Any car, naturally outranks any scooter and any sports car outranks any family car, not chauffeur driven.
This seems simple but can become complex. For example, does a brand new Fiat 600 outrank a two year old Fiat 350? What are the odds as between a ten year old Porsche and a Mercedes that needs washing?
Driving La Bella Italia
Moderator: Available
Van
As if these and similar questions were not enough, the bearing and dress of the drivers becomes an additional factor.
If one driver is in a suit and tie and the other is not, he raises the rank of his car by one grade -- unless the other is accompanied by a blonde under thirty and over five feet tall.
If one has a calling card and the other has not, the balance can shift in an instant. if both have calling cards, it becomes a contest of titles.
Van
Do not be distracted by all the shouting about what happened. Who cares what happened? That's over. What matters is what is happening now -- the contest of dignities!
You are being watched by hundreds of eyes alert to the slightest loss of poise. Hundreds of lips are waiting to snicker at your first retreat from savage indignation.
But you can win. As you stand there in your wilted nylon shirt, comprehending nothing, groggy with cross country driving, bilious with the change of diet, your children shrieking in your dust-covered station wagon, your wife sneering at your ineptitude -- You can win!! Just keep telling yourself:
"I am a person of consequence. I am. I am!!!"
You are being watched by hundreds of eyes alert to the slightest loss of poise. Hundreds of lips are waiting to snicker at your first retreat from savage indignation.
But you can win. As you stand there in your wilted nylon shirt, comprehending nothing, groggy with cross country driving, bilious with the change of diet, your children shrieking in your dust-covered station wagon, your wife sneering at your ineptitude -- You can win!! Just keep telling yourself:
"I am a person of consequence. I am. I am!!!"
Van
Well, basically, the Italian drivers don’t give a ##### about what’s happening behind them. Getting cursed out in Italian, though, is something you won’t soon forget.You can't back up?
Do they do Kumite's in Italy Van........
Couldn't resist.
F.
Italian driving is akin to opera: extravagant, excessive, dramatic.
Autostrada are designed to test your formula one driving skills.
Enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbK8kBhv ... ed&search=
I have driven similarly on these roads at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo years ago. It is contagious. After an Italy stay of 8 weeks _ Once back in the states I slipped into depression having, once again, to drive the American way.
This is scary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9J5tGHc ... ed&search=
Van
Driver’s license in Italy
And driving in Italy will lengthen your life span for sureTo obtain a driving license, requires both a written test (a test on "theory") and a road test. Usually, this happens only after the applicant has attended a very expensive private driving school
The manual is an amazing document, many hundreds of pages long covering everything from signaling to the national and international laws governing all roads throughout Europe.
A university first year physics course is hardly a match for this material.
And it's all tested, all of it is potentially reviewed on a 20 question exam for which there are multiple questions and answers for each item.
Every person driving any motorized vehicle here must have passed this and a road test.
Oh well...back to ItalyROME — Giovanni Viglione of northern Italy took turning 100 in his stride, passing his driver's test with flying colors on Wednesday.
According to the ANSA news agency, Viglione, who lives alone, needs to drive his Fiat 500 to his watercolor class in Rovereto, near Verona.
The former draftsman celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by his four children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Van
This is a nice thread you have going. Italian driving sounds exciting! Fitting for exotic cars.
Last edited by mikex1337 on Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
who can appreciate 'Italian ambiance'_
You haven’t lived….
Unless you have walked the Bologna Arcades in a sultry evening….
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN
Van
The Italian word for an automobile collision is L'Investimento.
When you are involved in a collision (notice I do not say "if," but "when"), you will at first wonder what you should do.
Sit tight until a cop arrives? Call the consulate? Start bribing witnesses? Don't worry. The aftermath of L'Investimento, provided there is no serious injury, is as formal as the figures of a quadrille. Simply follow your partner.
First, all drivers and passengers spring from their cars shouting Personal Abuse. Passersby spring from their cars.
Pedestrians, hopeful of being taken for motorists, act as if they have been principals in the crash.
Stores empty as shoppers join the crowd. Invalids rise from their beds for blocks around to totter to the scene, shouting and gesticulating.
Do not be afraid of this crowd. Even if you are utterly and absolutely in the wrong. Half these people are on your side simply because the other half are against you.
I can attest to that. And btw, there is no point in waiting for the carabineri, for they are too busy enjoying the street party that is sure to be happening the next town over.
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Bill Glasheen
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- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 1999 6:01 am
- Location: Richmond, VA --- Louisville, KY
