Driving in Sicily Guide and Tips (From Personal Experience)

I visited Sicily in January 2025 and did a road trip around Sicily in a rented car. This was my first trip to Sicily and I want to share all you need to know about driving in Sicily. 

I will share my entire experience of renting a car in Sicily, and add in my personal observations as well as tips that I think would be useful to know before driving in Sicily. 

I hope this information helps you plan your trip to Sicily. 

Is driving in Sicily dangerous?

No, driving in Sicily isn’t dangerous. That’s my final decisive answer. 

Many Italians and foreigners rent cars in Sicily all year round and go on extensive road trips around Sicily to explore and admire all its beauties. 

But oftentimes, tales of Sicily go in the way and inevitably conclude that some parts of the Sicilian island aren’t safe for tourists. 

I’m not Sicilian, but after driving all around the island and getting a bit accustomed to local etiquette and understanding some recent history of the place, these superficial conclusions come from Mafia (a word that shouldn’t be easily thrown around in conversations while in Sicily) interference. 

However, when I say it isn’t dangerous, I talk from a traveller’s perspective. 

I’m someone who travelled to countries on five continents (60 and still counting), driven in over 20 countries on four continents and has 15+ years of driving experience. I have not seen it all, but I might be a bit more cautious than others. 

Some say that Italy has the worst traffic in Europe. I can’t say it isn’t stressful, even for an experienced driver. But not all “dangerous driving situations” are the same, and I think it’s really important to spread the word about how driving in Sicily really is. 

And I’m going to tell you my story, my tips and my impressions.

As a person who has nothing to sell you, I don’t work for a rental company, and I just did an entire 9-day road trip around Sicily.

Remember that it’s very important to understand who tells the story, who tries to warn you about a place that’s scary or not, and what their interest is behind their warnings. 

Once you understand that, you will see that Sicily isn’t nearly as dangerous or unmanageable as some will still try to convince you that it is. But there are some rules to follow (as with any place), and if you do that, you will be fine. 

Here are my tips and my story about renting a car in Sicily. 

Car rental companies in Sicily

Sicily (25,711 km²) is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and it has a rich history dating back to about 10,000 BC the first ruins you can still see today are from about 750 BC. 

If you want to see all those ancient ruins in Sicily, explore its picturesque countryside, and avoid tourist crowds, then renting a car is the best option.

Note that Sicily is a highly visited island, and there is a good railroad infrastructure and a lot of bus routes, too. 

But nothing will allow you to explore Sicily like a rental car. 

I chose to rent from Autovia.

Sicily is one of those places where driving makes so much more sense. The airports have huge parking lots and several buildings dedicated to car rentals. 

My rental experience in Sicily 

To find Autovia, I had to get out of the arrivals terminal in Catania and walk for about 7 minutes. The signage for the different companies is not perfect, so you can either check Google Maps or ask the staff at the airport. 

But many other rental car companies are around; you just need to look for the signs, and you’ll find them.

I was in Sicily off-season, so I rented my car online only a few days before arriving, and there were still many options online. This will not be the case during the summer. 

The employee of the car rental company was very friendly, and you can tell this is a huge business over there. They speak English and are eager to help. 

They have a small speech to convince you to buy the insurance from them. 

In my case, I was convinced I didn’t need the insurance, but I ended up buying the full coverage insurance because I had an issue with my credit card, and I had no other option if I wanted to rent the car at that point. 

But the rental car company aims to sell that insurance to all its customers and can be quite pushy about it. They try to use fear and tell stories of how other customers had their cars broken into and their luggage stolen.

Then they go on to tell you how the roads are in terrible conditions, and if you don’t want to get any insurance, you should at least get road assistance, as you can have issues with the tyres. 

They also insist that some thieves will organise stakeouts to find out what tourists leave their luggage in the car overnight. The employee said that we should never leave our luggage in the car, at any point, in any parking lot, regardless of the situation. 

My personal opinion is that they sounded almost like a threat, and I left the office fearing for my life. 

But the reality wasn’t anything like that. 

The car rental company offered me a Kia Sportage automatic, although I rented a Volkswagen Polo automatic, saying that was the only option for me. 

I didn’t mind much, but my only concern was about its size and whether it was going to create any issues with driving on city roads. But it turns out it was not an issue at all. 

Manual or Automatic car in Sicily?

People in Sicily, as in most of Europe, use mostly manual drive cars, and these are the most common to find rental cars. 

However, automatic can also be found, as newer cars that are sold these days are automatic. 

As a European myself, after decades of driving a manual shift car, I am now tired of it and want to feel more comfortable when going on road trips, and that’s why I always try to rent an automatic one when travelling. 

Because I travelled to Sicily in January, which is outside the high tourist season, I didn’t have any issue finding an automatic car to rent.

But this can be a problem if you want to rent during the summer because the demand is always higher for automatic cars and the supply is much lower. 

My recommendation is to check out DiscoverCars, and filter for the type of car you want to rent and then rent it as soon as possible, because renting an automatic in Europe, especially during the tourist season, is a gamble. 

In the end, driving an automatic car in Sicily was a breeze. 

After doing a round trip in Sicily, I can definitely say that it’s very easy to drive an automatic there, and, in fact, a lot of locals have automatic cars.

It just seems to me that rental companies have mostly smaller, manual cars to offer. 

What to know before driving in Sicily

Some say that driving in Italy is the worst in Europe. And the more South you go, the worse it gets. From my personal experience, I can agree. 

I’ve rented cars before and driven in the northern part of Italy, and now I can say that driving in Sicily is like driving in a different country. 

Sicily is an old blend of history and cultures, and you can see that in everything, including the driving culture. It seemed to me that driving in Sicily resembles traffic in some countries in North Africa. 

There is nothing racist here; it is just that a lot of the most common-sense traffic rules are ignored in Sicily. And that’sespecially true in the largest cities, such as Palermo and Catania. 

I was in Sicily in January, so there wasn’t much traffic in smaller cities or around the touristy sites, such as Agrigento or Cefalu. But there was the usual local traffic around Catania and Palermo, and that took me a bit by surprise. 

Because this is a wider issue, and I need to explain more in detail, I will address each topic I find important – local drivers, crosswalks, and garbage on the street. 

Local drivers in Sicily

Locals tend to be aggressive in their driving, not giving way, even when the traffic rules dictate that. 

In some cases, it seemed to me that it was not the traffic signs that mattered, but the boldness of the drivers, as if, let’s see who has the courage to get in front first, with the ongoing risk that the others would do the same, and this could result in some terrible car crash. 

It was more of a standoff than anything else. Of course, all these situations would happen really fast, as patience is not a local virtue in Sicily. 

I read somewhere online that no matter what you do in Sicily, even if you’re a foreigner and have no clue where you’re going, you should always be moving, and the rest will manage to go around you. This doesn’t seem to make sense now, but it will make sense once you’re there. 

As I said, it looked terrible at first, but somehow, they managed and never seemed to create actual crashes, which was a relief. I was particularly frightened when I realised some drivers are really old and they have no regard for traffic signs or rules, driving as if they own the street.

But they always seemed to stay safe, although it didn’t look that way. 

My recommendation is always to be cautious of others and expect things like being cut off, not being given priority, changing lanes or directions without signalling, and stopping in the middle of the road without prior notice. 

Crosswalks in Sicily

What blew my mind was that local drivers don’t stop at crosswalks, and the police didn’t seem to care. So, as a pedestrian, don’t expect anyone to stop. It’s more of your job to wait for the street to be empty and not put yourself in danger. 

And if you can’t do that, then try to walk firmly but with caution, and stick your hand out to the driver as if you’re showing them to stop as you’re crossing the street. 

I stopped at crosswalks to allow pedestrians to cross the street, and they literally looked at me, thanked me, and even made a small gesture. 

So that must be a clear sign that you’re not from Sicily. 

The only rule that seemed to be cared for was the red light, but except for bigger cities, there aren’t many light stops. Also, bikes and motos don’t seem to obey them anyway. 

Garbage in Sicily

What might come as a shock is that drivers and passengers don’t seem to mind dumping garbage from their cars while in motion. 

For a large part of the road trip, I saw massive garbage dumps right on the side of the road, and it seemed like people were just putting their household garbage there. 

Unfortunately, this seemed to me a huge issue, especially in the Southern part of Sicily, where all the vegetable greenhouses are located. 

A lot of locals warned me that the roads were in bad shape, but what I found was that there weren’t potholes in the roads that I needed to avoid, but more garbage bags.  

Driving in Sicily tips

I know that driving in Sicily sounds terrible, but I’m simply giving you all the information upfront, so you won’t be as surprised when you arrive in Sicily and you will be able to drive, knowing all of this. 

Here are my best tips for driving in Sicily:

1. Always be cautious around other cars in traffic. Assume they will cut you off without signalling, and be prepared for it, even if it doesn’t always happen. This way, you will not be surprised by the actions of other drivers, and you will stay safe. 
2. Don’t rush to switch lanes if you feel uncertain. Even if you have priority, other drivers will not give way. So it’s better to wait for a safe moment to get into that traffic. 
3. Don’t feel alarmed if other drivers honk at you. They don’t use it a lot, but it seems to be used as a communication language, and it could mean anything. From my experience, they use the honking as a way of saying, “Don’t cut in front of me, I’m coming, “” Hurry up, you’re driving too slowly”, or “I’m driving towards your lane, and I will cut you off, so make room”. I might be wrong, but my solution was to stay away and make room for those drivers. And I was safe that way.
4. Use GPS for navigation. Streets can be confusing, especially in cities, but navigation is good. I had a car with integrated navigation. I also used Google Maps on my phone, which was great. 
5. Respect speed limits. In many areas, there are signs for radars or police checking for the speed limit. At the same time, I noticed that most drivers often ignore those signs and drive above the speed limit, so it’s a good idea to drive slowly. I was there in winter, so there wasn’t a lot of traffic, and probably the police weren’t setting up radars, but as a general rule, always observe how locals drive. If they slow down or even flash at you, there might be police down the road. Regardless, I recommend staying safe and driving within the limit at all times. Sicily isn’t that big, and you will reach your destination anyway. 

Stay connected and use GPS when driving

I always stay connected when driving, especially when driving in foreign countries. In Europe, a lot of drivers use the Waze app, because it can show you the best route, but you can also see what other issues might be on your route. Other drivers might point out that there’s a construction up ahead, a car crash, or a police radar. 

I also use Google Maps, because I like to explore the area and see all the attractions around. 

But to use all these apps, you need to be connected to the internet. And for that, I recommend Airalo. I used it in many countries, in Europe and outside of Europe, and it never failed me. 

Use the code “NEWTOAIRALO15” if you’re a new user to get 15% off, or “AIRALOESIM10” to get 10% off for existing customers. Sign up here.

Parking in Sicily

Parking was a big issue and a constant source of stress for me in Sicily. 

It all started with the employee from the car rental company who told me all the horror stories about stolen cars and broken into, and customers who didn’t have insurance. It was more of a gimmick to tap into my fears and make me buy the full insurance. 

In the end, I got the insurance because I had an issue with my credit card, and that was the only way for me to rent the car, but the anxiety stuck with me. 

All Sicilians warned me about always parking in paid parking (there are paid private parking lots in bigger cities in Sicily, and there are paid and free parking marked by the municipality). Apparently, the private parkings has cameras and are therefore deemed safe. 

Then they told me not to leave anything in the car, as that could attract thieves, and they might break into the car. They told me never to leave the luggage in the trunk either, because it’s common for thieves to break into cars hoping to find something there. 

The bottom line is that the car should be parked appropriately, empty at all times when parked, and be ready for people to scratch your car or try to break in. 

Even as an experienced driver, this stressed me out. 

Given that I organised my road trip around Sicily to switch accommodations daily, I was always searching for hotels and places to stop with appropriate parking. 

I somehow managed, but I was lucky because I was there during low season, and it wasn’t crowded. 

But after 9 days in Sicily, a road trip around the island, and countless parking spots and stops, I can say that they gave us a big scare at the start. I’m not saying that bad things can’t happen, but luckily, none of that happened to us. 

I was always trying to find accommodation so that we could leave our luggage and then go out to explore the place. 

But in some areas, we would just stop for three hours and then continue our trip. So that meant we had to leave our luggage in the trunk. But nothing terrible happened. 

Maybe we were lucky, but I strongly feel that many people were doing the same. 

Also, everywhere we went, the locals seemed relaxed. We were extra careful not to leave anything in sight inside the car, but the trunk was full of our luggage, including backpacks with laptops and essential stuff. 

Is this something I recommend? I don’t know; I was stressed the whole time. But during this entire trip, the car stayed intact. One important mention is that our rental from Autovia didn’t have a rental sticker on it, so people didn’t know we were tourists. Maybe that helps. 

Parking tips in Sicily

In my experience, parking is not as dreadful as some car rental companies make it sound. 

Sure, bad things can happen, and drivers should take some precautions, but I think some of the bad stories they share are meant to scare people and push them to buy full insurance. 

Here are my tips for parking in Sicily:

1. Never leave anything inside the car that can be seen from the outside. This can attract unwanted attention. 
2. If you leave luggage in the trunk, make sure it’s not visible from the outside. 
3. Don’t put stuff in the trunk and then close the car and leave. If someone sees you, they now know there is luggage in the trunk, and you might become a victim. Instead, arrange your things in the trunk, and then drive to the spot you want to park and act like there’s nothing else in the car. 
4. Always park legally. In most cities, there are markings on the ground. White lines mean free parking at all times. Blue lines mean paid parking during the day. You can pay at parking machines with coins or a card. Don’t forget to put the ticket inside the car, on the windshield. They check. 
5. If you need to stop in an area where parking is forbidden, you can do so for a short while. Locals do it all the time. But don’t leave it overnight; you will get a parking ticket. 
6. Different cities use different parking apps. For instance, a lot of parking use the Easypark app. But in Palermo, they use the APCOA FLOW app, which wasn’t available in the App Store. So, in that case, I just used the parking machine on the street. 
7. Park responsibly. While locals might park in weird locations, don’t try to do the same. This is a rental car, and you don’t want to cause any damage. I always made sure there was enough space around me so that I and others could move without endangering my car, and it was ok. 

And above all, be less stressed than I was. Nothing bad happened, and all that stress made me tired and less eager to enjoy my time in Sicily. 

One of my biggest tips is to not let the stress of the rental car get in the way of enjoying your trip. And if that means getting the full insurance, then so be it. Sicily is a gorgeous island and is worth the trip and the effort. So don’t spoil it for yourself. 

1-week itinerary Sicily examples

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, so if you only have one week for your road trip in Sicily, then you need to come to terms with the fact that you won’t be able to see it all. That’s a fact. 

So that means you need to decide what you want to see, prioritise what’s important to you, and what would make you happy during your trip to Sicily. 

You can add other places and smaller villages, add more days in a place and remove others. The possibilities are endless, so you should be aware that there are a lot of options, especially if you rent a car in Sicily. 

Note that Mount Etna is a bit further away from Palermo, but you can still add it to your itinerary if you want.

However, that might mean either spending more time in the car and less time actually enjoying Sicily or creating an itinerary that’s based on exploring the north side of Sicily. 

Is driving in Sicily worth it?

Yes, driving in Sicily is worth it 100%. There is no better way to explore the island than by renting a car and driving to all these places yourself. 

Many will say Sicily is dangerous and driving is unsafe, but from my personal experience, that’s mostly coming from locals who want to be extra careful and warn you of all possible dangers. 

But if you are an experienced driver, then driving in Sicily shouldn’t present any issues that you cannot easily overcome. Enjoy your road trip in Sicily.