Hi, ok iv been in italy well one year which was back and forth.. but been living here permanantly for 6months now. The thing is i live in a small town 30mins from Torino, and finding this a bit difficult for getting about, i always need to rely on my fiance driving me places, and well i dont like doing that, and would love a little more independance. Im 21 years old, and have never learnt to drive, and really want to. Im trying to see if going back to the UK for an intensive driving course, test and all... or staying here if its possible and learning to drive with an English talking driving school? .. is that possible? thanks so much for your help

Katie xxx

Your chances of finding an autoscuola here that instructs in English are probably nil. If your Italian is even half decent, taking the classes in Italian improves your Italian enormously. The upside here these days, though, is that you can sit the theory test in English on computer.

Hi, I had the same dilemma but the problem with intensive driving courses in the UK is that you generally have to have done your theory test before starting, so you may end up having to spend quite a long time back home. I also noticed that they prefer you to have already had lessons before(ie you're not starting your intensive course entirely from scratch). What I ended up doing was having 11 or so hours of driving lessons in the UK before moving over here, then continuing in Italy. That way it wasn't such a trauma learning in Italian. I do speak the language fluently though so that has certainly helped. I presume you already have your residenza so are good to go- I had to wait until I had found a job to get residency, an ID card, and sign up for autoscuola.
I totally understand the independence thing though- I live about 20 mins outside Modena and relying on the sporadic train service is not great!

Ah, and then there's the Italian you'll need for the driving lessons (release the clutch slowly as you give it the gas!). It wasn't all that difficult for me to understand, but translating as I actually did the move was a little tricky. Let's just say I needed someone with a lot of patience. Every time I ignored what he told me (like to downshift when I didn't want to) he assumed I hadn't understood him. I guess that was better than his knowing I was just stubborn!

If you do any driving lessons in England, make sure they're on a stick shift, as that's what you'll have to learn to drive here (the only kind of dual control cars the driving schools seem to have).

You're 21...that's in your favor. Getting your driver's license here will cost you (by me it's 500 Euro--includes prep for theory exam,use of driving school car for driving test and all paperwork and fee plus-- 16 Euro for each driving lesson.

After the theory test and the lessons, the actual driving test was a piece of cake!

Good luck, having your license WILL make you feel better, I'm sure.

Hey!

thank you for all your help!! yes think maybe i should take a few lessons at home in the uk then continue them here then, il see .. my italian is ok, my understanding of italian is loads better than my spoken italian! but either way when i finally do drive im sure things will come a lot easier for me over here!!

thanks again xxxx