Uni Camping

Italy from a camper: the sostas, the restricted centres and the passes

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Two people working the service column on a gravel sosta, a camper alongside with its hatches open
The service column

Fresh water in, grey water out, cassette down the third drain. Three connections, and the reason the network exists at all.

Italy decides where you sleep by measuring the van

Length, height and gross weight decide which sostas, which passes and which ferries are open to you, before any question of taste.

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The limit is the radius, not the gradient — and four figures decide the rest

7 mThe standard sosta bayMost Italian service areas are built around a seven-metre bay. Longer than that and the vehicle overhangs its neighbour or does not enter at all.
6 mStelvio, northern sectionA published vehicle-length restriction on the most technical stretch. Beyond it, passage is prohibited rather than merely unwise.
3 500 kgThe figure on the bridgeThe common threshold on weight-restricted provincial bridges. What matters is the loaded mass, not the number on the registration document.
2 757 mPasso dello StelvioThe highest paved road in the Eastern Alps, and the reference point every other pass in these guides is measured against.
A brick town gate arch with a traffic-restriction plate bolted beside it
LuccaThe plate carries the hours; the lens sits above it. There is no barrier and nobody to ask.Photo: LuccaPortaSMariaOutside · Wikimedia Commons

The camera at the gate

How a ZTL works, and when the letter arrives. Almost every historic centre in the country has a zone, their hours differ, and the sign at the mouth of the street is the whole of the notice.

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01The camera at the gateAlmost every Italian historic centre is a limited-traffic zone enforced by camera, and the boundary is a line on a pole rather than a barrier.02How a varco works, from the pole to the postThe gate reads the plate, the plate is checked against a permit list, and what arrives months later is a notice by post.03When the letter arrivesNotices reach a foreign registered keeper through the hire company or the vehicle register, which is why they are so delayed. All four guides in this section
A bare alpine road climbing a slope in tight hairpins above the treeline
Above the treelineAbove the treeline the bends stop widening. The radius at the top is the radius at the bottom.

The limit is the radius

Passes, hairpins and the turning circle. A hairpin is a fixed curve, and a long vehicle either comes round it in one movement or it does not.

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01The limit is the radiusOn the high passes the constraint is not gradient or power but whether a long vehicle can get round a hairpin without shunting.02Forty-eight turns, and none of them widenThe Stelvio's north side is the set piece, and the numbered bends are a useful way to describe what a long wheelbase meets.03When the pass is shutHigh passes close for much of the year, and the closure dates shape any route drawn outside high summer. All four guides in this section
SWEPT PATH REAR OVERHANG INNER RADIUS 07 m the surface the body uses, not the wheels cuts inside the bend as the front comes round fixed — it does not widen towards the top Carriageway measured edge to edge; the vehicle drawn at seven metres, to the scale below. ROCK FACE 3.2 M
Swept path: what a long vehicle actually usesThe wheels follow one line and the body follows another. Rear overhang sweeps the inside of the bend at the moment the driver believes the front is clear.
StelvioBormioDolomitesLuccaVal d'OrciaNaples
Six places, one peninsulaSix places these guides keep returning to, from the Stelvio down to Naples. Each pin opens the guide that deals with it.

North to south, out of season

The country when the campsites are shut. Outside July and August the coastal infrastructure shuts and the high passes are closed, so the route moves inland and gets longer.

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01The country, north to south, out of seasonOutside July and August much of the coastal infrastructure is shut, and the route moves inland by necessity.02The long run southBelow Naples the distances get real and the service network thins out. All four guides in this section

The rule this site is built on

Fix the measurements first.
The itinerary is what is left over.

7.00 m6.00 m3 500 kg

The four sections

Sixteen guides in all. Every one of them is reachable from here or from the register.

01Italy measures the vanHeight, weight and length decide the route. Four guides.02The camera at the gateHow a ZTL works, and when the letter arrives. Four guides.03The limit is the radiusPasses, hairpins and the turning circle. Four guides.04North to south, out of seasonThe country when the campsites are shut. Four guides. Every guide, in one registerAll sixteen, with what each one covers.