This short post is an ode to my SatNav, a Nuvi Garmin called Guido. Driving in Italy can be testing at the best of times, more often that not though, it's not the other drivers that are the problem but the road signs.
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| Apparently, more than one road leads to Rome |
It sounds silly, but if you're planning to drive in Italy (and it is the best way to see the country outside of the main cities) do give serious consideration to buying or at least borrowing a SatNav. There are a number of reasons why:
- Signage in those little mountaintop villages can be misleading. I've seen signs pointing to two roads, which one do you take?
- A SatNav takes away some of the stress of driving in a strange place. It removes any uncertainty over which direction to take, leaving you to concentrate on the driving, rather than map reading.
- Commercial properties, such as B&Bs, agriturismos etc., have to pay to put signs up, so often, many don't. We once spent 30 minutes trying to find a B&B only to knock on the door of a random house to find that, by chance, we were knocking on the door of the B&B! A SatNav can search for nearby accommodation or, if you have the address, direct you straight to the (right) door.
Having a SatNav has really set us free. We've been more relaxed driving around Italy, going to new places etc., as we don't have to guess which way to go nor deal with guessing how far along a road we need to go!! We use a simple SatNav by Garmin, the Nuvi 275 (that link takes you to our new Lazio Explorer Amazon store). Of course, if you plan to do a lot of driving in Italy, you may want a more expensive model, but to be honest, ours does pretty much all we need, including telling us where the nearby petrol stations, restaurants or car parks are. Plus, it comes with maps for the whole of Europe (plus North America), so we don't need anything more.
Trust me, if you plan on driving in Italy, take a SatNav. We don't leave home without it!
We never leave home with one, my husband thinks it would spoil the fun of exploring!!
ReplyDeleteHe he! I can see your point, but it removes the dread my wife has that we'll end up lost in the middle of nowhere, so it's very much worth us having one (especially for me!).
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