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Traffico Intenso
By Jeremy Cuff
Surviving the driving in Sicily
Driving in Sicily is quite an experience for motorists of all abilities – a challenge for the confident driver, hell on earth for the driver with a nervous disposition. It verges on a competitive sport and threatens to become a contact sport at any moment!
Our introduction to Sicilian road etiquette was the transfer from Catania airport to Taormina in a “mock Mafioso” black Mercedes with tinted windows. We clung to the bumpers of slower cars, intimidating the drivers until they succumbed and moved over. We in turn had to do the same. You don’t mention stopping distances…. You just don’t stop!
The roads into and around Taormina are tricky and tight. The ancient Greeks didn’t choose it for easy access. Motorised vehicles are a necessary evil, transporting tourists and the supplies associated with them to the town. On the spaghetti of roads that smother the town like bindweed, scooters and Piaggio three wheelers rule the roost. Cars car penetrate most of the streets but the larger tourist buses have to congregate further down, requiring the occupants to wheeze and sweat their way up the hill into the main town.
Although “traffic unfriendly”, the spectacular location of Taormina was chosen to launch the Benetton Formula One cars in 1996 when the French-Sicilian Jean Alesi was their driver. Formula One fans visiting Sicily will soon understand where Alesi’s driving style originated – aggressive and unpredictable just like everyone else.
Then came out turn. We collected an Opel Corsa from the garage and turned into the tightest street imaginable. The mirrors were millimetres from either wall as we edged through, desperate not to trigger our collision damage waiver within the first hundred yards. No doubt about it, these roads must have caused much stress between Mr and Mrs Tourist. The locals have done it before. It also becomes obvious why they still drive Fiat 126’s in abundance – the original “city car” if ever there was one!
In Sicily, especially in the towns, road signs have a habit of fizzling out just when you need them most. Siracusa boasted the traffic chaos of an African city with a temperature to match. We were heading for the district of Ortygia and lost our way when we lost the signs. The locals had the benefit of knowing where they were going. We didn’t. After much pushing, shoving, cutting up, being cut-up, revving, tooting and weaving whilst bumper to bumper, door to door and mirror to mirror we found Ortygia. Thankfully it was worth it – and relatively traffic free!
Driving in the countryside and the interior is much easier and you won’t encounter much other traffic. Around Etna the roads are generally quiet apart from over sized tour buses, the odd kamikaze driver and volcanic eruptions. In the Madonie National Park behind Cefalu, subsiding roads, potholes and sheep are the greatest menaces to safe driving.
Eventually, we had to face Palermo – the legendary cauldron of Sicilian traffic problems. Our guidebook warned of “madness” and “unforgiving traffic” – implying that it shouldn’t be attempted by any sane person or any person wishing to remain sane. As we approached the outskirts of Palermo, a road sign warned of “traffico intenso”. We laughed nervously and plunged headlong into the fray.
So, what was it like?
Well, driving in Palermo is certainly fun. Not “madness”, but not for the fainthearted either. Nervous drivers can forget it. I likened it to “a British Touring car playstation with the added complication of scooters and pedestrians”. It’s certainly a busy place – more pedestrians than the London marathon, more cars than the M25 on a Friday night and seemingly more scooters than in Quadrophenia!
You quickly learn to avoid the pedestrians and scooters because they won’t avoid you. Here, the traffic is more “liquid”, flowing around objects of obstruction rather than queuing behind them. Drivers aren’t confined to the rigidity of lanes either – if the road is three lanes wide but there’s room for a fourth, then a fourth will appear. And it’s no place for road rage either – a futile emotion is Sicily. Anyway, if you do get irate – who are you getting irate with? Now there’s a thought.
If you’re planning to drive in Sicily then fine – it’s reputation is slightly worse than the reality. It is, however, a good idea to make Palermo your last stop unless you can cope with “driving” in at the deep end.
Driving in Sicily isn’t “madness” as the guidebook suggests but “unforgiving” it certainly is. I think “traffico intenso” sums it up best.
June 1999
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