The worst times to drive in Italy over Easter weekend 2025

Local Italy

15-04-2025

Italy's motorways (or autostrade) rarely see much in the way of heavy traffic on regular weekdays or weekends. But that all changes around national public holidays as hundreds of thousands of people take to the road to reach their chosen holiday destinations.
That's why Italy's State Police (Polizia di Stato) issues traffic warnings ahead of all of Italy's major holidays, including Easter weekend, and even publishes its own calendar showing when traffic is predicted to be at its worst.
The calendar is colour-coded, with a green marker indicating ordinary traffic conditions, yellow indicating heavy traffic, red indicating heavy traffic with 'possible critical conditions', and black indicating 'critical' traffic.
As some 11.3 million people in Italy are currently expected to travel for the upcoming vacanze di pasqua, Italian roads are expected to see heavy traffic over the long weekend, though some days (and times) will be worse than others for motorists.
When is traffic most likely?
Police are expecting people to take to the road earlier than usual this Easter weekend, with heavy traffic starting on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 16th and continuing into the morning of Thursday, April 17th.
Possible critical conditions are forecast for Thursday afternoon, as well as the morning of Good Friday, when thousands of people around Italy will embark on their Easter getaways.
Heavy traffic is expected on Friday afternoon, with more possible critical congestion forecast for the morning of Saturday, April 19th.
Traffic should then ease off slightly in the afternoon.
Official road traffic forecasts for the Easter weekend from Italy's Polizia di Stato.
By Easter Sunday, traffic conditions should have calmed, as most Italians tend to focus on their family lunches rather than travelling on the day. Some roads, however, may still see intense traffic in the afternoon.
Unsurprisingly, the whole of Easter Monday (or pasquetta) is expected to be marked by heavy congestion, with possible critical conditions in the afternoon.
Many Italians will take a trip out of town (the so-called gita fuori porta) on the day, which is likely to result in heavy traffic on many routes, especially roads connecting big cities to popular seaside or countryside locations.
On top of that, pasquetta officially closes out the Easter holidays, which means that many of those who spent the long weekend away from home will likely be making the journey back on Monday afternoon or evening.
A last burst of potentially critical traffic is forecast for Tuesday morning, reducing to just heavy congestion by the afternoon.
Travel on Italian roads should return to normal conditions on Wednesday.
Which roads are most likely to see heavy traffic?
Motorways connecting the north of the country to the south are the most likely to experience heavy traffic over the Easter holidays as many Italians will return to their hometowns to spend time with family and friends.
Motorway A1, which connects Milan to Naples, and Motorway A14, connecting Bologna to Taranto, are both likely to see traffic jams over the long weekend, especially on Good Friday and Easter Monday.
Drivers may also come across heavy traffic on the A4, which connects Turin to Trieste, and the A22, which links the Brenner Pass to Modena.
Major state roads (or strade statali in Italian) connecting big cities to popular coastal or countryside locations may also be affected by heavy traffic, especially on Easter Monday.
Useful information for travellers
If you're planning on travelling this weekend, there are a number of resources that you can use to keep up to date with the latest developments on the road.
This online map from Italy's motorway construction and maintenance company ANAS features live updates on road closures, maintenance work, traffic levels and even weather conditions. The service is also available through their mobile app, 'VAI'.
Motorway company Autostrade per l'Italia offers a similar live map (also available in English), showing road closures and traffic jams, as well as the locations of the nearest petrol stations and service areas.
Finally, if you'd like to speak directly with an operator while you're on the road, you can do so by either contacting ANAS's customer service at 800 841 148 or calling the Transport Ministry's info centre (CCISS) at 1518.