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The northern part of Italy is quite safe but take care in the south of Italy. When pitching a tent in the wild make very sure to stay out of sight. In areas like Puglia people are so friendly that you can just basically ask if you could crash at their place if you need a place to sleep.
[[File:No_autostop_en_italia.JPG|thumb|left|[[User:Quarim|Quarim]] and a ''NO autostop'' sign.]]
'''Hitchhiking (Il)legal?''' - Hitchhiking on the ''autostrada'' is not legal (there are big signs saying ''no autostop'' at motorway [[on-ramp]]s) and it extends to petrol stations (''area servizio'') on the autostrada. Fine is 21 euro (so you need to find an excuse for not having that money, poor traveler, somebody stole it etc.). It's quite common to meet the police on gas petrol stations on the highway, so be prepared to to answer, but most of the times police just ignores you or say that you must go further from exit. If you happen to get kicked out of a petrol station by the police they'll tell you to go to the nearest train station and take the train. If there's no way around it you can simply dodge the fare as the Italians themselves say that "nobody gives a shit about the law in Italy." The conductors usually can't articulate anything beyond "Money" and "Ticket" in English, so just tell them "No money, no ticket" and they'll let you be.
Easier it is just to ask from people while they refill their cars. Hitching on the petrol stations is generally fairly easy. If a petrol stations has an exit to a normal road, the police might ask you to leave. And when it happens that you are on the motorway, don't put your thumb out.
If you're on a petrol station it's a good idea to stay on friendly terms with the staff. When starting, it's probably a good idea to find a spot before drivers encounter the ''no autostop'' sign, but it is still possible hitchhike while you have ''no autostop'' behind you; once you have passage onto the ''autostrada'' it is fairly simple to skip from one service area to the next until you arrive at your destination. It's less likely that you will encounter problems if you're not Italian -- and, if you speak Italian, don't reveal this to police (or the armed forces ''carabinieri'').
'''Strada Statale(national road)''' - Because of petrol station problem in Italy (see above), you can try hitchhiking on ''Strada Statale'' - SS. It takes little bit more time, but you meet more local people and you can see beautiful nature, they can drive you extra kilometerskilometres, so you could arrive to destination or invite you to have a lunch with their family. * See also '''Hitchhiking in Italy''', an article on [http://www.digihitch.com/europe44.html Digihitch] by [http://www.digihitch.com/userinfo-hikecrazy.html Hikecrazy]
== Hitching in Italy ==