a limit of 130 km/h (80 mph), those of 600–899 cm³ could drive at 110 km/h (70 mph), and those of 599 cm³ (36.6 cu in) or less had a maximum speed of 90 km/h (55 mph).[7] In July 1988 a blanket speed limit of 110 km/h (70 mph) was imposed on all cars above 600 cm³ (the lower limit was kept for smaller cars) by the short-lived PSDI government. In September 1989 this was increased to 130 km/h (80 mph) for cars above 1.1 L (67 cu in) and 110 km/h (70 mph) for smaller ones.[8]

Some autostrade are called bretelle, diramazioni or raccordi because they are short and have few exits.

Bretelle, diramazioni or raccordi are generally connections between two motorways, or connections between motorways and important cities without a motorway.

They have the same number (sometimes with the suffix dir) as one of the two autostrade linked, a combination of the numbers of the two autostrade linked, or the number of the main autostrada.

Number	Name (length)	Connection
	Raccordo Milano-Piazzale Corvetto (2 km)	A1 - Milano Piazzale Corvetto
	Diramazione Capodichino (3 km)	A1 - Aeroporto di Capodichino - A56
	Diramazione Roma nord (23 km)	A1 - GRA
	Diramazione Roma sud (20 km)	A1 - GRA
	Variante di Valico (32,966 km)	A1 - A1
	A2 dir. Napoli (2 km)	A2 - A3
	A2 dir. Reggio Calabria (9 km)	A2 - Reggio Calabria
	Raccordo Chivasso (6 km)	A4 - Verolengo
	Raccordo Ivrea-Santhià (23,6 km)	A4 - A5
	Raccordo Aosta-Gran San Bernardo (7,9 km)	A5 - SS27
	Diramazione per Fossano (6,6 km)	A6 - Fossano
	Diramazione Gallarate-Gattico (23,2 km)	A8 - A26
	Diramazione Lucca-Viareggio (20 km)	A11 - A12
	Diramazione per Livorno (4,5 km)	A12 - Livorno
	Diramazione per Padova sud (4,3 km)	A13 - Padova
	Diramazione per Ferrara (6,3 km)	A13 - Ferrara - RA8
	Raccordo per Tangenziale di Bari (4,6 km)	A14 - Tangenziale di Bari
	Diramazione per Ravenna (29,8 km)	A14 - Ravenna
	Diramazione La Spezia-Santo Stefano di Magra	Santo Stefano di Magra - A15 - La Spezia
	Diramazione per Catania (3,7 km)	A18 - Catania
	Raccordo A19-Palermo (5,2 km)	A19 - Circonvallazione di Palermo
	Diramazione per Fiorenzuola (12,3)	A1 - A21
	Diramazione Stroppiana-Santhià (29,7 km)	A4 - A26
	Diramazione Predosa-Bettole (17 km)	A7 - A26
	Diramazione Alcamo-Trapani (36,9 km)	A29 - Trapani
	Diramazione per Birgi (13,1 km)	A29dir - Aeroporto di Trapani-Birgi
	Bretella aeroporto Falcone e Borsellino (4 km)	A29 - Aeroporto di Palermo
	Raccordo per via Belgio (5,6 km)	A29 - Circonvallazione di Palermo
	Diramazione per Pinerolo (23,44 km)	A55 - Pinerolo
	Diramazione per Moncalieri (6,18 km)	A6 - Moncalieri
	Raccordo della Falchera (3,13 km)	A55 - A4 - SR 11
	Bretella/raccordo aeroporto (6,73 km)	A57 - Aeroporto di Venezia

Important alpine tunnels ((in Italian) trafori) are identified by the capital letter "T" followed by a single digit number. Currently there are only three T-classified tunnels: Mont Blanc Tunnel (T1), Great St Bernard Tunnel (T2) and Frejus Road Tunnel (T4). Tunnels that cross the border between Italy and France (T1, T4) or Switzerland (T2), are treated as motorways (green signage, access control, and so on), although they are not proper motorways. The code T3 was once assigned to the Bargagli-Ferriere Tunnel in Ligurian Appennines before it was reclassified as SP 226.

	Traforo del Monte Bianco
	Traforo del Gran San Bernardo
	Traforo del Frejus

RA stands for Raccordo autostradale (translated as "motorway connection"), a relatively short spur route that connects an autostrada to a nearby city or tourist resort not directly served by the motorway. These spurs are owned and managed by ANAS (with some exceptions, such as the RA7 that became A53 when assigned to a private company for maintenance). Some spurs are toll-free motorways (type-A), but most are type-B or type-C roads. All RA have separate carriageways with two lanes in each direction. Generally, they do not have an emergency lane.

Symbol	Number
	RA1	A1 - A13 - A14 (Tangenziale di Bologna)
	RA2	A3 - Avellino
	RA3	A1 - Siena
	RA4	A3 - Reggio Calabria - SS106
	RA5	A3 - Potenza
	RA6	A1 - Perugia
	A53 (or RA7)	A7 - Tangenziale di Pavia
	RA8	A13 - Ferrara - Porto Garibaldi
	RA9	A16 - Benevento
	RA10	Torino - A55 - Turin Airport
	RA11	Ascoli - A14 - Porto d'Ascoli
	RA12	A25 - Chieti - A14 - Pescara
	RA13	A4 - SS202
	RA14	RA13 - Fernetti (state border with Slovenia)
	RA15	A18 - A19 - Aut. CT-SR (Tangenziale di Catania)
	RA16	A28 - SS13 Pontebbana

Strada extraurbana principale sign

Type B highway (or strada extraurbana principale), commonly but unofficially known as superstrada (Italian equivalent for expressway), is a divided highway with at least two lanes in each direction, paved shoulder on the right, no cross-traffic and no at-grade intersections. Access restrictions on such highways are exactly the same as autostrade. Signage at the beginning and the end of the highways is the same, except the background color is blue instead of green. The general speed limit on strade extraurbane principali is 110 km/h. Strade extraurbane principali are not tolled. All strade extraurbane principali are owned and managed by ANAS, and directly controlled by the Italian government or by the regions.

• State highway (Italy)
• Transport in Italy
• Rai isoradio
• List of controlled-access highway systems
• Evolution of motorway construction in European nations

• Autostrade per l'Italia Official website
• Geographic data related to Autostrade of Italy at OpenStreetMap