Italian Driver's License

Yay! I passed my driving test and now have my Italian driver's license! 

I knew that eventually I would want to drive here since I'm living and building my life here. At first it wasn't so important since most of my life revolved around the center of Bologna. Work was within walking distance along with the grocery store, the doctor, and really any other place I would need to go. Not to mention that the bus system here works really well (except when they go on strike which is at least once a month).

But at some point having a valid license would be helpful and probably necessary. So we went and inquired at a few different driving schools. The first thing to clarify was if my American license would have any validity. Unfortunately it didn't. It was as if I didn't even have a license so I would need to start from zero. I had to take both the written test, six behind the wheel lessons with an instructor, and then the final driving test. 

Getting your driver's license in Italy costs much more than in the United States. I remember in high school taking the theory during the school day as another class and only 3 lessons with an instructor so everything was already cheaper. Here all driving schools are private. Each school asks a different price and you can find groupon deals but in the end you'll end up paying around 700/800euros. Along with paying the driving school, for the theory exam, the driving exam, and the driving lessons you must also pay some taxes through the post office and get two separate doctor visits. And if you fail a part of the exam you unfortunately have to pay again to take it which is around 200 euros. 

So I enrolled in a school and received my books. One book with all the rules and in and outs of driving and the second with just quizzes. Of course having gotten my license when I was 16 I already knew how to drive but I needed to learn the terminology, the new road signs that we don't have in the US, and also mostly master how the quiz works. In fact, the book for the quizzes is twice as thick as the driving manual. I didn't attend any classes and instead just did quiz after quiz after quiz. Out of 40  true/false questions you can get four wrong. 

Some questions were so ridiculous such as: 

" Obese people don't need to wear seat belts" 

"The crosswalk stoplight is for an escalator"

"Helping an injured person could save their life"

"A person's license can be revoked if he loses his morals"  

Or they're ridiculously hard because they ask specific questions regarding trailers, weight, and speed. Along with having to know rules for scooters and the weights, speeds, and license classification for all other vehicles. For example:

"The BE license allows you to drive trucks made up of an authorized maximum mass of 3,500 kilograms with an attached trailer that has a mass up to 3,500 kilograms." 

"The B license allows you to drive a scooter if you're at least 21 years old and the scooter has an input higher than 15kW"

"With the A2 license you can drive a scooter with or without a side car with an input up to 35kW with a power to weight ratio not more than 0.2kW/kg given that there isn't another version of the same model that has developed double the maximum power" 

I enrolled in September and in early November I told the driving school I wanted to book my theory exam. I had to wait until mid-January to take the exam which of course was frustrating.  You take the theory exam at the Department of Transportation and it's for the whole county of Bologna which means there are a lot of people and there was of course a waiting list.

Thankfully I passed the theory exam the first time around. I was extremely nervous knowing how difficult the exam is and not wanting to have to wait another month or even longer and more so not pay another 200 euros! I don't know how many questions I got wrong since it was all electronic/touch screen. But it didn't really matter, as long as I passed! A week later I received the "foglia rosa" (driver's permit).

Afterwards I immediately started going to my six behind the wheel lessons. Thankfully the instructor understood that I already knew how to drive and so he took me to the area where they test you and so I felt pretty confident knowing where the one-ways were, and the do not enters, and any other tricks that might get you on the exam.

You have to wait a month to take the driving part of the exam from taking the theory part. The first available date for the exam was in the last week of February. There were five of us taking the test. I was third in line. It was nerve-racking having to wait in the bar for my turn and seeing the first person come back - passed, the second - passed, and then it was my turn.

The instructor sits next to you in the front and the examiner in the back. The examiner mumbled when she gave directions and so I missed her first instruction to start the car and had to ask her to please repeat which of course made me more nervous than I already was. You need to drive for 20-25 minutes straight. Within a matter of no time we were back to the starting point after doing corner backing parking, merging onto the highway, and driving around some roundabouts and side streets. It felt super fast and when I was back the other two girls that were waiting said it also went fast. I later found out that the examiner only had me drive about 12-15 minutes since it was obvious I knew what I was doing. 

You receive your license on the spot if you pass. The examiner passed me my license and asked me to check to see if my name and birthdate were correct. I was shaking so much that I could barely even read the card, but it was all ok!

It feels incredibly good to finally be able to legally drive in Italy. Since September it has felt like a long time coming and I had hoped to have this all over with before Christmas, but of course that was very optimistic for Italian timing. But now it's over with and I'll always have my license.