Italy road trip cost calculator
Pick where you start and where you are going. You get the driving distance and time, an estimate of motorway tolls and fuel, the cost per person, and a warning if the destination has a ZTL.
Routes © OpenStreetMap contributors, via the OSRM routing service. Default prices are rough averages for October 2026 — set today’s.
How the estimate is worked out
Fuel is the route distance × your car’s consumption × the price per litre. Hire-car brochures quote laboratory figures; on Italian motorways at 130 km/h a family car typically uses more, so err upwards. Prices differ between self-service and attended pumps and between town and motorway — the ministry’s Osservaprezzi carburanti lists today’s price at every station in Italy.
Tolls are estimated as the motorway share of the distance × a rate per kilometre. Italian motorway tolls are charged by distance and vehicle class, and the rates rise on 1 January most years, so the result is a planning figure. For the exact amount on a specific route, use the route planner on the Autostrade per l’Italia website. Set the share to 0 for routes on the free superstrade, such as the Florence–Siena road or most of Sicily’s A19.
At the far end, the calculator tells you whether your destination has a camera-enforced ZTL — the most expensive surprise of an Italian road trip is usually not the toll but the fine that arrives months later.
Paying tolls
Take a ticket at the entry barrier and pay at the exit. Lanes marked with a white card symbol or cash take cards and coins; the yellow Telepass lanes are only for cars with an electronic transponder — if you drive into one without it, the barrier will not open: press the help button and you will be given a way to pay afterwards. It is stressful, not a fine. Some hire companies rent a transponder. A few motorways, such as the Pedemontana north of Milan, have no barriers at all and are paid online afterwards.
Questions
How much are motorway tolls in Italy?
Most of the network is run by Autostrade per l’Italia and other concessionaires that charge by distance and vehicle class. For an ordinary car (class A) a rough planning figure is €0.08 per kilometre — about €8 per 100 km — but mountain sections, tunnels and some private stretches cost more, and a few urban ring roads are free. The calculator uses the rate you set; the Autostrade route planner gives the exact toll.
Should I fill up on the motorway?
You can, but motorway service areas are usually among the most expensive places to buy fuel in Italy, and the attended pumps (servito) cost more than self-service (fai da te) at the same station. Filling up in town before you join the motorway is usually cheaper.
Is the distance exact?
It comes from an open routing service (OSRM, built on OpenStreetMap) and is normally within a few per cent of what a sat-nav shows. If the service does not answer, the calculator falls back to the straight-line distance plus 25% and says so.
Does it include the ferry to Sicily or Sardinia?
No. The Strait of Messina crossing and the Sardinia ferries are priced separately. Routes to Sicily include the drive to and from the strait; for Sardinia, the calculator only works for trips on the island.