🇮🇹 Italy — HGV driving bans 2026
In Italy, the weekend ban only targets Sundays and public holidays, but it is supplemented by a long summer calendar driven by holiday traffic. Add to this highly codified exemptions (the well-known green "D" and "A" signs) and separate rules for hazardous materials. Here are the details, date by date.
1. General rule
The basic restriction applies to heavy goods vehicles over 7.5 t GVW:
🚫Sundays and public holidays. Driving ban from 09:00 to 22:00 every Sunday and every public holiday.
☀️Summer Sundays. In June, July, August and September, the Sunday ban starts earlier: from 07:00 (until 22:00).
In addition to these days, a series of fixed dates linked to major holiday traffic flows applies, detailed in the next section.
2. Additional dates 2026
Beyond Sundays and public holidays, the ban on vehicles over 7.5 t also applies on the specific dates and times below. Click to expand each period:
Spring — around Easter ▾
Friday 3 April — from 14:00 to 22:00.
Saturday 4 April — from 09:00 to 16:00.
Tuesday 7 April — from 09:00 to 14:00.
Saturday 30 May — from 09:00 to 14:00.
Summer — Saturdays 08:00–16:00 ▾
From 08:00 to 16:00 on the following Saturdays:
July: Saturdays 4, 11, 18 and 25 July.
August: Saturdays 22 and 29 August.
Summer — Fridays 16:00–22:00 ▾
From 16:00 to 22:00 on the following Fridays:
July: Fridays 24 and 31 July.
August: Fridays 7 and 14 August.
15 August long weekend — Saturdays 08:00–22:00 ▾
From 08:00 to 22:00 on the following Saturdays:
Saturday 1 August and Saturday 8 August.
3. Time-window adjustments
Certain journeys benefit from a shifted ban window, provided the origin or destination of the load can be documented:
🚢Coming from abroad or from Sardinia. Vehicles arriving from abroad or from Sardinia and required to unload in Italy start their ban 4 hours later (proof of origin required).
⛴️Entering Sicily by ferry. The same 4-hour shift applies to vehicles entering Sicily by ferry from another Italian region — except those coming from Calabria via the ports of Reggio di Calabria and Villa San Giovanni.
🌍Heading abroad. Vehicles loaded in Italy for delivery abroad have a ban that ends 2 hours earlier.
🚆To a combined transport terminal. For vehicles loading for abroad and serving a combined transport terminal, the ban ends 4 hours earlier (see the list of terminals below).
⚓Genoa port area. Within the port of Genoa, the ban also ends 4 hours earlier.
View the list of combined transport terminals ▾
Rail/road terminals: Bologna, Padua, Verona (Quadrante Europa), Turin-Orbassano, Rivalta Scrivia, Trento, Novara, Domodossola, Parma-Fontevivo.
Intermodal terminals: Busto Arsizio, Milan-Rogoredo (Milano-Rogoredo), Milan-Smistamento (Milano-Smistamento).
Others: airports and freight train stations.
4. Exemptions (green sign "D")
Fully exempt from the ban:
🥬Perishable and sensitive goods. Transport of perishable foodstuffs, fresh and dairy products, cut flowers and live animals. These vehicles must display, on both sides and at the rear, a green sign 50 × 40 cm bearing the letter "D" printed in black, 20 cm high.
🚑Emergency and necessity. Emergency and rescue vehicles, transport of medical equipment, fuel for distribution or consumption, and drinking water for domestic use.
↩️Return to starting point. Vehicles returning to their starting point where the journey is less than 50 km and uses no motorway.
💡 The green "D" sign identifies an exempt cargo: without it, an inspector may treat the vehicle as driving illegally, even if the load was genuinely perishable.
5. Prefecture authorisations (sign "A")
Other transports may be authorised to travel, but only with a prefecture authorisation (prefettura) of the province of departure — or the province of entry into Italy for international journeys. The application must be submitted at least 10 days in advance and the authorisation is valid for a maximum of 6 months.
⏱️Goods liable to deteriorate rapidly (by their nature, season or climate) that must be transported without delay from the place of production to the place of storage or sale.
🌾Fodder for animal feed.
🏭Goods to be transported in cases of absolute necessity or urgency linked to continuously operating industrial processes.
💡 These three cases require a green sign 50 × 40 cm bearing the letter "A" printed in black, 20 cm high — not to be confused with the "D" sign for exemptions in section 4.
Agricultural vehicles operating on the national road network are also subject to a derogation.
6. Transport of hazardous materials
Beyond the general bans, certain dangerous goods are subject to a separate regime:
☢️Classes 1 and 7 (explosives and radioactive materials) — banned from 23 May to 6 September, from Saturday 08:00 to Sunday 24:00, in addition to the fixed dates of the general rule. A prefecture derogation is only possible for urgent works of national importance, along prescribed routes, within set durations and procedures.
🎆Outside ban periods, the transport of hazardous materials is subject to prefecture authorisation only for fireworks of classes 4 and 5.
🐌Specific speed limits for explosives. Vehicles carrying explosive materials or objects are limited to 30 km/h in built-up areas and 50 km/h outside built-up areas. For other dangerous goods, ordinary speed limits apply.
7. Public holidays 2026
The ban from 09:00 to 22:00 (or 07:00–22:00 on summer Sundays) applies on these dates. Some patron saints' days apply only in one city or region (indicated in brackets).
1 January — New Year's Day
6 January — Epiphany
5 April — Easter Sunday
6 April — Easter Monday
25 April — Liberation Day
1 May — Labour Day
25 May — Whit Monday (Trentino-Alto Adige only)
2 June — National Republic Day
24 June — St John the Baptist (Florence, Genoa, Turin only)
29 June — Sts Peter and Paul (Rome only)
15 July — St Rosalia (Palermo only)
15 August — Assumption (Ferragosto)
19 September — San Gennaro (Naples only)
4 October — San Petronio (Bologna only)
1 November — All Saints' Day
7 December — Sant'Ambrogio (Milan only)
8 December — Immaculate Conception
25 December — Christmas Day
26 December — St Stephen's Day
8. Good to know
🚦Speed limits: 50 km/h in built-up areas; on motorways 100 km/h (up to 12 t) or 80 km/h (over 12 t); on other roads 80 km/h (up to 12 t) or 70 km/h (over 12 t).
🍺Alcohol: maximum 0.5 g of alcohol per litre of blood.
❄️Tyres: winter tyres compulsory from 15 October to 15 April in the Aosta Valley; snow chains compulsory in signposted zones; studded tyres permitted from 15 November to 15 March for HGVs of at least 3.5 t.
💡Lights: dipped headlights compulsory during the day outside built-up areas and in tunnels; rear fog lights only when visibility falls below 50 m.
📞Useful numbers: 113 (police), 115 (fire brigade), 118 (medical emergencies), 803.116 (ACI breakdown — also valid in Vatican City and San Marino).
🛠 Drive with confidence, wherever you are in Europe
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