Driving in Italy

Italy truly does take the cake for world's worst drivers. And you thought it was the Japanese!
1. Parking car in middle of one lane road to pop into a store for a few minutes, during rush hour. "Hey! My emergency lights are on!" There is no way around them.
2. Cars driving on the wrong side of the road to pass traffic and then not be able to merge back into the correct lane of traffic when oncoming traffic approaches. So that in the middle lane there will be two cars at a stand still facing each other flashing their brights and honking.
3. Dumb, dumb DUMBass scooters.
4. Passing ME in the middle of an intersection.
5. Cars driving on sidewalks (and mopeds too).
6. Cars parked in all sorts of configurations (facing traffic, half on sidewalk, and always double parked)
7. SmartCars driving 110 MPH.
8. Driving on freeway with lane line directly under middle of car.
9. Passing on a curve.
10. Passing a passing car.
11. Driving on opposite side of median to avoid rough road on their lane, requiring me to stop until there was a break in the traffic to allow me to continue on my way.
12. Knocking down all the standup reflectors at construction site within a few days.
13. Right of way? EVERYONE has the right of way!
14. Attempting to pass on the right to only have to potential passee speed up and then you play "insistent passer-speed along the pedestrian lane and run pedestrian Coral off into the ditch."
15. Tailgate with your brights on.
16. Often times there won't be any traffic lines on very wide streets approaching large traffic circles.

I learned the following "rules" for driving in Italy before obtaining my license:
Flash your lights to let someone know you are letting them into traffic.
Flash your lights if you want the car in front of you to pull over and let you pass.
Turn on your left blinker in the fast lane of the autostrade to insist that all traffic in front of you immediately depart from lane to let you through.

On Gas:

First of all, in Italy you have three choices for gas: unleaded (mid-grade), leaded, or diesel. They are all at the same pump, so beware!

Matthew and I can buy government deal gas coupons that make it $3.48 a gallon. They are a pain in the donkey-butt to use because not all gas stations take them, and you have to go to the gas station at the correct times (not during lunch break, not on weekends, not at night).

Without the gas coupons it is $10.97766 a gallon for unleaded gas, mid-grade. How nice is that?
There is a limited number of gas coupons we can get a month.
All gas stations are 24 hour by self service. There is a machine that you insert euro into and then select which pump and ta da! I love the 24 hour machine. In fact, you get a 2 cent discount for using the machine at any hour as opposed to paying inside. Also takes credit cards.