ZTL zones in Abruzzo
Abruzzo has 8 towns and cities with a Limited Traffic Zone on this map, covering 8 zones in total. Pick a destination to see its restricted area and plan where to park.
Driving in Abruzzo
Abruzzo is the most mountainous region in peninsular Italy and, at the same time, has around 130 kilometres of Adriatic coast. Three national parks — Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga, Maiella, and the Abruzzo National Park — cover roughly a third of it, and the Apennines rise higher here than anywhere else in the chain. You can be on the beach at Pescara and above 2,000 metres at Campo Imperatore within a couple of hours.
Eight towns restrict their centres. Pescara, Chieti, Teramo and Lanciano are the larger ones; Sulmona, Celano, Tagliacozzo and Pratola Peligna are small inland towns where the restricted area amounts to a handful of streets. Most of these centres can be crossed on foot in five or ten minutes once you have parked outside, which makes the calculation an easy one.
Crossing Abruzzo by road
The A24 and A25 motorways cut across the region from the coast towards Rome and are a remarkable piece of engineering — the A24 climbs into the Gran Sasso massif and passes through it in a tunnel more than ten kilometres long, emerging on the far side of the range. They are the fast way between the Adriatic and L’Aquila or Rome.
Away from them the mountain roads are slow, scenic and, in winter, sometimes shut: the road up to Campo Imperatore closes with the first serious snow, and passes across the Maiella and the national park can be blocked for months. Winter tyres, or chains carried in the car, are required on many roads in the region through the winter, and hire cars are not always equipped — worth confirming when you book.
Sulmona and the inland towns
Sulmona is the one most visitors make a point of reaching: Ovid’s birthplace, with a Gothic aqueduct running along the side of Piazza Garibaldi and centuries of making confetti, the sugared almonds sold here in enormous flower-shaped bunches. Its restricted centre is essentially Corso Ovidio and the streets off it — a straight line you can walk end to end in ten minutes.
Celano and Tagliacozzo are smaller still, each with a castle above and a compact old town below, and Pratola Peligna is a village by comparison. For all of them the approach is the same: park on the ring road and walk in through the gate.
ZTL guides for Abruzzo 1
Other ZTL towns in Abruzzo 7
These towns have a Limited Traffic Zone shown on the map. Hours are listed where they are known; otherwise follow the link to the official source and the road signs.
- Celano — hours vary — confirm locally official details Show on map
- Chieti — Daily 09:00–16:00 & 18:00–06:00 (varies by gate) official details Show on map
- Lanciano — hours vary — confirm locally official details Show on map
- Pescara — Daily, 24 h · environmental zone Sun & holidays 16:00–20:00 official details Show on map
- Pratola Peligna — hours vary — confirm locally official details Show on map
- Sulmona — Daily 10:30–13:30 & 17:30–01:00 official details Show on map
- Tagliacozzo — hours vary — confirm locally official details Show on map
New to Italy’s Limited Traffic Zones? Start with the guides.
Read the ZTL guides